Form AR1000NR: Filing the Arkansas Nonresident Tax Return

If you earned income from Arkansas sources but didn’t live there all year, you file your state return on Form AR1000NR, the Arkansas individual income tax return for nonresidents and part-year residents. It goes to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, and for tax year 2025 the deadline is April 15, 2026. Full-year Arkansas residents use a different form (the AR1000F); this one is specifically for people whose connection to the state was partial or limited to the source of certain income.

Who Has to File It

Two groups use the AR1000NR. A nonresident is someone who is not domiciled in Arkansas and does not spend more than six months a year in the state, but who received income from Arkansas sources. A part-year resident is someone who established or gave up an Arkansas domicile during the year, typically by moving in or out mid-year.

Arkansas treats you as a resident if you are domiciled in the state, if you maintain a permanent home there and spend more than six months a year in it, or if a review of your particular circumstances points to residency.¹ If none of that fits and you still earned Arkansas money, you file the AR1000NR.

There is no dollar threshold. Arkansas requires nonresidents and part-year residents who received any income from Arkansas sources to file, regardless of amount.² A small rental check or a short consulting job inside the state is enough to create the obligation.

What Counts as Arkansas Income

Wages, salaries, and tips earned while physically working inside Arkansas are the most common category, no matter where the employer is based. Arkansas has no reciprocity agreements with neighboring states, so a cross-border commuter from Tennessee or Oklahoma files in Arkansas on the wages earned there and then claims a credit on the home-state return for the tax paid.

Other Arkansas-sourced income includes:

Rent collected on Arkansas property and capital gains from selling Arkansas land or buildings.
Profits from a sole proprietorship, trade, or profession carried on in the state (federal Schedule C).
Your distributive share of income from a partnership or S corporation doing business in Arkansas.
Farm earnings from operations in the state (federal Schedule F).

You report all of your income from every source on the AR1000NR, not just the Arkansas portion. The form uses your total income to set the rate, then applies that rate only to the Arkansas share, so you cannot lower your bracket by reporting only the smaller slice.

How the Tax Is Calculated

For tax year 2025, Arkansas uses two bracket tables depending on whether your net income is above or below $92,300.³

Net income of $92,300 or less:

$0 – $5,499: 0%
$5,500 – $10,899: 2%
$10,900 – $15,599: 3%
$15,600 – $25,699: 3.4%
$25,700 – $92,300: 3.9%

Net income above $92,300:

$0 – $4,600: 2%
$4,601 and above: 3.9%

The top rate drops to 3.7 percent beginning January 1, 2026, so returns for tax year 2026 will use updated brackets when DFA releases them.⁴

Apportionment is how Arkansas isolates its share of your bill. You first compute tax as if all your income were Arkansas income, then multiply by the ratio of your Arkansas adjusted gross income to your total AGI.⁵ If your total AGI is $100,000 and $30,000 of it came from Arkansas, your apportionment percentage is 30 percent, and you owe Arkansas 30 percent of the full-income tax figure (before credits).

Filling Out the Form

Documents to Pull First

Before you start, gather:

Federal Form 1040, pages 1 and 2. Arkansas will not process the return without these attached.⁶
All W-2s, W-2Gs, 1099-Rs, 1099-PTs, and 1099-Gs. Staple the state copies to the left margin of page 1.
Federal Schedules C, E, and F if you had business, rental, or farm income.
Federal Form 4797 if you sold business property.

The Three-Column Layout

The income section on page 2 has three columns:⁷

Column A is your total income from all sources, mirroring the federal return.
Column B is for a spouse’s income under filing status 4 (married filing separately on the same return). Most filers leave it blank.
Column C is the Arkansas-sourced portion of each line.

Around line 38, the form divides your Column C total by the combined A and B totals to produce the apportionment percentage.

Filing Status, Deduction, and Credit

Use the same filing status you used federally. The Arkansas standard deduction for tax year 2025 is $2,470 for most statuses and $4,940 for married filing jointly.⁶ Arkansas also provides a $29 personal tax credit per qualifying person, so a joint return where both spouses check the box gets $58.⁸ The credit comes off tax liability after apportionment.

