Live in Alaska, Work Remotely for a Rhode Island Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
No state taxes your wages. You perform the work in Alaska, which levies no personal income tax, and Rhode Island has no convenience-of-the-employer rule that could reach across the line at you. The employer's address in Rhode Island creates no Rhode Island liability on its own.
Last verified
An employer's address is not a tax nexus for its employees. Working from Alaska keeps the income Alaska-source, and since Alaska levies no tax on wages, the income lands nowhere at all.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Alaska or Rhode Island on these wages. Your federal return is unaffected — the federal government taxes the income whatever the states do.
The two states, side by side
| Alaska | Rhode Island | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form RI-1040NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form RI-1040NR Schedule II |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division | Rhode Island Division of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Rhode Island and working in Alaska gives:Home state only.
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 → Rhode IslandWork state only
- 1099 contractor: Alaska → Rhode IslandClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Alaska → Rhode IslandOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Alaska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alaska and work remotely for a Rhode Island employer. Which state do I pay?
No state taxes your wages. You perform the work in Alaska, which levies no personal income tax, and Rhode Island has no convenience-of-the-employer rule that could reach across the line at you. The employer's address in Rhode Island creates no Rhode Island liability on its own.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Neither. There is no state income tax to withhold on either side of this pairing, so a state line on your pay stub for Alaska or Rhode Island is an error worth querying.
Does my Rhode Island employer's location alone create a Rhode Island tax obligation?
No. Rhode Island sources wages to the place where the work is physically performed, and it does not apply a convenience-of-the-employer rule that would override that. Days you actually spend working inside Rhode Island are a different matter — those are Rhode Island-source income and can require a nonresident return.
How current is this?
The Alaska and Rhode Island rules on this page were last checked against Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division and Rhode Island Division of Taxation 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
- Rhode Island Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07