1099 Contractor in Alaska with a Montana Client: Where Do You File?
Answer
The client's address is not the test. Alaska has no personal income tax, so nothing is owed at home; Montana taxes nonresidents on income from services performed within Montana, so if you never travel there to work, there is nothing to file. Days on site change that.
Last verified
The most common contractor worry — that invoicing an out-of-state client creates a filing obligation there — is usually unfounded. What creates the obligation is physical presence, and Alaska residents have no home-state return in any case.
Montana publishes no de minimis day count or dollar floor for nonresidents. Any Montana-source wage income above the state's general filing threshold requires a nonresident return, and that threshold is reset each year — check the current figure on the Montana Department of Revenue nonresident instructions before filing.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · MontanaForm 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule
File a Montana nonresident return only for income from services you physically performed in Montana. Alaska does not tax wage or self-employment income.
The two states, side by side
| Alaska | Montana | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 1 (Form MW-4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division | Montana Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Montana and working in Alaska gives:Home state only — estimated payments.
Same two states, different situation
The withholding answer turns on how you are paid and where the work happens, not only on which two states are involved.
- W-2 commuter: Alaska → MontanaWork state only
- Remote worker: Alaska → MontanaNo state income tax on your wages
- Moved mid-year: Alaska → MontanaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Alaska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alaska and my client is in Montana. Do I have to file a Montana tax return?
The client's address is not the test. Alaska has no personal income tax, so nothing is owed at home; Montana taxes nonresidents on income from services performed within Montana, so if you never travel there to work, there is nothing to file. Days on site change that.
Do reciprocity agreements help a 1099 contractor?
No. Every state reciprocity agreement in the country is an arrangement about wage withholding between two revenue departments, and a 1099 has no withholding to switch off. Whether Alaska and Montana hold an agreement makes no difference to a self-employed filer — sourcing rules decide the answer instead.
How current is this?
The Alaska and Montana rules on this page were last checked against Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division and Montana Department of Revenue on 2026-08-07. We re-check the full grid every December after state legislative sessions close, and re-check the convenience-of-the-employer states quarterly because that is where the rules move fastest.
Sources
Every fact above comes from the revenue department that publishes the rule. We do not cite secondary summaries, and we do not restate a figure we could not find at source.
- Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07