Moved from West Virginia to Colorado Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
You file two part-year returns. West Virginia taxes the income you received while you lived there, Colorado taxes the income you received after the move, and each state prorates your deductions and credits to its own slice of the year. The date you changed domicile is the dividing line.
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 · West VirginiaForm IT-140 with Schedule A
File a West Virginia part-year return covering the months you lived in West Virginia. A part-year resident of West Virginia reports the income received while a West Virginia resident, plus any West Virginia-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · ColoradoForm DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN
File a Colorado part-year return covering the months you lived in Colorado. A part-year resident of Colorado reports the income received while a Colorado resident, plus any Colorado-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
| West Virginia | Colorado | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | 5 (Form WV/IT-104) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form IT-140 with Schedule A | Form DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN |
| Part-year return | Form IT-140 with Schedule A | Form DR 0104 with Schedule DR 0104PN |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule E (Form IT-140) | Form DR 0104CR |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | None published |
| Local income tax | Yes | Yes |
| Revenue department | West Virginia Tax Division | Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Colorado and working in West Virginia 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: West Virginia → ColoradoBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: West Virginia → ColoradoHome state only
- 1099 contractor: West Virginia → ColoradoHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other West Virginia pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from West Virginia to Colorado mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
You file two part-year returns. West Virginia taxes the income you received while you lived there, Colorado taxes the income you received after the move, and each state prorates your deductions and credits to its own slice of the year. The date you changed domicile is the dividing line.
How do I split my income between West Virginia and Colorado?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a West Virginia resident belongs on the West Virginia return and income received afterwards on the Colorado 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 West Virginia and Colorado rules on this page were last checked against West Virginia Tax Division and Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division 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.
- West Virginia Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Colorado Department of Revenue — Taxation Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07