Moved from Tennessee to South Carolina Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Only the state you moved to wants a return. Living in Tennessee produced no state filing obligation at all, and South Carolina taxes you from the date your residency began. Expect South Carolina withholding to start with your first post-move paycheck.
Last verified
Coming from a state with no income tax means arriving with no South Carolina withholding history and no prior-year liability to base estimates on. The first South Carolina return is where that catches up, so the withholding start date matters.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · South CarolinaForm SC1040 with Schedule NR
File a South Carolina part-year return covering the months you lived in South Carolina. Tennessee has no wage income tax, so there is nothing to file for the earlier part of the year.
The two states, side by side
| Tennessee | South Carolina | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form SC1040 with Schedule NR |
| Part-year return | Not applicable | Form SC1040 with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form SC1040TC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Tennessee Department of Revenue | South Carolina Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in South Carolina and working in Tennessee gives:One part-year return — the state you left.
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: Tennessee → South CarolinaWork state only
- Remote worker: Tennessee → South CarolinaNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Tennessee → South CarolinaClient state only, if you work there
Other Tennessee pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Tennessee to South Carolina mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Only the state you moved to wants a return. Living in Tennessee produced no state filing obligation at all, and South Carolina taxes you from the date your residency began. Expect South Carolina withholding to start with your first post-move paycheck.
How do I split my income between Tennessee and South Carolina?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Tennessee resident belongs on the Tennessee return and income received afterwards on the South Carolina return. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Tennessee and South Carolina rules on this page were last checked against Tennessee Department of Revenue and South Carolina 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.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- South Carolina Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07