West Virginia Nonresident Income Tax Filing Requirements

If you earned money from West Virginia sources but live somewhere else, you generally must file a West Virginia non-resident income tax return when your West Virginia source income exceeds $2,000 per personal exemption you claim, or $500 if you claim zero exemptions. The return is Form IT-140 with Schedule A attached, and the 2025 return is due April 15, 2026. Two important exceptions can eliminate the tax on wages: a reciprocal agreement with five neighboring states, and a 30-day safe harbor for short-term work. Everything below walks through the West Virginia non-resident income tax filing requirements in the order you’ll actually need them.

Who Counts as a Non-Resident

West Virginia treats you as a resident if you’re domiciled in the state, or if you keep a permanent home there and spend more than 183 days in the state during the tax year. Fail both tests and you’re a non-resident.¹

Part-year residents are separate. If you moved into West Virginia during the year intending to make it your permanent home, you file the same IT-140 but report both your WV-source income from the non-resident portion of the year and all income from the resident portion.

When You Have to File

You must file if your adjusted gross income from West Virginia sources exceeds your personal exemption allowance: $2,000 for each exemption you claim, or $500 if you claim zero exemptions.²

File anyway if your WV-source income is below that threshold but your employer withheld West Virginia tax from your paychecks. A return is the only way to get that withholding refunded.

What Income West Virginia Taxes You On

Non-residents are taxed only on income derived from or connected with West Virginia sources. The statute covers:³

Rent from West Virginia real property, and gains from selling real estate or tangible personal property located in the state.
Wages, self-employment income, and professional fees earned from work performed in West Virginia.
Your share of income from a partnership or S corporation operating in the state.
Income received from an estate or trust with West Virginia sources.
West Virginia State Lottery winnings.

Dividends, interest, and capital gains on stocks generally are not West Virginia source income unless the underlying property was used in a business conducted in the state.³ If a business operates partly inside and partly outside West Virginia, income must be apportioned using methods set by the Tax Commissioner’s regulations.

The 30-Day Safe Harbor for Short-Term Work

Compensation paid to a non-resident is completely exempt from West Virginia income tax when all four of these conditions are met:⁴

You performed work in West Virginia on 30 or fewer days during the calendar year.
You worked in more than one state during that year.
The work wasn’t as a professional athlete, professional entertainer, or public figure.
Your state of residence offers a similar exclusion, has no individual income tax, or the income is otherwise exempt under federal law.

Cross the 30-day line at any point in the year and the exemption disappears retroactively. Your employer must then withhold and remit West Virginia tax for every day you worked in the state that year, including the first thirty.⁴

Reciprocal Agreements with Five States

If you live in Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Virginia and your only West Virginia income is wages or salary, you don’t owe West Virginia income tax on that pay.⁵

Give your employer a completed Form WV/IT-104NR (Certificate of Nonresidence) and they’ll stop withholding West Virginia tax from your paychecks.⁶ If tax was already withheld before you turned in the form, file an IT-140 to get it back. The old standalone IT-140NRS has been eliminated; reciprocal-state residents now claim the refund through Part III of Schedule A on the regular IT-140.²

Reciprocity covers wages and salaries only. If you live in one of those five states but also have West Virginia business income, rental income, or lottery winnings, you still owe West Virginia tax on those amounts and must file a non-resident return for them.

The Forms and How to File

Non-residents use Form IT-140, the same personal income tax return residents file, and check the “Nonresident/Part Year Resident” box.²

Schedule A is where you separate West Virginia income from everything else, using three columns:²

Column A: total amounts as reported on your federal return.
Column B: income earned during any period of West Virginia residency (blank for full-year non-residents).
Column C: income from West Virginia sources earned while you were a non-resident.

Each line covers a specific income type: wages, rental income, business income, partnership distributions, capital gains, and so on. Enter only the West Virginia portion in Column C. Columns B and C combine into the West Virginia income figure that feeds back into the IT-140.

