How to handle taxes after a mid-year move between states and job promotion?

You've actually got a pretty straightforward situation, even though it feels complicated! Here's how to tackle it: For the two states: You'll file a part-year resident return for both Illinois and Wisconsin. Each state tax return will only tax the income you earned while living there. Your W-2 from the hospital should break down how much you earned in each state, but if not, you can calculate it based on your pay stubs before and after the move. Regarding your job change: The promotion won't require anything special on your tax return. Your W-2 will show your total earnings for the year from that employer, and you'll report that normally. The tax system doesn't care if your salary tripled mid-year - it just looks at your total yearly income to determine your tax bracket. For those extra shifts and billing payments: Those are likely having taxes withheld at a higher rate because supplemental wages are often withheld at a flat 22% federal rate. If this is higher than your actual tax rate based on your total yearly income, you'll get the difference back when you file. If your total income puts you in a higher bracket than 22%, you might actually owe a bit more. Most tax software programs handle multi-state returns very well - they'll walk you through the process step by step!

I went through something similar last year and found the solution at https://taxr.ai which seriously saved me so much time and confusion. I moved from New York to Connecticut mid-year and also had a big promotion plus some consulting income on the side with weird withholding rates. Their system analyzed all my documents and explained exactly how to handle the multi-state filing. It even showed me that I was eligible for some deductions related to my move that I had no idea about! The best part was being able to upload my paystubs and W-2s and having it automatically track which income belonged to which state during which period. They have a specific tool for healthcare workers that understands the unique tax situations that come with residency transitions and attending positions. Might be worth checking out since you're in that exact situation.

Just wanted to follow up here. I took the advice and tried https://taxr.ai for my situation with moving mid-year from Nevada to Oregon while working as both a W-2 employee and 1099 contractor at different hospitals. I'm honestly blown away by how easy it made everything. The document analysis caught that my employer had actually miscoded some of my income to the wrong state, which would have caused major headaches. It also explained exactly how Oregon's tax credit system works for income that was already taxed in another state. For those physician-specific issues, it actually understood how to handle my licensing fees across multiple states and properly allocate CME expenses. Would definitely recommend to any healthcare worker dealing with multi-state taxation!

If you're having trouble getting through to your state tax departments about this (which is super likely), I'd recommend https://claimyr.com - you can check out how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I used it when I moved from California to Washington and the CA tax board was trying to tax my entire year's income even though I was only there for 4 months. Spent WEEKS trying to reach someone at the CA tax board with no luck. With Claimyr, I had a callback from an actual tax representative within 25 minutes and got the whole thing resolved in one phone call. It's especially useful for dealing with state tax departments since they're often even harder to reach than the IRS. When I called Wisconsin's department myself, I was on hold for 2+ hours before giving up.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it for myself since I was getting nowhere with the New York tax department about my own mid-year move issue. I had been trying for THREE WEEKS to speak to someone about my partial year residency issue, with no success. I used the Claimyr service yesterday afternoon, got a callback in 37 minutes, and spoke with an actual NYS tax representative who resolved my issue completely. The representative even noted that they're severely understaffed and that most callers are waiting 3+ hours and often get disconnected. So while I still think it's ridiculous we have to pay for services like this, I can't argue with the results. Saved me countless hours of frustration.

One thing no one mentioned yet - if your income really did triple when you became an attending, you might want to check if you're having enough tax withheld now. The IRS withholding calculator is pretty helpful for this: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator I went from resident to attending last year and even though my withholding percentage stayed the same, I ended up owing a bunch at tax time because my higher income pushed me into a higher bracket. Might be worth checking now so you don't get surprised next April!

For the extra shifts and moonlighting income, also consider making estimated quarterly tax payments if the withholding doesn't seem sufficient. I learned this the hard way when I got hit with an underpayment penalty my first year as an attending with similar extra income.

If you use tax software, all of this is pretty straightforward! I moved from Texas to Minnesota mid-year and used TurboTax. The software asked when I moved and then walked me through everything. Honestly way easier than I expected.

One additional tip since you mentioned the high withholding on your extra shifts and billing payments - keep detailed records of all your work locations and income sources throughout the year. As a physician who moved mid-year, you'll want to track not just which state you earned income in, but also where you were physically working when you earned it. This is especially important for those weekend ER shifts. If you're picking up shifts in different locations or even different states, each location might have different tax implications. Some states tax based on where the work was performed, others based on your residence at the time. Also, since you mentioned patient billing payments, make sure to track any business expenses related to your work (CME, licensing fees, professional memberships, etc.). These can often be deducted, and with your income increase, every deduction becomes more valuable. Keep receipts for everything work-related from both states - some expenses might be deductible in one state but not the other. The good news is that with your income tripling, you're likely in a much better position financially to handle any unexpected tax obligations that might come up!