Alaska payroll setup for your first hire

Alaska does not take state income tax from paychecks.

There is no Alaska wage-withholding account to open. A federal Employee’s Withholding Certificate (Form W-4) still sits with the IRS. Alaska does not publish a state W-4. A payroll login is not a state withholding number, because Alaska does not assign one.

AS 43.20.011 is titled “Tax on corporations.” Subsections (a) through (d) were repealed in 1980. What remains in subsection (e) is a tax on corporate income. That corporate tax is not a tax taken from a paycheck. Alaska Administrative Manual 360.050, from the Division of Finance, says that with enactment of AS 43.20.011 in 1980, the legislature repealed the state income tax on individuals.

This is like New Hampshire, Wyoming, Texas, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington on that one point. Those states also do not take state income tax from paychecks. The unemployment rule is not the same. New Hampshire does not deduct an employee unemployment share. Alaska does. Hawaii covers a shop when one person works any part of a day, and Hawaii still takes state income tax from paychecks. Alaska’s one-person unemployment test does not come with a withholding account.

Register when one or more persons work some portion of a day.

Employment Security Tax collects unemployment insurance contributions. That tax is often called SUTA, state unemployment tax, or SUI, state unemployment insurance. Official pages say unemployment insurance contributions. This office is not New Hampshire Employment Security. It is not Hawaii’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

AS 23.20.520(10)(A) defines an employer as an employing unit which, for some portion of a day within the calendar year, has or had in employment one or more individuals. The Employment Security Tax handbook, last updated April 2024, says the same thing in plain words. A person, firm, corporation, limited liability company, or other organization that hires one or more individuals to perform services for its direct benefit during any portion of the day is an employer. A nonprofit path uses a $250-quarter or four-in-20-weeks test. This scorecard is the regular-business path.

The Alaska Employer Registration form says any person, firm, corporation, or other organization that for some portion of a day has employed one or more persons must register. The online path on that form is myAlaska. Create an account or log in. Open the Services tab. Under Services for Businesses, select Employment Security Tax. Under Employer Maintenance, select New Registration. Paper, fax, and email are also doors. The form lists fax (907) 465-2374, email esd.tax@alaska.gov, and mail to Employment Security Tax, P.O. Box 115509, Juneau, AK 99811-5509. The 2026 First Time Filers sheet starts online services at labor.alaska.gov/estax, then Online Employer Services, then the myAlaska login. The live page sends Online employer services to the employer services site. The same page says pay online using TaxWeb, the online employer system, by selecting Online employer services.

This is not California’s $100-in-a-quarter test. There is no 15-day California clock on the Employment Security Tax page. This is not New Hampshire’s $1,500-quarter or 20-week tax test, and it is not New Hampshire’s 30-day Employer Status Report. This is not Vermont’s $1,500-quarter or 20-week test. Hold the account number Employment Security Tax assigns. Do not substitute a federal Employer Identification Number, called an EIN, for that number. There is no state withholding number to mix it up with.

In 2026, deduct 0.50 percent from wages. The new-employer combined maximum is 1.50 percent.

The 2026 First Time Filers sheet prints the rate to use before a rate is assigned. The total maximum rate for a new employer is 1.50 percent. That total has two parts. The employee share is 0.50 percent. Deduct that share from the employee’s wages. The employer share is a variable rate. The maximum employer share for a new employer is 1 percent. If the assigned rate is lower, a credit is issued for later quarters.

The same sheet prints the 2026 taxable wage base as $54,200. Contributions are due on wages up to that base for each employee. Wages above the base are still listed on the wage schedule. They are not taxed. The rate FAQ prints the same 2026 row: wage base $54,200, standard rate 1.50 percent, employee rate 0.50 percent, employee total $271.00. If you do not have a rate, the FAQ says use the standard rate. That 1.50 percent standard rate is the combined total. It matches the First Time Filers maximum, not an employer-only rate stacked on top of the employee share. The 2026 industry-rates page prints the same split for each listed industry: employer rate 1.00, employee rate 0.50, total rate 1.50. The page says the total rate equals the employer rate plus the employee rate. The tax base on that page is $54,200.

The handbook says the employer deducts the employee share and sends it with the quarterly contribution report. It does not print the 2026 percents. Use the First Time Filers sheet, the industry-rates page, and the rate FAQ for 2026. New Hampshire does not take an employee unemployment share. Do not copy a New Hampshire employer-only rate onto Alaska. Do not copy Vermont’s Child Care Contribution onto this unemployment tax. That contribution is a Vermont withholding-return item. Alaska has no state withholding return.

The First Time Filers sheet says corporate officers are excluded from unemployment insurance coverage. Do not list their names or wages unless a Voluntary Election of Coverage for Excluded Employment is filed and approved. The account FAQ says sole proprietors, partners, and limited liability company members are not unemployment employees. They work for the profit or loss of the business. A shop that has employees still registers and reports those employees. That unemployment exclusion is not the workplace-injury exemption. The injury rule is a different statute.

File a quarterly contribution report. If the account number is missing, write Applied For.

