Live in Rhode Island, Work Remotely for a Alaska Employer: Who Taxes You?
Answer
Rhode Island taxes the income and Alaska cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Rhode Island reaches all of a resident's income, and Alaska has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
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 Rhode Island still taxes residents on income earned anywhere, so the full amount lands on your Rhode Island return.
What you file
- 1Resident return · Rhode Island
File a Rhode Island resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Rhode Island | Alaska | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | No |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form RI-1040NR | Not applicable |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form RI-1040NR Schedule II | No income tax |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island 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: Rhode Island → AlaskaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Rhode Island → AlaskaHome state only — estimated payments
- Moved mid-year: Rhode Island → AlaskaOne part-year return — the state you left
Other Rhode Island pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Rhode Island and work remotely for a Alaska employer. Which state do I pay?
Rhode Island taxes the income and Alaska cannot. Residency, not the location of the job, drives this answer: Rhode Island reaches all of a resident's income, and Alaska has no personal income tax to apply to the part earned inside its borders.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Rhode Island. Your employer should withhold Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island and Alaska rules on this page were last checked against Rhode Island 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.
- Rhode Island Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07