State Tax Returns on F-1, OPT and H-1B: Part-Year, Nonresident and Moving States Mid-Year

Your 1040-NR does not settle your state taxes. Three worked examples show which state returns an F-1, OPT or H-1B worker files, and which states ignore tax treaties.

Part of our guide to US taxes on F-1, OPT and H-1B.

Usually, yes. If you earn wages, each income-tax state where you lived or worked can require its own return once your income passes its filing threshold or it withholds tax from your pay. That return is separate from your federal Form 1040-NR or 1040, and federal status does not decide state status: an F-1 student who files a 1040-NR as a nonresident alien can still be a part-year resident of California. If you moved mid-year for an OPT or H-1B job, expect a return in the state you left and the state you joined, unless one of them has no personal income tax.

Status, as of November 1, 2026: the state rules below come from the latest posted editions (tax year 2025 for California's FTB Pub 1031 and New Jersey's NJ-1040NR instructions; Illinois Pub-119, June 2024); the 2026 editions were not posted when we checked. Your tax-year 2026 Form 1040-NR is due April 15, 2027 if you had wages with withholding, or June 15, 2027 otherwise (our arithmetic; the IRS has not posted the 2026 instructions).

Do international students file state taxes? The short answer

International students and visa holders file a state return in each income-tax state where they earned income above its filing threshold or had its tax withheld, under that state's own rules. Federal nonresident alien status does not make you a state nonresident. A mid-year move usually means a return in both states, and Form 8843 never replaces one.

A state return is also how you recover withheld state tax. California's FTB Pub 1031 says to file "in order to get a refund" when California tax was withheld from your pay, even below the filing threshold, and New Jersey's 2025 NJ-1040NR instructions say the same.

Why your 1040-NR status does not decide your state residency

For federal tax, an F-1 student is generally an exempt individual, whose days do not count toward the substantial presence test, for the first five calendar years as a student. Any part of a year counts, so a student first present in 2022 counts 2022 through 2026 (IRS Pub 519). In those years you file Form 8843 to exclude the days and, if you had US income, Form 1040-NR. An H-1B worker who meets the test is a resident alien and files Form 1040; see our guide to choosing between Form 1040 and Form 1040-NR.

States do not use that test. California asks whether you are "present in California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose," or domiciled there while away temporarily. Illinois asks where you are domiciled, which its Pub-119 defines as "the place where you reside and the place where you intend to return after temporary absences." New Jersey asks about domicile too, and also sends someone who keeps a permanent home in New Jersey and spends more than 183 days there to the resident form, NJ-1040.

California is explicit that school alone does not settle it: "nor do students who are nonresidents of California coming to this state to attend a California school automatically become residents." You decide from your facts and circumstances, and Pub 1031 adds that "No one factor is determinative."

Common misconception: "I'm a nonresident alien on my 1040-NR, so I'm a nonresident for state tax too."

Correction: The 1040-NR label comes from federal residency tests. California, Illinois and New Jersey each apply their own presence or domicile test, so you can be a federal nonresident alien and a state resident in the same year.

Resident, part-year resident or nonresident: what each one taxes

A resident is taxed on all income, wherever it was earned. A part-year resident is taxed on all income from the resident period, plus that state's source income for the rest of the year. A nonresident is taxed only on income from that state's sources. Pub 1031 puts it plainly: "While you are a nonresident, only income from California sources is taxable by California."

For wages, the source is generally where you did the work. California's version: "Wages and salaries have a source where the services are performed. Neither the location of the employer, where the payment is issued, nor your location when you receive payment affect the source of this income." Convenience-of-the-employer rules, covered in Case 3, are the main exception.

Which form do you file? State rules we confirmed

State filing rules from each state's own publication, as of 2026-11. Confirm on the live pages before you file.

New Jersey's instructions put it bluntly: "There is no part-year resident return." Its filing threshold looks at your gross income "from everywhere for the entire year," which was more than $10,000 for a single filer and $20,000 for a joint return in the 2025 instructions.

Case 1: An Illinois student who moved to California for OPT

You came to an Illinois university on F-1 in August 2022 and worked on campus in spring 2026. You graduated in May, your OPT EAD started Monday, June 15, 2026, and you moved to San Jose, signed a 12-month lease and started a full-time job on Wednesday, July 1.

Federal. 2026 is your fifth calendar year as a student (2022 through 2026), so on these facts you are generally still an exempt individual and a nonresident alien for 2026: Form 8843 plus Form 1040-NR.

Illinois. Whether Illinois treats you as domiciled there is a question of fact, but it does not change the paperwork: Illinois uses IL-1040 with Schedule NR for part-year residents and nonresidents alike, and your spring wages for work done in Illinois belong on that schedule either way.

