Get your tax IDs in Alaska

An EIN, if you need one, takes minutes online. Alaska does not add a personal income-tax account or a state sales tax permit. It does add unemployment tax once you have an employee, and a corporation has a state income-tax return.

What’s different in Alaska

• No personal income tax. The chapter does not apply to an individual². The legislature repealed the individual income tax in 1980¹.
• No state sales tax. Municipalities may charge one, and a city inside a borough can add a second. There is no state form.
• Employees pay part of unemployment insurance. For 2026, rates run from 1% to 5.40% for employers, and 0.50% for employees⁷. You deduct the employee’s share from wages.
• A C corporation still files. The tax uses graduated rates from 0% to 9.4% over ten brackets¹: zero when taxable income is under $25,000, and the top band is $10,830 plus 9.4% of taxable income over $222,000². The bands between those two are in AS 43.20.011.

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately⁹ online. You will need it to hire, to open many bank accounts, and to register for unemployment tax. A sole proprietor with no employees can often use a Social Security number for federal tax. Don’t pay a website to apply for you.
2. Do not open an Alaska income-tax withholding account. The income-tax chapter does not apply to an individual². The employer registration below is for unemployment insurance, not for income tax.
3. If you sell in a municipality that charges sales tax, register with that municipality. The State of Alaska does not levy a sales tax. Several municipalities do. Contact that municipal government for its rules and forms. There is no state sales-tax return. Get the form from the municipality where you did the business. A city and a borough can both charge sales tax, and the customer pays the sum. The local-government desk says about 110 of 162 municipal governments levy a sales tax, at rates from 1% to 7%⁴. The assessor’s page says the old maximum a municipality could charge has been removed, and that the state’s municipal tax report, Alaska Taxable, reflects values as of January 1 of the prior year³. Use the municipality’s current rate, not a range or a chart.
4. If you are a C corporation, calendar the Alaska return. File it 30 days after the federal return is due. Electronic filing is required. The tax is due generally the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends, and payment is not extended. Estimated payments are required. Estimated payments of more than $100,000, and a payment with the return greater than $150,000, must be made online or by wire. The brackets run from zero when taxable income is under $25,000 to $10,830 plus 9.4% of taxable income over $222,000². Read AS 43.20.011 for the steps in between. The small-corporation exemption, for corporations under $50 million in assets that met the industry rules, sunset on July 1, 2023¹. Do not rely on that exemption for a new company.
5. If the corporation elected S status, it still has a filing. Alaska treats it as exempt from the corporate income tax, but not from the requirement to file¹. The election itself is federal, on Form 2553¹⁰. Ask a CPA before you skip a form. This page does not pick the election.
6. If the business is an LLC, follow the federal classification. Alaska follows the federal tax treatment of an LLC. An LLC that files a federal partnership return generally files a state partnership return if any partner is a corporation or another pass-through entity.¹ The annual report does not name the Alaska return for a single-member LLC that is disregarded for federal tax.* Check the Tax Division for that owner’s form. The owner still has no Alaska personal income tax.
7. Register for unemployment tax when you first have an employee. Register if the organization has employed one or more people for some portion of a day⁵. Start with the registration form, or online at myAlaska. For 2026, rates run from 1% to 5.40% for employers, and 0.50% for employees⁷. The wage base is $54,200. The employee pays a portion of unemployment insurance, and that portion is deducted from wages. Until a rate is assigned, a new employer uses a total maximum of 1.50 percent, made up of a .50 percent employee share and an employer share of at most 1 percent. If the assigned rate is lower, a credit is issued for a later quarter.⁶
8. Report each new hire. Send the report to the Child Support Enforcement Division within 20 days, through the division's Business Portal. That covers every person, full time or part time, who receives a W-2 for wages, and again when an employee is rehired. The division does not require employers to report independent contractors as new hires⁸. The division’s new hire reporting guide has the details. The hiring guide covers the federal side.

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, a municipal sales-tax account only where a city or borough requires one, and an unemployment account once you have an employee. A corporation also has an Alaska income-tax filing. There is no state sales-tax certificate and no state income-tax withholding number.