Live in Alaska, Work in Michigan: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
One return, filed in Michigan. Your employer withholds Michigan tax on the wages you earn there and you settle up on a Michigan nonresident return. Alaska does not tax wages, so this pair produces a single state filing rather than two.
Last verified
Living in a state with no income tax removes the resident return, but it does not shelter income you earn somewhere else. Michigan taxes what is earned inside Michigan, whoever earns it, and a nonresident return is how that gets settled.
Michigan also has a layer below the state one, and it is the layer that survives every agreement: Two dozen Michigan cities levy their own income tax, Detroit among them, and the state reciprocal agreements do not cover city tax. A reciprocal-state resident working in Detroit still owes Detroit.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · MichiganForm MI-1040 with Schedule NR
File a Michigan nonresident return for the wages you earned in Michigan. Alaska has no wage income tax, so there is no second return and no credit to claim.
The two states, side by side
| Alaska | Michigan | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — flat |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 6 (Form MI-W4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form MI-1040 with Schedule NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form MI-1040 (credit for income tax imposed by another state) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | Yes |
| Revenue department | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division | Michigan Department of Treasury |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Michigan 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.
- Remote worker: Alaska → MichiganNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Alaska → MichiganClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Alaska → MichiganOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Alaska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alaska and work in Michigan. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
One return, filed in Michigan. Your employer withholds Michigan tax on the wages you earn there and you settle up on a Michigan nonresident return. Alaska does not tax wages, so this pair produces a single state filing rather than two.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Michigan. The wages are sourced to Michigan, so Michigan withholding is correct and there is no Alaska withholding to set up, because Alaska levies no income tax on wages.
How current is this?
The Alaska and Michigan rules on this page were last checked against Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division and Michigan Department of Treasury 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
- Michigan Department of Treasury — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07