Please (1) clarify when you moved from Michigan to Wisconsin. Was it in 2023 or 2024, and in what month?
Also, please (2) clarify what you mean by “I never changed my residency from Michigan to Wisconsin” Do you mean “residency” in a tax sense (such as changing your domicile), or are you planning on moving back to Michigan?
Please also (3) clarify if “I never changed my residency from Michigan to Wisconsin” meant that you had withholding for Michigan even when you were living in Wisconsin (as could happen if this meant that your employer did not change the withholding when you moved).
As you may know, Michigan and Wisconsin are reciprocal states. That is, they have a special arrangement such that, as Wisconsin says,
These agreements provide that residents of these states working in Wisconsin will be taxed on income earned as an employee by their home state and not by Wisconsin. Conversely, Wisconsin will tax Wisconsin residents working in one of these states and the other state will not tax the income earned as an employee by Wisconsin residents who are employed in that state.
You can read about the Michigan version here.
Residents of reciprocal states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) working in Michigan, do not have to pay Michigan tax on their salaries or wages earned in Michigan. If a Michigan resident erroneously had income tax withheld for a reciprocal state on salaries and wages earned there, it is the Michigan resident's responsibility to file a nonresident tax return with that state to get a refund of the tax withheld in error.
So, as a Wisconsin resident working in Michigan, you don't pay tax on your wages to Michigan, but to your home state of Wisconsin.
This is why it is important to know when you moved to Wisconsin. For the amount of time that you worked in Wisconsin and lived in Wisconsin (domiciled, that is, and not just as a temporary measure), you owe tax only to Wisconsin.
BUT NOTE THE TEXT IN BOLD. If you had tax withholdings to Michigan (as would be normal if you never told your employer where you lived) when you lived in Wisconsin, you must file a Michigan non-resident return to get your tax back.
So, to answer the question on whether or not to file a Michigan return, the answer depends on when you moved to Wisconsin, and whether or not your employer withheld tax for Michigan once you lived in Wisconsin.
[Edited 3/11/2025 | 10:04 PST]
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