California. Pub 1031's closest example is a person who moved to California "on an indefinite job assignment," rented an apartment, and "became a California resident upon entering the state." An OPT job has an end date, so whether your stay is "temporary or transitory" turns on your own facts. Either answer leads to Form 540NR, and either way your California paychecks are on it.

The treaty twist. If you are from China and excluded up to $5,000 of wages under Article 20 on your 1040-NR, California still taxes the part earned for California work (see the treaty section). Indian students have no wage exemption to lose; Article 21 instead lets eligible students take the standard deduction on Form 1040-NR ($16,100 for 2026, single), per IRS Pub 901.

The federal deduction. California tax withheld from July to December goes on Schedule A (Form 1040-NR), line 1a (2025 line numbers), and the Form 1040-NR instructions cap the deduction on line 1b: $40,000 for 2025 and $40,400 for 2026, not the $10,000 still printed in Pub 519. A later California refund is generally income on your next federal return, unless you did not itemize the tax (as with an Indian student who took the Article 21 standard deduction).

Paperwork outside tax. Report the new address to your DSO or through the SEVP Portal "within 10 days of the change occurring," per Study in the States. USCIS's Form AR-11 page says most non-citizens must report a move within 10 days; ask your DSO whether your school also wants an AR-11.

Case 2: An H-1B worker who moved from New Jersey to Texas

You have lived in Jersey City on H-1B since 2024. A Dallas employer's petition is approved, you move on Saturday, August 1, 2026, and you start work on Monday, August 3.

Federal. If you meet the substantial presence test, you are a resident alien and file Form 1040, with both W-2s on one return.

New Jersey. With no part-year return, you file NJ-1040 for the income you received from January 1 through July 31, and add NJ-1040NR only if you had New Jersey-source income after the move, such as days you came back to work in a New Jersey office. If your last New Jersey paycheck arrives after the move, check the part-year instructions for which return it goes on; New Jersey taxes it either way, because the work was done there.

Texas. No state income tax return.

The payroll check. Read boxes 15 to 17 on each W-2. The Dallas W-2 should show no New Jersey wages; if New Jersey tax was withheld on Texas work, the New Jersey return gets it back. Two employers also means two separate Social Security and federal withholding tracks, which our guide to what changing H-1B employers mid-year does to your taxes covers. A move with the same employer raises petition and LCA questions instead (relocating to a new state with the same H-1B employer); ask your employer's immigration attorney. USCIS's 10-day AR-11 address rule applies to you too.

Case 3: Living in one state, working remotely for an employer in another

You are on STEM OPT, living in Austin, and working remotely for a San Francisco company. You spent two weeks onboarding at the San Francisco office in March 2026, and payroll withheld California tax all year because the company is based there.

California. As a nonresident, only the two onboarding weeks are California-source, so you file Form 540NR to report that slice and claim back the rest of the withholding, then ask payroll to fix your work state.

Texas. No state income tax return.

Two rules can change this answer in other states:

• Convenience of the employer. New Jersey's 2025 instructions apply this test to residents of states with a similar one: "a nonresident's wage/salary income from a New Jersey employer is taxable to New Jersey if they are working from an out-of-State location for their own convenience and not for the necessity of the employer." Check the employer state's nonresident instructions for a rule like this.
• Reciprocal agreements. Under the Pennsylvania-New Jersey agreement, compensation paid to Pennsylvania residents employed in New Jersey is not subject to New Jersey income tax; Form NJ-165 stops the withholding. Illinois has similar agreements for wages of residents of Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Remote work has a visa side too: on STEM OPT, talk to your DSO before changing where you train under your Form I-983 plan; on H-1B, a work location your LCA does not cover is a question for your employer's attorney. See our guide to remote work on H-1B and OPT.

Does California honor tax treaties?

Generally no. Pub 1031 says that unless a treaty "specifically excludes the income from taxation by California, the income is taxable." Its own example is a Chinese researcher whose federally excludable wages "will be taxable by California," added back on Schedule CA (540NR), because treaties "which expressly limit their application to federal income taxes do not apply to California."

How treaty claims carry to state returns, as of 2026-11.

University lists of states that do or do not follow treaties are a lead, not an authority; confirm with the state's own instructions.

Do I file state taxes if I live in a no-income-tax state?

Not to that state for your wages, if it has no personal income tax; Texas lists none among the taxes its Comptroller administers. A no-tax home state does not cover days worked in another state, the months before you moved, or tax withheld for the wrong state. For which states have no income tax and what a move actually saves, see our comparison of no-income-tax states for H-1B workers.