Composite Returns for Partners and Shareholders

If your only West Virginia source income flows through a partnership, S corporation, or trust, you may be able to participate in a composite return instead of filing on your own. The entity files a single return for all consenting non-resident owners and pays tax at a flat 6.5%, plus a $50 processing fee per participant. No personal exemptions are allowed on a composite return. If you have any other West Virginia source income beyond the pass-through entity, you still must file a separate individual return.⁷

Where and When to File

Electronic filing is the department’s preferred method.⁸ Paper returns go to one of two addresses depending on whether you owe or expect a refund:⁹

Refund returns: West Virginia Tax Division, PO Box 1071, Charleston, WV 25324-1071.
Balance-due returns: West Virginia Tax Division, PO Box 3694, Charleston, WV 25336-3694.

The 2025 return is due April 15, 2026.¹⁰

How Your Tax Is Calculated

For tax year 2025, the rates for most filers are:¹¹

Up to $10,000: 2.22%.
$10,001 to $25,000: $222 plus 2.96% of the amount over $10,000.
$25,001 to $40,000: $666 plus 3.33% of the amount over $25,000.
$40,001 to $60,000: $1,165.50 plus 4.44% of the amount over $40,000.
Over $60,000: $2,053.50 plus 4.82% of the amount over $60,000.

Married-filing-separately brackets sit at half these amounts. As a non-resident, you calculate tax on your total income first, then multiply the result by the ratio of your West Virginia source income to your total federal income. That approach taxes your West Virginia share at the rate matching your full income level, not at an artificially lower bracket.

Estimated Tax Payments

You must make quarterly estimated payments if you expect to owe at least $600 in West Virginia tax after subtracting withholding. The exception: no estimated tax is required if that $600 is less than 10% of your total estimated West Virginia liability.¹²

Compute your estimate using the regular rate schedule, then apply the same source-income ratio used on the annual return. Payments are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. If you file and pay in full by January 31, you can skip the fourth-quarter installment.¹²

This requirement catches non-residents with rental property or business income in the state, where no employer is withholding on their behalf.

Extensions, Penalties, and Interest

A federal extension automatically extends your West Virginia filing deadline for the same period, up to six months. No separate state extension form is needed, but you must attach a copy of your federal Form 4868 to the West Virginia return when you file.¹³ The extension gives you more time to file, not more time to pay. Interest still runs from the original April 15 due date on any unpaid balance.

Missing the deadline or underpaying triggers separate penalties:

Late filing: 5% of tax due per month, up to 25%.
Late payment: 0.5% of tax due per month, up to 25%.
Negligence or intentional disregard: 5% of the deficiency per month, up to 25%.

Late-filing and late-payment penalties can apply at the same time.¹⁴ Interest on unpaid tax runs separately, at 1.5 percentage points above a base rate set annually by the Tax Commissioner, and it accrues from the original due date regardless of any extension.¹⁵

Because the late-filing penalty is ten times the late-payment penalty, filing on time with a partial payment beats filing late with the full amount. If you can’t finish the return by April 15, pay as close to the full estimated balance as you can and file under the extension.

1
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-21-7 – Resident and Nonresident Defined
2
West Virginia Tax Division. West Virginia Personal Income Tax Forms and Instructions 2025
3
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-21-32 – West Virginia Source Income of Nonresident Individual
4
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code Chapter 11 Taxation 11-21-31
5
West Virginia Tax Division. TSD 381 Withholding Information for Employers
6
West Virginia Tax Division. WV IT-104 Employee Withholding Exemption Certificate
7
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code Chapter 11 Taxation 11-21-51a
8
West Virginia Tax Division. Electronic Filing for Individuals
9
West Virginia Tax Division. Individuals
10
West Virginia Tax Division. Tax Calendar January 2026
11
West Virginia Tax Division. 2026 Income Tax Rate Cut
12
West Virginia Tax Division. IT-140 ESI Estimated Tax Payments Instructions
13
Legal Information Institute. West Virginia Code of State Regulations 110-21-57 – Extensions of Time
14
West Virginia Tax Division. TSD 365 How Interest and Additions to Tax are Assessed
15
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-10-17 – Interest