Live in New Jersey, Work Remotely for a Alaska Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
New Jersey gets all of it. Because Alaska does not tax wage income, no Alaska withholding exists and no Alaska return is required — but New Jersey taxes residents on worldwide income, so every dollar earned in Alaska still belongs on your New Jersey resident return.
Last verified
Crossing into a state with no income tax does not lower your tax bill, because your home state is not taxing you on where you work — it is taxing you on where you live. New Jersey reaches all of a resident's income, and Alaska adds nothing on top.
What you file
- 1Resident return · New Jersey
File a New Jersey resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| New Jersey | Alaska | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | No |
| Reciprocity partners | 1 (Form NJ-165) | None |
| Convenience rule | Only against convenience-rule states | No |
| Nonresident return | Form NJ-1040NR | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Schedule NJ-COJ | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | New Jersey Division of Taxation | 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 New Jersey 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: New Jersey → AlaskaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: New Jersey → AlaskaHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: New Jersey → AlaskaOne part-year return — the state you left
Other New Jersey pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in New Jersey and work remotely for a Alaska employer. Which state do I pay?
New Jersey gets all of it. Because Alaska does not tax wage income, no Alaska withholding exists and no Alaska return is required — but New Jersey taxes residents on worldwide income, so every dollar earned in Alaska still belongs on your New Jersey resident return.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
New Jersey. Your employer should withhold New Jersey 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 New Jersey and Alaska rules on this page were last checked against New Jersey Division of Taxation 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.
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- New Jersey Division of Taxation — Convenience of the Employer Ruleaccessed 2026-08-07
- Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07