Residency Migration Reference
Moving from Alaska to American Samoa: Residency, Taxes, and What to Prove
Alaska's 0% top income tax rate becomes Secondary sources cite individual rates ranging from roughly 4% to 15%; the American Samoa Government Tax Office administers the schedule directly and does not publish an English-language bracket table online, so a filer should confirm the current-year schedule directly with the Tax Office in American Samoa. This move trades a lighter tax environment for a heavier one, so timing income around the transition year matters.
Residency Tests Side by Side
Alaska does not use a simple day-count threshold; it applies a facts-and-circumstances test instead. American Samoa's statutory residency test uses a 183-day threshold.
| Factor | Alaska | American Samoa |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory Residency Test | Alaska has no statutory day-count residency test for income tax purposes because there is no state income tax to trigger one. The operative residency test in Alaska is the Permanent Fund Dividend eligibility standard under AS 43.23: an applicant must have been an Alaska resident for the entire prior calendar year, must intend to remain an Alaska resident indefinitely at the time of application, and must not have claimed residency in, or taken a residency-based benefit from, any other state or country since the end of that qualifying year. | American Samoa uses the same federal IRC section 937 bona fide residency test that applies to all five territories: the presence test, the tax home test, and the closer connection test, all of which must be met for the same tax year. This federal test determines whether someone's American Samoa-source income is exempt from U.S. tax; American Samoa's own independent tax code separately determines what is owed to the territory itself. |
| Domicile Test | For PFD purposes, the Department of Revenue defines a resident as someone who maintains their true, fixed, permanent home in Alaska with intent to remain indefinitely, or intends to return to and remain in Alaska after a temporary absence. Physical presence alone is not enough: before January 1 of the qualifying year, an applicant must show at least one affirmative step beyond just being physically present, such as moving household goods to Alaska, getting an Alaska driver's license or vehicle registration, signing an Alaska lease or mortgage, taking Alaska employment, or registering to vote in Alaska. | Closer connection functions as the domicile test, weighing permanent home, family, personal belongings, social/cultural/religious affiliations (which in American Samoa often includes matai title and extended-family/aiga ties), banking, business activity, and the jurisdiction of a driver's license and voter registration, against the total of U.S. and foreign-country contacts under Treasury Regulation 1.937-1(c). |
| Day Count Threshold | No fixed threshold | 183 days |
| Any Part of a Day Rule | Not applicable in the income-tax sense since there is no income tax day count. For PFD purposes the relevant count is cumulative days absent from Alaska during the qualifying year, not partial-day presence. | Any part of a day physically present in American Samoa counts as a full presence day, and a day spent in both American Samoa and the mainland U.S. counts toward American Samoa. Publication 570 includes an American Samoa-specific example involving a fishing-vessel worker: days spent on a vessel predominantly used in local and international waters do not count as a tax home outside the territory, a rule of particular relevance to American Samoa's tuna-fleet economy. |
| Presumptions | PFD applicants must show physical presence in Alaska for at least 72 consecutive hours at some point during the qualifying year or the year before it, on top of the year-long residency and indefinite-intent requirements. | None published |
| Safe Harbors | Allowable absence categories | 183-day presence test; 549-day / 3-year test; 90-day U.S. cap; Low U.S.-earned-income test; No significant U.S. connection |
Leaving Alaska
There is effectively no income tax exit-audit exposure in Alaska because there is no state income tax to exit. The real 'exit' risk runs the other direction and is PFD-specific: an Alaskan who moves away, or who is out of state so long the Department of Revenue questions whether they ever intended to return, loses eligibility for that year's dividend and can be required to repay a dividend already paid if the department later determines residency was not maintained. The PFD Division cross-checks applications against other states' benefit and tax records to catch people claiming Alaska residency for the dividend while actually living and paying taxes elsewhere.
Trailing Income
Not applicable, Alaska does not tax wages, business income, deferred compensation, or stock option income at the individual level regardless of when it is earned or paid.
Part-Year Filing
Not applicable, there is no state income tax return of any kind, part-year or otherwise, for individuals to file in Alaska.
Enforcement Methods
Common Exit Mistakes
Establishing American Samoa Residency
| Action | Agency | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Register with the American Samoa Tax Office and obtain filing instructions | American Samoa Government Tax Office | before the applicable filing season begins (recent filing seasons have opened in late January) |
| Obtain a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or ID, or carry a U.S. passport | American Samoa Government | required for domestic air travel identification purposes as of May 7, 2025; territory-wide REAL ID adoption was reported at only about 16% as of the announcement |
| Register to vote in territorial elections | American Samoa Election Office | confirm current registration windows with the Election Office |
| Understand land-access limits before assuming any purchase of a primary residence | American Samoa Land Commission / Governor's Office (for any alienation of communal land) | N/A, non-natives generally cannot acquire communal land outright and must lease instead |
Declaration of Domicile
American Samoa has no sworn declaration-of-domicile filing. Bona fide residency for U.S. federal tax purposes is established through the standard section 937 factual record (presence, tax home, closer connection), while American Samoa's own tax obligations are separately determined by A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 and administered directly by the ASG Tax Office.