The handbook says the report and wage schedule are due the last day of the month after the quarter. The quarter that ends March 31 is due April 30. The quarter that ends June 30 is due July 31. The quarter that ends September 30 is due October 31. The quarter that ends December 31 is due January 31. If the business ceases, file within 10 days after that date. An open account files even when wages are zero. The 2026 report is Form TQ01C, the Quarterly Contribution Report.

Online filing is required once a wage schedule lists 50 or more employees in a quarter, taxable wages reach $1 million in the current or preceding calendar year, or a payroll agent reports for the employer. A first hire under those lines can still file online. Paper remains a door until one of those lines is crossed. The account FAQ says you can send the quarterly contribution report before the account number exists. Put Applied For in the account-number field and send a payment. Figure the tax with the standard rate on the rate page. That standard rate for 2026 is the 1.50 percent combined total.

A quarterly contribution report is not the new-hire file. The September 2025 employer guide says Department of Labor wage information reaches child support months later. That delay is why the new-hire report is a separate clock.

New hire is a 20-day Child Support Enforcement Division file. It does not go to Employment Security Tax.

The new-hire report is a list of who you just hired. It is not a box on Form TQ01C. In Alaska that report goes to the Child Support Enforcement Division, called CSED, in the Department of Revenue. It does not go to Employment Security Tax. The September 2025 employer guide says report all W-2 employees within 20 days of the date of hire or rehire. Report the person again if a new Form W-4 has to be completed. Independent contractors are not required on that report. The guide’s online door is the Business Portal. The division homepage links that portal and a Business Portal page.

AS 25.27.075 is the statute. Report the hiring, rehiring, or return to work of each employee. A magnetic or electronic report is two transmissions a month, not less than 12 days apart and not more than 16 days apart. A report that is not electronic uses a Form W-4, or an equivalent form, sent by first-class mail not later than 20 days after the hiring, rehiring, or return to work. An employer with workers in another state may report to one state’s directory after notice to the federal child-support office. The statute sets a penalty of not more than $10 for each employee, and not more than $100 if the failure is a conspiracy to skip the report or to send a false one. The employer may charge $1 for each employee reported. The guide prints those same $10 and $100 figures and says Alaska has reduced fines to focus on cooperation.

Do not copy New Hampshire’s 60-day rehire gap onto Alaska. The Alaska statute and the 2025 guide do not print that gap. A rehire, or a new Form W-4, starts another report. This is not Vermont’s 10-day report to the Department of Labor. Vermont’s new-hire file sits with the unemployment office. Alaska’s new-hire file sits with child support. This is not a 15-day California clock.

Workplace injury insurance is due from the first employee. Alaska has no state fund.

Alaska calls this workers’ compensation. It is a private-market policy, or the assigned-risk pool, or approved self-insurance. It is not North Dakota’s exclusive state fund. It is not Washington’s exclusive state fund. It is not Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation monopoly. It is not Texas optional coverage. It is not New Hampshire’s licensed-carrier rule with no employee unemployment share. The unemployment account does not sell this policy.

The profit-employer page says each employer with one or more employees in Alaska must obtain this coverage, unless the Workers’ Compensation Board has approved the employer as a self-insurer. Coverage comes from the voluntary commercial market or the involuntary commercial market. Alaska does not have a state fund. If a commercial carrier will not write the policy, buy it through Alaska’s Assigned Risk Pool. The National Council on Compensation Insurance, called NCCI, administers that pool. The page lists NCCI at 800-622-4123 and ncci.com. Alaska has no reciprocity. An out-of-state employer with employees working in Alaska still insures that exposure. The page cites AS 23.30.025(a) for the rule that the insurer must be an admitted insurer, licensed by the Alaska Division of Insurance.

AS 23.30.075 says an employer insures with a company authorized to transact workers’ compensation insurance in this state, or furnishes proof of financial ability to pay directly. AS 23.30.045 says the employer is liable for and shall secure payment of compensation. AS 23.30.240 says an executive officer, or a member of a limited liability company organized under AS 10.50, who owns at least 10 percent of the business is not an employee under the chapter unless the policy specifically includes that person. The profit-employer page also lists a sole proprietor, partners, and a limited liability company member with at least a 10 percent ownership interest as exempt for themselves. Certain nonprofit and municipal officers are exempt unless the organization elects coverage. Those exemptions do not drop the employees. Family and friends who are employees still need coverage. A payroll login is not a policy.

How Gusto and Patriot describe Alaska

Alaska has no state paycheck-withholding number to confirm. Confirm the Employment Security Tax account and the rate on the notice, the 2026 First Time Filers sheet, and the rate FAQ. Confirm workplace injury insurance with an admitted insurer, the assigned-risk pool, or approved self-insurance. Confirm the 20-day new-hire file with the Child Support Enforcement Division. That file does not go to Employment Security Tax.

