Which state should a student report income to?

If you're a college student attending an out-of-state college, your state of residency is usually your home state and not the college state unless you have a permanent address in the college state and have established residency in the college state. If you're a nonresident student and had a job or other income in the nonresident state, then you'll need to file a nonresident state return.

For example, if you're from Vermont but are attending college in Maine, then your state of residence is usually Vermont. If you didn't earn any money in Maine, you would only file a full-year resident Vermont tax return. If you had a job in Maine, you would file a nonresident Maine return to report any income earned in Maine, as well as filing a full-year resident Vermont tax return.