Live in Alaska, Work in Rhode Island: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
Rhode Island withholds, Alaska does not. As a Alaska resident you have no home-state income tax return at all, so the Rhode Island nonresident return is the whole of your state filing. Nothing offsets the Rhode Island tax, because a credit has to be claimed against a home-state tax that does not exist.
Last verified
Living in a state with no income tax removes the resident return, but it does not shelter income you earn somewhere else. Rhode Island taxes what is earned inside Rhode Island, whoever earns it, and a nonresident return is how that gets settled.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · Rhode IslandForm RI-1040NR
File a Rhode Island nonresident return for the wages you earned in Rhode Island. Alaska has no wage income tax, so there is no second return and no credit to claim.
The two states, side by side
| Alaska | Rhode Island | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | None |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form RI-1040NR |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Form RI-1040NR Schedule II |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division | Rhode Island Division of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Rhode Island 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 → Rhode IslandNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Alaska → Rhode IslandClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Alaska → Rhode IslandOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Alaska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alaska and work in Rhode Island. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
Rhode Island withholds, Alaska does not. As a Alaska resident you have no home-state income tax return at all, so the Rhode Island nonresident return is the whole of your state filing. Nothing offsets the Rhode Island tax, because a credit has to be claimed against a home-state tax that does not exist.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Rhode Island. The wages are sourced to Rhode Island, so Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island rules on this page were last checked against Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division and Rhode Island Division of Taxation 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
- Rhode Island Division of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07