Live in Alaska, Work in Virginia: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
Virginia withholds, Alaska does not. As a Alaska resident you have no home-state income tax return at all, so the Virginia nonresident return is the whole of your state filing. Nothing offsets the Virginia tax, because a credit has to be claimed against a home-state tax that does not exist.
Last verified
This is the mirror image of the more common commute. There is no home-state return to file, so the Virginia nonresident return carries the whole obligation — and because Alaska charges nothing, there is no credit mechanism involved anywhere.
What you file
- 1Nonresident return · VirginiaForm 763
File a Virginia nonresident return for the wages you earned in Virginia. Alaska has no wage income tax, so there is no second return and no credit to claim.
The two states, side by side
| Alaska | Virginia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | No | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | None | 5 (Form VA-4) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Not applicable | Form 763 |
| Credit for other-state tax | No income tax | Schedule OSC |
| Nonresident safe harbour | Not applicable | None published |
| Local income tax | No | No |
| Revenue department | Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division | Virginia Department of Taxation |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in Virginia 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 → VirginiaNo state income tax on your wages
- 1099 contractor: Alaska → VirginiaClient state only, if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Alaska → VirginiaOne part-year return — the state you moved to
Other Alaska pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Alaska and work in Virginia. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
Virginia withholds, Alaska does not. As a Alaska resident you have no home-state income tax return at all, so the Virginia nonresident return is the whole of your state filing. Nothing offsets the Virginia 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?
Virginia. The wages are sourced to Virginia, so Virginia 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 Virginia rules on this page were last checked against Alaska Department of Revenue — Tax Division and Virginia Department 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
- Virginia Department of Taxation — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia — Form VA-4accessed 2026-08-07
- Virginia Tax — Reciprocityaccessed 2026-08-07