An Alaska paycheck has no state income tax line at all. That does not mean nothing is withheld. Federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare still come out, and they are usually the larger lines. The useful question for an Alaska filer is therefore not which bracket they sit in, but how much of the stub remains once the federal lines are taken.
Enter your salary to see a paycheck with a zero state line and the federal and FICA lines beside it.
One stub, with the state line at zero
Take a single filer with an $80,000 salary, no pre-tax deductions, paid for a full year. There is no state standard deduction to subtract, because there is no state tax to calculate. The annual figures are:
| Line | Annual amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $80,000 |
| Federal income tax | $8,770 |
| Social Security, 6.2 percent | $4,960 |
| Medicare, 1.45 percent | $1,160 |
| Alaska state income tax | $0 |
| Net pay before other deductions | $65,110 |
Federal tax here uses the 2026 federal brackets and the $16,100 single standard deduction: taxable income is $63,900, taxed at 10 percent on the first $12,400 ($1,240), 12 percent on the slice to $50,400 ($4,560), and 22 percent on the slice to $63,900 ($2,970). Social Security and Medicare together are $6,120. The state line being zero does not change any of those lines.
Zero is not an error, and filing status does not change it
A reader checking an Alaska stub for the first time sometimes assumes the state line was missed. It was not. Alaska has no state individual income tax on wages, so the calculator returns zero for single, joint, head of household, and separate filers alike. Filing status still matters for the federal line, because federal brackets and the federal standard deduction differ by status, but it cannot create a state line where the state levies no tax.
The same logic applies to a raise. A $5,000 raise in Alaska adds no state tax. It adds federal tax at the filer's marginal federal rate, plus Social Security and Medicare on the extra wages, until the Social Security wage base is reached. Comparing an Alaska stub with a stub from a taxed state therefore needs the whole stub, not just the state line, because the federal and FICA lines are identical in both.
What to check instead of a bracket
With no state schedule to check, the checks that matter are federal ones: whether the W-4 reflects the right filing status, whether a pre-tax deduction such as a health premium or a 401k contribution was subtracted before federal tax and FICA in the right way, and whether Social Security stops late in the year once the $184,500 wage base is reached. None of those checks involves an Alaska bracket, because there is none to get wrong.
This guide gives general information only, not a determination for an individual return. For how federal withholding works paycheck by paycheck, see the withholding guide linked from the paycheck hub.
FAQs
Do I still file a federal return in Alaska?
Yes. No state income tax does not remove the federal filing obligation. Federal tax is withheld and reconciled on a federal return in the usual way.
Does Alaska have a state standard deduction?
No, because there is no state income tax for it to apply to. The $16,100 figure in the worked stub is the federal standard deduction for a single filer in 2026, not a state figure.
Why does my Alaska net pay differ from the calculator?
Pre-tax deductions, after-tax deductions, and pay frequency all move net pay without touching the state line. If the state line itself is not zero on a real stub, ask the employer which tax it represents, because it is not Alaska income tax on wages.