Moved from Texas to Kentucky Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
A single part-year filing in Kentucky. Your former state asks for nothing, having no income tax to levy. Make sure your employer switched withholding to Kentucky at the right date — a late switch leaves a balance due on the Kentucky return.
Last verified
Coming from a state with no income tax means arriving with no Kentucky withholding history and no prior-year liability to base estimates on. The first Kentucky return is where that catches up, so the withholding start date matters.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · KentuckyForm 740-NP
File a Kentucky part-year return covering the months you lived in Kentucky. Texas has no wage income tax, so there is nothing to file for the earlier part of the year.
The two states, side by side
| Texas | Kentucky | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 7 (Form 42A809) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 740-NP |
| Part-year return | Not applicable | Form 740-NP |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule ITC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | Yes |
| Revenue department | Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts | Kentucky Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Kentucky and working in Texas 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: Texas → KentuckyWork state only
- Remote worker: Texas → KentuckyNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Texas → KentuckyClient state only, if you work there
Other Texas pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Texas to Kentucky mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
A single part-year filing in Kentucky. Your former state asks for nothing, having no income tax to levy. Make sure your employer switched withholding to Kentucky at the right date — a late switch leaves a balance due on the Kentucky return.
How do I split my income between Texas and Kentucky?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Texas resident belongs on the Texas return and income received afterwards on the Kentucky return. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Texas and Kentucky rules on this page were last checked against Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and Kentucky 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.
- Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Kentucky Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07