The rules where you work $17
A first 30 days checklist, everyday forms, licenses, workers’ comp and taxes for Alaska, with a yearly calendar. Instant PDF download.
Buy the packet: $17Digital product, all sales final. Informational only, not legal, financial, tax or business advice.
What Alaska expects from a new trade business
Alaska has no state sales tax and no personal income tax, but it does make every contractor register with the state, with a bond and insurance on file. There's a lower-cost handyman path for jobs of $10,000 or less. Lien deadlines can drop from 120 days to 15 once an owner records a notice of completion.
Register first, even for small jobs
In Alaska you can't bid or work as a contractor until the state's Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing has registered you. General contractors post a $25,000 bond, or $20,000 if you have the residential endorsement and work only residential. Mechanical and specialty contractors post $10,000. A contractor whose jobs are $10,000 or less, not split up to dodge the limit, posts $5,000. That's the handyman path, and it doesn't cover work that needs an administrator or the endorsement.
New homes of one to four units, or alterations worth more than 25% of the structure's value, take a residential contractor endorsement. Electrical and mechanical contractors need a licensed administrator on staff or be one.
You also show comp as required, plus liability insurance. Fines run up to $1,000 for a first violation and $1,500 after that, with an exception for small places off the road system. You can't sue to collect unless you prove you were registered when you contracted. A construction attorney can check your fit.
Source: Alaska DCBPL, Statutes and Regulations: Construction Contractors (AS 08.18), Rev. 09/21/2023 · General contractor application, Rev. 09/03/2025 · Alaska Department of Labor, homeowner's guide to hiring a contractor
Who to call: an attorney near you
Workers' comp: one worker, and it rolls uphill
Any employer with one or more employees in Alaska has to carry comp, or get approval to self-insure. The Division says part-time, temporary, family and friends all count, and the statute's exceptions are narrow. There's no state fund, so you buy from a private insurer.
Liability rolls uphill. If a sub doesn't secure coverage for its people, the contractor above it is liable and has to secure it. If the contractor doesn't, a project owner who hired in the course of business is on the hook too. A 1099 doesn't settle it: independent contractors have to pass a long test in the statute.
Owners: a sole proprietor or partner doesn't have to cover themselves but can elect coverage. LLC members and corporate executive officers with at least 10% ownership aren't employees unless written into the policy. The contractor application still asks LLCs and corporations for proof of comp, so ask the licensing division what it accepts.
The penalties are serious: a stop order, $1,000 a day for working through it, up to $1,000 per employee per day for going uninsured, and a $10,000 fine on conviction. An injured worker can also sue you in court. An insurance agent who writes contractors can sort this out.
Source: Alaska Workers' Compensation Act (AS 23.30), saved from the Alaska Legislature's site · Alaska Division of Workers' Compensation, requirements for employers · Employer's Guide to the Alaska Workers' Compensation Act, Rev. Sept 2022 · General contractor application, Rev. 09/03/2025
Who to call: an insurance agent near you
Getting paid: 120 days, unless the owner shortens it
Alaska uses the same lien rules for homes and commercial jobs. Your clock depends on whether the owner records a notice of completion:
- No notice of completion: record your claim of lien within 120 days after you finish your contract or stop furnishing labor or materials.
- Notice of completion, and you never gave a notice of right to lien or you got advance notice of the recording: you have just 15 days after it's recorded to record a claim of lien or a notice of right to lien. Nobody has to warn you if you never gave the notice.
- Back on 120 days: if you record a notice of right to lien before or within those 15 days, or you gave one and got no advance notice.
- Sue within 6 months of recording your claim, or within 6 months after an extension notice recorded in that first 6 months.
A notice of right to lien is optional and goes out before you start. It makes the owner prove they didn't know of or consent to your work. Record it too: a recorded mortgage beats your lien unless your claim or notice was recorded first. A construction attorney can set this up for your jobs.
Home jobs: no owner-occupied exception. The homestead law appears not to stop a lien for labor or materials. A contract to build or remodel a home needs the state's defect claim notice on its own page to keep your right to offer a fix, and a door-to-door sale carries a five-business-day right to revoke.
Source: AS 34.35, Liens (AS 34.35.050 to .120 for mechanics and materialmen), saved from the Alaska Legislature's site · Homestead and exemptions (AS 09.38) · Construction defect claims (AS 09.45.881 to .899) · Door-to-door sales (AS 45.02.350)
Who to call: an attorney near you
No state sales tax, but local tax can apply
Alaska has no statewide sales tax. Many cities and boroughs have their own. The state's January 2025 report lists rates from 0 to 7%: none in Anchorage or Fairbanks, 5% in Juneau, 7% in Kodiak. Some change with the season, and rates can change.
State law gives municipalities broad room to tax sales, rents and services, so the rules on materials and labor differ from town to town. A city and a borough can both levy a tax, and a borough can exempt what a city inside it already taxes. The state's report says a municipality can't tax a construction contract awarded by a state agency, though that limit appears not to bind home rule municipalities.
Call the finance or sales tax office in each place you work before you price the job. A CPA who works with contractors can help if you work in several towns.
Source: Alaska Office of the State Assessor, Alaska Taxable 2024 (January 2025) · Alaska Department of Revenue, sales and use tax
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
LLC: $250 to form, $100 every two years, plus a business license
Forming an LLC with the state's Corporations section costs $250. A free initial report is due within 6 months. After that comes a $100 biennial report, due January 2 of even years if you formed in an even year, odd years if you formed in an odd one. On or after February 2 it's $137.50. Alaska also requires a state business license for doing business, at $50 a year. That's separate from your contractor registration, and the contractor application says it comes after the registration.
Alaska has no individual income tax, so LLC profit isn't taxed by the state on your personal return. You still owe federal tax. Whether an S-corp election saves you money is a numbers question for a CPA who works with contractors.
Source: Alaska Corporations Section, forms and fees · Alaska Corporations Section, biennial report FAQs · Alaska Articles of Organization, domestic LLC (form 08-0484) · Alaska Business Licensing statutes (AS 43.70) · Alaska Department of Revenue, personal income
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
Education, not legal or tax advice. Rules change. Confirm anything here with a licensed pro in Alaska before you rely on it. Last updated November 2026.