Moved from Texas to Massachusetts Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Massachusetts taxes the second half of the year. Texas has no personal income tax, so the pre-move income is untouched at state level; the Massachusetts part-year return picks up from the date you became a Massachusetts resident and prorates your deductions to that stretch.
Last verified
Coming from a state with no income tax means arriving with no Massachusetts withholding history and no prior-year liability to base estimates on. The first Massachusetts return is where that catches up, so the withholding start date matters.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · MassachusettsForm 1-NR/PY
File a Massachusetts part-year return covering the months you lived in Massachusetts. 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 | Massachusetts | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 1-NR/PY |
| Part-year return | Not applicable | Form 1-NR/PY |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule OJC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts | Massachusetts Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Massachusetts 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 → MassachusettsWork state only
- Remote worker: Texas → MassachusettsNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Texas → MassachusettsClient state only, if you work there
Other Texas pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Texas to Massachusetts mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Massachusetts taxes the second half of the year. Texas has no personal income tax, so the pre-move income is untouched at state level; the Massachusetts part-year return picks up from the date you became a Massachusetts resident and prorates your deductions to that stretch.
How do I split my income between Texas and Massachusetts?
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 Massachusetts return. Keep evidence of the move date — a lease, a closing statement, a licence issue date.
How current is this?
The Texas and Massachusetts rules on this page were last checked against Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and Massachusetts 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
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07