Live in Alaska, Work Remotely for a Washington Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Nothing is withheld and nothing is filed. Wage income escapes state tax on both sides of this pair: Alaska levies none as your home state, and Washington levies none where the work is. There is no exemption form to submit because there is no tax to be exempt from.
Last verified
Most of the difficulty in multi-state wage tax comes from two states claiming the same income. Here neither one claims it. Alaska and Washington both sit outside the state income tax system, so there is no competition to resolve.
What you file
There is nothing to file in either Alaska or Washington 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 | Washington | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | No |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division | Washington State Department of Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Washington and working in Alaska gives:No state income tax either side.
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 → WashingtonNo state income tax either side
- 1099 contractor: Alaska → WashingtonNo state income tax either side
- Moved mid-year: Alaska → WashingtonNo state return either side
Other Alaska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alaska and work remotely for a Washington employer. Which state do I pay?
Nothing is withheld and nothing is filed. Wage income escapes state tax on both sides of this pair: Alaska levies none as your home state, and Washington levies none where the work is. There is no exemption form to submit because there is no tax to be exempt from.
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 Washington is an error worth querying.
How current is this?
The Alaska and Washington rules on this page were last checked against Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division and Washington State 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
- Washington State Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07