US state income tax is a second filing layer after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Completing federal taxes on Form 1040 or Form 1040-NR does not clear California, New York, or Illinois. Each state revenue department writes its own resident, part-year, and nonresident rules. Immigration status on a visa stamp is not the same as state tax residency.
Which states still want an income tax return?
Most states tax wages and other personal income. Nine states do not collect a broad state personal income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Living in Austin or Miami can remove a state Form 1040-style return, but federal filing remains. Washington still taxes certain long-term capital gains for some high earners, so “no income tax” is not “no tax ever.” Cities such as New York City and Yonkers add local income tax on top of New York State for people who meet city residency tests.
If you lived or worked in a taxing state, start with that state’s revenue site. Many states start from your federal adjusted gross income, then apply state additions, subtractions, and credits. Software often e-files federal and state together, but you still choose the correct state residency status.
How do residency and mid-year moves work?
States usually treat you as a resident if you are domiciled there (your permanent home) or if you meet a statutory residency test. New York, for example, can treat you as a resident if you maintain a permanent place of abode in the state for substantially all of the year and spend 184 days or more there, even when your domicile is elsewhere. Colorado uses domicile or a six-month permanent-abode rule. Day counts and “permanent place of abode” definitions are state-specific, so remote work from a California apartment while “intending” Texas domicile is a documentation problem, not a slogan.
Part-year residents who move between, say, Illinois and Texas report resident-period income to the taxing state and often file a part-year form. Nonresidents who never domicile in a state can still owe tax on wages earned for work performed there, including some remote setups when the employer’s location and state source rules say the income is in-state. Telecommuting across the New York and New Jersey border is a classic dual-filing pattern.
Keep W-2 state withholding boxes, pay stubs, lease dates, and entry and exit dates with your federal records. You still need an SSN or ITIN on state returns the same way you do federally.
Common misconceptions
Finishing the federal return does not mean every state is done. High-tax states such as California and New York expect their own filings when their residency or source rules catch you.
Moving to Texas mid-year also does not erase tax on the months you lived and worked in a taxing state. Part-year and nonresident returns exist for that reason.
Summary
File state income tax where you were a resident, part-year resident, or nonresident with in-state source income, after the federal return is drafted. Use the nine no-broad-income-tax states as a location filter, then still check capital-gains or city overlays.
Match domicile and day-count rules to the state revenue department that applies, and keep move dates with your W-2s so part-year splits stay defensible.
Sources
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