How to work out which state returns you owe

1. Collect every Form W-2 and read boxes 15 to 17 (state, state wages, state tax withheld).
2. Write a dated timeline of where you lived and where you physically worked, including trips and onboarding weeks.
3. Settle your federal status with IRS Pub 519 (Form 8843 plus 1040-NR, or Form 1040).
4. Apply each state's own test from its publication: FTB Pub 1031, the NJ-1040NR instructions, Illinois Pub-119.
5. Choose the forms: Form 540NR, IL-1040 with Schedule NR, NJ-1040 and/or NJ-1040NR, or none in a no-income-tax state.
6. Allocate wages to the state where you did the work; check for a convenience rule or reciprocal agreement.
7. Add back treaty-exempt income where the state requires it, as on Schedule CA (540NR).
8. Deduct state tax withheld on Schedule A of your federal return (line 1a on the 1040-NR version), within the instructions' cap.
9. Update your address within 10 days of a move: with your DSO or the SEVP Portal on F-1 or OPT, and with USCIS on Form AR-11 on H-1B.

Common mistakes

• Treating "nonresident alien" as a state status. It is a federal label; each state runs its own test.
• Carrying a treaty exclusion into California. It does not carry over unless the treaty specifically excludes California tax.
• Skipping the state you left, or the one that withheld by mistake. The months before the move are still that state's income, and a nonresident return recovers wrong-state withholding.
• Sourcing remote wages to the employer's state. Wages follow where you did the work, unless a convenience rule applies.
• Using Pub 519's $10,000 SALT figure. The 1040-NR instructions say $40,000 for 2025 and $40,400 for 2026.

Who to ask

State residency, treaty add-backs and allocation are tax questions: take them to a tax professional who prepares nonresident and part-year returns, or to the state revenue department. Address reporting, OPT employment records and STEM OPT training-plan changes go to your DSO. H-1B worksite changes, and anything else that touches your petition, go to your employer's immigration attorney.

Frequently asked questions

Do F-1 students have to file a state tax return?

Often, yes. If you earned wages in a state with an income tax, or that state's tax was withheld from your pay, it can expect its own return, usually a nonresident or part-year form, even though your federal return is a 1040-NR. Each state sets its own filing threshold, and filing is also how you get withheld state tax back. Form 8843 is a federal form and never replaces a state return.

Which state do I file in if I moved for my OPT job?

Usually both. The state you left gets a return for the income you earned while you lived or worked there, and the new state gets one for income from the move onward. An Illinois student who moved to California, for example, files Form IL-1040 with Schedule NR and California Form 540NR, which each state uses for part-year residents and nonresidents alike (rules checked November 2026).

Does California honor tax treaties?

Generally no. California's FTB Pub 1031 (2025) says that unless a treaty "specifically excludes the income from taxation by California, the income is taxable." Wages you excluded on your federal 1040-NR under a treaty, such as China's Article 20, are still taxed by California if you earned them for work in California.

What is a part-year resident return?

It is the state return for a year in which you were a resident of that state for only part of the year. You report all income from the resident period and only state-source income from the rest. California and Illinois use one form for this (Form 540NR, and IL-1040 with Schedule NR), while New Jersey's 2025 instructions say there is no part-year return, so you file NJ-1040 for the resident months plus NJ-1040NR if you had New Jersey income after you left.

Do I file state taxes if I live in a no-income-tax state?

Not to that state for your wages, if it has no personal income tax, as with Texas. You can still owe a nonresident or part-year return somewhere else, for days you physically worked in another state, for months you lived elsewhere earlier in the year, or to recover tax an employer withheld for the wrong state. California, for example, sources wages to where the work is done, not to where the employer is.

Sources

• California Franchise Tax Board, FTB Pub 1031, Guidelines for Determining Resident Status (2025)
• New Jersey Division of Taxation, 2025 Form NJ-1040NR instructions
• Illinois Department of Revenue, Pub-119, Illinois Schedule NR for Individuals
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Taxes
• IRS, Instructions for Form 1040-NR, Publication 519, Publication 901 and Form 8843
• Study in the States, OPT Student Reporting Requirements
• USCIS, Form AR-11, Alien's Change of Address Card

How we checked this: we read the state publications, IRS instructions and government pages listed above on November 1-2, 2026 and quoted them directly; where a state's rule was not in its own publication, we say so rather than guess.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice; your own W-2s, I-20 or approval notice, and your DSO, attorney or tax professional govern your situation.

Weighing an OPT or H-1B offer in another state? F1Jobs helps international students and professionals find roles with employers that sponsor visas; when an offer means a move, use the checklist above for the tax side before you sign.