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