Moved from Rhode Island to New Mexico Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Rhode Island to New Mexico splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Rhode Island part-year return covers everything before it, a New Mexico part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
Last verified
A mid-year move splits the tax year in two, and each state taxes its own half. That is a residency question, so the machinery that governs commuters — reciprocity agreements, convenience rules, nonresident withholding — is beside the point here.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · Rhode IslandForm RI-1040NR
File a Rhode Island part-year return covering the months you lived in Rhode Island. A part-year resident of Rhode Island reports the income received while a Rhode Island resident, plus any Rhode Island-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · New MexicoForm PIT-1 with Schedule PIT-B
File a New Mexico part-year return covering the months you lived in New Mexico. A part-year resident of New Mexico reports the income received while a New Mexico resident, plus any New Mexico-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
| Rhode Island | New Mexico | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form RI-1040NR | Form PIT-1 with Schedule PIT-B |
| Part-year return | Form RI-1040NR | Form PIT-1 with Schedule PIT-B |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form RI-1040NR Schedule II | Form PIT-1 (credit for taxes paid to another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Rhode Island Division of Taxation | New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in New Mexico and working in Rhode Island 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: Rhode Island → New MexicoBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Rhode Island → New MexicoHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Rhode Island → New MexicoHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Rhode Island pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Rhode Island to New Mexico mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Both states want a return, but neither taxes the whole year. Moving from Rhode Island to New Mexico splits the tax year at the date your residency changed: a Rhode Island part-year return covers everything before it, a New Mexico part-year return everything after. Income is assigned by when it was received.
How do I split my income between Rhode Island and New Mexico?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Rhode Island resident belongs on the Rhode Island return and income received afterwards on the New Mexico 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 Rhode Island and New Mexico rules on this page were last checked against Rhode Island Division of Taxation and New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department 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.
- Rhode Island Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07