Gusto’s Alaska help article says Gusto works with Middesk (Gusto’s business-verification company) to set up state income-tax withholding and state unemployment insurance. The same article says the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development handles unemployment tax. That unemployment door matches Employment Security Tax. The generic withholding setup does not match AS 43.20.011. Alaska does not take state income tax from paychecks. Do not open a withholding account because a registration article names one. The article tells you to enter a combined unemployment tax rate and prints an employee share of 0.51 percent. That 0.51 percent is the employee rate on the rate FAQ’s 2023 row, not the 2026 row. The 2026 First Time Filers sheet, the 2026 industry-rates page, and the 2026 FAQ row print 0.50 percent. The wage base on those 2026 pages is $54,200. The article’s agency phone, (907) 465-2757, matches the Employment Security Tax page. Gusto’s forms list says Gusto files AK TQ01C and an Alaska new-hire report. Form TQ01C matches the 2026 quarterly contribution report. The forms list does not print the 20-day Child Support Enforcement Division clock. Read Gusto’s Alaska help article and Gusto’s forms list. See Gusto on the directory.

Patriot’s registration article, dated August 20, 2026, says register with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development on the Alaska Employer Registration form or online. That door matches the registration form. The article says employers without a rate use the 2026 standard rate of 1.5 percent, and that the employee share is 0.50 percent of wages. Those two figures match the First Time Filers sheet. The article does not print the $54,200 wage base. Use the First Time Filers sheet for the base. The article says employees complete a federal Form W-4 because Alaska has no state income tax. That matches AS 43.20.011. The article puts the new-hire report on an Alaska New Hire Reporting form with Alaska Child Support Services within 20 days of hire or rehire. The 20-day clock matches AS 25.27.075 and the 2025 guide. The live office name is the Child Support Enforcement Division, not Child Support Services. The article says workplace injury insurance is due if you have at least one employee, through a private provider or a state-operated fund. The first-employee line matches the profit-employer page. The state-operated-fund line does not. Alaska has no state fund. The assigned-risk pool is not a state fund. Read Patriot’s registration article. See Patriot on the directory.

Patriot’s taxes article, dated July 21, 2026, says Patriot calculates and files the employer unemployment contribution and the employee unemployment contribution on Form TQ01C. It says Alaska is one of the few states that requires an employee-paid unemployment contribution. That employee-paid line matches the First Time Filers sheet and the handbook. The article does not print 0.50 percent or $54,200. Use the 2026 sheet for those figures. Read Patriot’s Alaska taxes article.

What still sits on the employer

• Register with Employment Security Tax when one or more persons work some portion of a day. Use myAlaska, Online employer services, or the paper Alaska Employer Registration form. Hold the account number the office assigns. Do not substitute a federal EIN for that number.
• Do not open a state paycheck-withholding account. Alaska does not take state income tax from W-2 wages. A federal Form W-4 still applies. Corporate income tax under AS 43.20.011 is not paycheck withholding.
• Deduct the 2026 employee share of 0.50 percent from wages. A new employer’s employer share is at most 1.00 percent. The combined maximum is 1.50 percent. The taxable wage base is $54,200. Enter the rate on your Employment Security Tax notice when it arrives. If the assigned rate is lower than 1.50 percent, the First Time Filers sheet says a credit is issued for later quarters.
• File Form TQ01C for each quarter. Due dates are the last day of the next month. If the business ceases, file within 10 days. If the account number is not assigned, put Applied For on the report and pay the 2026 standard rate of 1.50 percent. An open account files even when wages are zero.
• Do not list corporate officers on the unemployment report unless a voluntary election of coverage is approved. Sole proprietors, partners, and limited liability company members are not unemployment employees. Employees of that shop are still reported.
• File the new-hire report with the Child Support Enforcement Division within 20 days of hire or rehire. A new Form W-4 starts another report. Independent contractors are not on that report. An electronic reporter sends two transmissions a month, 12 to 16 days apart. A paper report is a Form W-4 by first-class mail. Form TQ01C does not satisfy that clock.
• Buy workplace injury insurance before employees work, from an admitted insurer, through the NCCI assigned-risk pool, or by qualifying to self-insure. Alaska has no state fund and no reciprocity. Owners who are exempt for themselves still cover employees.
• Do not copy another state’s clock onto Alaska. Alaska does not use California’s $100-quarter test. Alaska does not use a 15-day California registration clock. Alaska does not use New Hampshire’s 30-day Employer Status Report. Alaska does not use New Hampshire’s rule that the employee pays no unemployment share. Alaska does not use Vermont’s Child Care Contribution. Alaska does not use Vermont’s 10-day new-hire report to the unemployment office. Alaska does not use Hawaii’s paycheck withholding. Alaska does not use North Dakota’s exclusive state fund. Alaska does not use Washington’s exclusive state fund. Alaska does not use Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation monopoly. Alaska does not use Texas optional coverage.

Related guide: How to pay employees is the paycheck. Alaska still deducts a 0.50 percent employee unemployment share in 2026.

Related guide: Employer payroll taxes percentage is the federal share on top of wages. Alaska’s 2026 wage base is $54,200. The employee share is 0.50 percent, and a new employer’s share is at most 1.00 percent.

Related guide: How to pay tips to employees is the federal tip report. Alaska still deducts a 0.50 percent employee unemployment share from wages.

Also forming a company in Alaska? Process Score compares registered agents there.