Live in Montana, Work Remotely for a Alaska Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
One state, one return: Montana. Alaska has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Montana resident return reports the Alaska income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Alaska charged you nothing.
Last verified
The instinct that working in a no-tax state means paying no tax is the single most expensive misunderstanding in this niche. Alaska takes nothing, but Montana still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Montana return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Montana
File a Montana resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Montana | Alaska | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | No |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form MW-4) | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 2 with the nonresident/part-year schedule | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form 2 (credit for income tax paid to another state) | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Montana Department of Revenue | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Alaska and working in Montana gives:No state income tax on your wages.
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: Montana → AlaskaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Montana → AlaskaHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: Montana → AlaskaOne part-year return — the state you left
Other Montana pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Montana and work remotely for a Alaska employer. Which state do I pay?
One state, one return: Montana. Alaska has no wage income tax, so working there changes nothing about what you owe. Your Montana resident return reports the Alaska income along with everything else, and there is no credit to claim because Alaska charged you nothing.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Montana. Your employer should withhold Montana tax rather than Alaska tax on these wages. If a Alaska line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
How current is this?
The Montana and Alaska rules on this page were last checked against Montana Department of Revenue and Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division 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.
- Montana Department of Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07