Licenses and permits in Alaska

Forming the company is not permission to do the work. Alaska adds a statewide business license for the privilege of engaging in business, then a professional or trade license where the work is regulated, then whatever the city or borough requires.

What’s different in Alaska

• There is a statewide business license. It is $50 a year, or $100¹ for two years. It is not the LLC filing, and it does not reserve your name.
• The exemptions are a short list. Fisheries, liquor-only sales, insurance, mining, employees, casual sales, investment clubs, and certain banks and credit unions. Selling anything outside the exemption brings the license back.
• Contractors register with the state. The fee regulation covers general, mechanical, and specialty work. A city can still require its own permit.
• Homemade food needs no state food permit. The exemption sets no limit on gross annual sales⁶, but it rules out wholesale, and local rules can still apply.

Do this

1. Apply for the Alaska business license unless an exemption covers everything you will do. It is required for the privilege of engaging in a business in the state. “Business” means a for-profit or nonprofit entity offering a trade, service, profession, or activity in order to receive a financial benefit. The fee is $50 a year or $100 for a two-year license. A sole proprietor who is 65 or older, or a disabled veteran, pays $25 a year, or $50 for a two-year license. A partnership or an entity is not a sole proprietorship, so it does not get that discount. One license for a line of business covers all of that firm's operations in the state, however many locations it has¹. You can list more than one line of business on the application.
2. Read the exemptions before you decide you are outside them. The statute excludes fisheries businesses, liquor sales under an AS 04.11 license, insurance, mining, work done as an employee, occasional goods or services by someone who does not hold themselves out as regularly in that business, investment clubs, and certain banks, credit unions, and mutual savings banks. If the activity goes past the exemption, the license is required. A liquor-license exemption covers only the sale of liquor.² A person who sells tobacco, electronic smoking products, or nicotine products still needs a business license and an endorsement of $100 for each location, even if another exemption might have applied. An oil or gas exploration, development, or production business also files a surety bond or deposit of $250,000¹.
3. Know which December 31 the license uses. An annual license covers the rest of the calendar year it is issued. A two-year license also covers the next calendar year. A first license issued on or after October 1 also covers the following calendar year for an annual license, or the following two calendar years for a two-year license. The department will renew a license that has been expired for two years or less. A license expired for more than two years cannot be renewed. Apply for a new one. A business license cannot be transferred. A new license is required when the business name changes or the ownership changes, except for adding or removing a professional title, or a word for the legal form when the owners stay the same¹.
4. If you apply on paper, plan for the wait. The business-license section does not offer expedited service. Hard-copy applications take 10 to 15 business days from March through September, and longer from October through February.² Filing online is the faster path the division describes. Knowingly working without the license can mean a civil fine of up to $300. The criminal penalty in AS 43.05.290 does not apply to engaging in business without this license¹.
5. Get the professional license if Title 8 regulates the work. A profession regulated under Alaska Statutes Title 8 needs its own license, separate from the entity and the business license³. That license is not the entity filing and not the business license. Start from the create-an-entity instructions, which point you to the professional licensing section. Find the licensing program for your profession there.
6. Register as a contractor if the work is contracting. The fee regulation covers general, mechanical, and specialty construction contractors. The application is $100. The registration and enforcement fee is $250 for the biennial period. General, mechanical, and specialty contractors are registered. Residential work above 25 percent of the value of the structure being altered needs a residential contractor license or endorsement.⁵ The endorsement fee is $250⁴. The licensing page and the fee regulation do not print a job size below which registration is optional.* Check AS 08.18 before you treat a small job as exempt. The city or borough can require its own permit too.
7. Selling food from home? Read DEC’s homemade food rules first. The exemption covers food made in a home kitchen or a commercial kitchen and sold without a state food permit or inspection. The food must be produced and sold in Alaska, for the buyer’s own use. Wholesale, resale, and consignment sales are not allowed. The law sets no limit on gross annual sales. Food that has to be kept at a set temperature to be safe, or that contains meat or poultry, must be sold by the person who made it⁶. Cities and boroughs can add their own rules, and Anchorage handles homemade food sales itself. A restaurant that serves meals on site is not this exemption. Check DEC before you open one.
8. Selling alcohol? Apply through the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office. The new application fee is $500. $150⁷ is added for a paper application, including one sent by email. The table lists more fees that depend on the license, the transfer, and the renewal. Use the row for the license you are applying for. The office also publishes an Alcohol Local Option page. Whether your community allows the sale is a question for that page, not a guess from a statewide rule.
9. Ask the city or borough what else it requires. A local permit, a zoning approval, or a local sales-tax account can sit on top of the state license. Sales tax registration is on Get your tax IDs.

What you get back

A state business license if you were required to have one, a professional or contractor registration if the work needs it, a food exemption only when you meet the page that applies, and an alcohol license if you sell alcohol. Each one expires on its own date. The business license date depends on the day it was issued, including the October 1 rule above. Write that date down.