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04. I did not live in Maine for the entire year. Do I have to file a return?

If you moved in or out of Maine during the tax year, you will generally have to file an income tax return with Maine. Anyone who is a resident of Maine for any part of the tax year, and has taxable Maine source income on their federal return, must file a Maine return. Anyone who is not a resident of Maine, but performs personal services in Maine for more than 10 days, must file a Maine return regardless of the amount of income earned in Maine and regardless of when the compensation is received.

If you established or relinquished your Maine residency during the tax year, you are a part-year resident for income tax purposes, regardless of when you changed your residency. For example, if you were a Maine resident but moved to California on November 1st and became a California resident, you would be a part-year resident of Maine for that year.

Part-year residents, nonresidents and "safe harbor" residents must file a Maine return based on their total federal adjusted gross income. Your tax liability is first calculated as if you were a resident of Maine for the entire year. You are then allowed to calculate a nonresident credit on Maine Schedule NR that will reduce your Maine tax by the portion of the tax that is related to the income you earned outside the state while a nonresident or "safe harbor" resident of Maine.

For more information, refer to the Guidance to Residency Status and/or the Guidance to Residency "Safe Harbor" pamphlets. You can download copies of the pamphlets from our web site at http://www.maine.gov/revenue/incomeestate/guidance/ or request copies by calling our forms order line at (207) 624-7894.