Moved from Wisconsin to Maine Mid-Year: Which State Tax Returns Do You File?
Answer
You file two part-year returns. Wisconsin taxes the income you received while you lived there, Maine 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
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 · MaineForm 1040ME with Schedule NRH
File a Maine part-year return covering the months you lived in Maine. A part-year resident of Maine reports the income received while a Maine resident, plus any Maine-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 | Maine | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 4 (Form W-220) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 1NPR | Form 1040ME with Schedule NR |
| Part-year return | Form 1NPR | Form 1040ME with Schedule NRH |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule OS | Form 1040ME Schedule A |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Dollar floor published | 12 days or a dollar floor |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Wisconsin Department of Revenue | Maine Revenue Services |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Maine 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 → MaineBoth states — credit offsets the double tax
- Remote worker: Wisconsin → MaineHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Wisconsin → MaineHome state, plus the client state if you work there
Other Wisconsin pairs
Questions people actually ask
I moved from Wisconsin to Maine mid-year. Do I have to file in both states?
You file two part-year returns. Wisconsin taxes the income you received while you lived there, Maine 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 Wisconsin and Maine?
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 Maine 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 Maine rules on this page were last checked against Wisconsin Department of Revenue and Maine Revenue Services 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
- Maine Revenue Services — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07