Moved from Wisconsin to Arkansas Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
Two returns, split at the move date. Wisconsin and Arkansas both tax residents, so each takes the portion of the year you were one. This is a residency question rather than a sourcing question — reciprocity agreements and convenience rules have nothing to do with it.
Last verified
Part-year returns are designed so that neither state taxes the whole year. The risk is not double taxation by default; it is misassigning income received near the move date, and losing the proration on deductions and credits.
What you file
- 1Part-year return · WisconsinForm 1NPR
File a Wisconsin part-year return covering the months you lived in Wisconsin. A part-year resident of Wisconsin reports the income received while a Wisconsin resident, plus any Wisconsin-source income received during the rest of the year, and prorates the deductions and credits to the residency period.
- 2Part-year return · ArkansasForm AR1000NR (part-year resident)
File a Arkansas part-year return covering the months you lived in Arkansas. A part-year resident of Arkansas reports the income received while a Arkansas resident, plus any Arkansas-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
| Wisconsin | Arkansas | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 4 (Form W-220) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1NPR | Form AR1000NR |
| Part-year return | Form 1NPR | Form AR1000NR (part-year resident) |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OS | Form AR1000TC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Dollar floor published | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Wisconsin Department of Revenue | Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Arkansas and working in Wisconsin 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: Wisconsin → ArkansasBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Wisconsin → ArkansasHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Wisconsin → ArkansasHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Wisconsin pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Wisconsin to Arkansas mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
Two returns, split at the move date. Wisconsin and Arkansas both tax residents, so each takes the portion of the year you were one. This is a residency question rather than a sourcing question — reciprocity agreements and convenience rules have nothing to do with it.
How do I split my income between Wisconsin and Arkansas?
By when you received it, measured against the date your domicile actually changed. Income received while you were a Wisconsin resident belongs on the Wisconsin return and income received afterwards on the Arkansas 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 Wisconsin and Arkansas rules on this page were last checked against Wisconsin Department of Revenue and Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration 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.
- Wisconsin Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07