Moved from Nebraska to Montana Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
You file two part-year returns. Nebraska taxes the income you received while you lived there, Montana taxes the income you received after the move, and each state prorates your deductions and credits to its own slice of the year. The date you changed domicile is the dividing line.
Last verified
Part-year returns are designed so that neither state taxes the whole year. The risk is not double taxation by default; it is misassigning income received near the move date, and losing the proration on deductions and credits.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · NebraskaForm 1040N with Schedule III
File a Nebraska part-year return covering the months you lived in Nebraska. A part-year resident of Nebraska reports the income received while a Nebraska resident, plus any Nebraska-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · MontanaForm 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule
File a Montana part-year return covering the months you lived in Montana. A part-year resident of Montana reports the income received while a Montana resident, plus any Montana-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
The two states, side by side
| Nebraska | Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 1 (Form MW-4) |
| Convenience rule | Yes — general rule | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1040N with Schedule III | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Part-year return | Form 1040N with Schedule III | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form 1040N Schedule II | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Nebraska Department of Revenue | Montana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Montana and working in Nebraska gives:Two part-year returns.
Same two states, different situation
The withholding answer turns on how you are paid and where the work happens, not only on which two states are involved.
- W-2 commuter: Nebraska → MontanaBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Nebraska → MontanaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Nebraska → MontanaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Nebraska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Nebraska to Montana mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
You file two part-year returns. Nebraska taxes the income you received while you lived there, Montana taxes the income you received after the move, and each state prorates your deductions and credits to its own slice of the year. The date you changed domicile is the dividing line.
How do I split my income between Nebraska and Montana?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Nebraska resident belongs on the Nebraska return and income received afterwards on the Montana return, with each state prorating your deductions, exemptions and credits to its own part of the year. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Nebraska and Montana rules on this page were last checked against Nebraska Department of Revenue and Montana Department of Revenue on 2026-08-07. We re-check the full grid every December after state legislative sessions close, and re-check the convenience-of-the-employer states quarterly because that is where the rules move fastest.
Sources
Every fact above comes from the revenue department that publishes the rule. We do not cite secondary summaries, and we do not restate a figure we could not find at source.
- Nebraska Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07