Attachments and Extra Schedules

Every AR1000NR must include federal 1040 pages 1 and 2 and all applicable W-2s and 1099s. Depending on your situation, add:

Form AR1000TC for any special tax credits (child care, developmentally disabled, and others).
Form AR2441 for the child and dependent care credit.
Form AR1000TD for lump-sum distributions from qualified retirement plans.
Form AR1000-NOL for a net operating loss carried forward from a prior year.
Form AR-OI for other income items or depreciation differences from the federal return.
Form AR-MS for qualifying military spouses.

Forgetting the federal 1040 pages is the most common reason the state holds up a nonresident return. Check for them before the envelope closes.

How and Where to Submit

The filing deadline for tax year 2025 is April 15, 2026. If you need more time, file Form AR1055-IT before the deadline.⁹ An extension gives you more time to file but not more time to pay; interest and penalties on an unpaid balance start accruing after April 15.

Mailing addresses differ by whether you owe or expect a refund:⁶

Payment enclosed: Arkansas State Income Tax, P.O. Box 2144, Little Rock, AR 72203-2144.
Refund expected: Arkansas State Income Tax, P.O. Box 1000, Little Rock, AR 72203-1000.

You can also e-file through the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point (ATAP) or through major commercial tax software that supports the AR1000NR.¹⁰

Estimated Payments If You’ll Owe Over $1,000

If you expect to owe more than $1,000 in Arkansas tax after withholding and credits, quarterly estimated payments are required.¹¹ Nonresidents with rental income, business profits, or partnership distributions often fall into this bucket because nothing is withheld from those payments.

The calendar-year due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. If a due date lands on a weekend or legal holiday, a payment postmarked the next business day is still timely. To avoid an underpayment penalty, you must pay at least 90 percent of your actual liability through a combination of withholding and estimated payments.¹²

Military Spouses and Service Members

Under the federal Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, a nonresident military spouse whose only reason for being in Arkansas is the service member’s orders can exempt Arkansas wages from state tax. The spouse files the AR1000NR, checks the Military Spouse box, and attaches Form AR-MS with the service member’s Leave and Earnings Statement or W-2.¹³ Report zero in the Arkansas column.

Service members stationed in Arkansas whose home of record is another state do not file an Arkansas return on their military pay. They can submit Form AR-NRMILITARY to put a note on the account confirming no return is required.⁶

Penalties

A late return triggers a penalty of 5 percent of the unpaid tax for the first month and 5 percent for each additional month or partial month the return is outstanding, up to 35 percent, unless you can show reasonable cause.¹⁴

Underpayment of estimated tax carries a separate penalty of 10 percent per year, prorated by the days between when each payment was due and when it actually came in.¹² If your Arkansas income was uneven, Form AR2210A lets you annualize income and may reduce the penalty for quarters when earnings were low.

After You File

E-filed returns usually produce refunds in about 21 business days after the state acknowledges the filing. Paper returns can take up to 10 weeks. You can check status through ATAP or by calling DFA.

Keep copies of the filed return, attachments, and supporting documents for at least three years.¹⁵ If you later catch an error, file an amended return using the same AR1000NR and check the Amended Return box on page 1. Amended returns have to be mailed; they can’t be e-filed.

1
Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 51-102(9) – Residency Determination
2
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Moving to Arkansas – A Tax Guide for New Residents
3
Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Personal Income Tax
4
Arkansas House of Representatives. Tax Cuts Passed in Special Session
5
Code of Arkansas Rules. 26 CAR 100-137 – Nonresidents or Part-Year Residents
6
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Arkansas 2025 Individual Income Tax Forms and Instructions
7
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. AR1000NR – Arkansas Individual Income Tax Return Nonresident and Part Year Resident
8
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Subject 503 – Tax Credits
9
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Forms
10
Arkansas.gov. Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point (ATAP)
11
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Estimated Tax Declaration Vouchers and Instructions
12
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. AR2210 Penalty for Underpayment of Estimated Tax Instructions
13
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. AR-MS Tax Exemption Certificate for Military Spouse
14
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 26-18-208 – Additional Penalties and Tax
15
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records