Homestead
American Samoa has no homestead exemption program in the mainland or Puerto Rico sense, because the underlying land-tenure system is fundamentally different: over 90% of land is communally owned by extended families (aiga) under matai leadership and cannot be individually alienated to non-Samoans without Land Commission recommendation and Governor approval, or 30 years of adverse possession. Most non-native residents establish a home through a lease rather than a fee-simple purchase, which changes what 'proof of residence' evidence looks like compared to any other U.S. jurisdiction in this guide.
Voter Registration
Register through the American Samoa Election Office (https://www.aselectionoffice.gov). Because people born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals rather than U.S. citizens (unless a parent was a U.S. citizen or they separately naturalize), American Samoa residents, whether U.S. national or citizen, do not vote in U.S. presidential elections and American Samoa's Congressional delegate is non-voting; local territorial elections are separately administered.
Vehicle Registration Deadline
null days
New Resident Tax Traps
The most distinctive trap is assuming American Samoa functions like Guam or the USVI's mirror-code systems; it does not; A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 modeling on the Internal Revenue Code does not mean identical rates or identical rules, and U.S. Government employee wages earned in American Samoa remain taxable on the U.S. return regardless of bona fide residency status, unlike ordinary private-sector American Samoa-source wages.
What Changes on Tax
Alaska Top Rate
0%
American Samoa Top Rate
Secondary sources cite individual rates ranging from roughly 4% to 15%; the American Samoa Government Tax Office administers the schedule directly and does not publish an English-language bracket table online, so a filer should confirm the current-year schedule directly with the Tax Office
Moving from Alaska to American Samoa raises the top marginal income tax rate from about 0% to about 15%, an increase of roughly 15 percentage points.
Withholding Reciprocity
Alaska and American Samoa do not have a wage-withholding reciprocity agreement with each other, so this move follows ordinary source-state and resident-state filing rules rather than a reciprocity exception.
Community Property Transition
Alaska and American Samoa both use common law, equitable-distribution marital property rules, so no community property transition applies to this move.
Beyond Income Tax
Alaska
Capital gains: Not applicable: Alaska has no income tax, so capital gains realized by an Alaska resident are untaxed at the state level regardless of source.
Estate or inheritance tax: None. Alaska imposes neither an estate tax nor an inheritance tax.
Property tax: Effective rate on owner-occupied housing runs about 0.94%. Alaska has no general statewide homestead exemption; instead it runs a statutory Senior Citizen and Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption that municipalities administer, exempting the first $150,000 of assessed value on the primary residence of a qualifying owner 65+ or a disabled veteran, funded partly by state reimbursement to the local government.
Sales tax: No statewide sales tax. Many boroughs and cities levy local sales tax, and the average combined state-and-local rate works out to about 1.82%, among the lowest in the country because there is no state layer at all.
American Samoa
Capital gains: American Samoa taxes capital gains under its own code, modeled on but not identical to the federal framework; no separate 0%-style preferential regime comparable to Puerto Rico's Act 60 has surfaced in research, and bona fide residents should confirm current treatment directly with the ASG Tax Office.
Estate or inheritance tax: No separate American Samoa territorial estate or inheritance tax was identified in research; because most land is communally held rather than individually owned and cannot pass through ordinary inheritance to non-Samoans, estate planning in American Samoa is governed as much by customary land law (matai/family succession) as by tax law.
Property tax: Effective property tax rates are described by secondary sources as very low, well under 1% of property value annually, but the more important fact for most people is that over 90% of American Samoa's land is communal land held by extended families under the matai (chief) system and generally cannot be purchased outright by non-natives, so 'property tax' is a minor issue for most newcomers compared to the land-access question itself.
Sales tax: American Samoa has no general state-level sales tax comparable to a mainland state; secondary sources describe local excise-style and business taxes rather than a broad retail sales tax, and current details should be confirmed with the ASG Tax Office.
Who This Move Applies To
Travel Nurses
In Alaska
Alaska is a genuine travel-nursing destination (Anchorage, Fairbanks, and rural hub hospitals pay premium rates for remote-area coverage), but since Alaska has no income tax, a travel nurse working an Alaska contract owes no Alaska state tax on those wages regardless of tax-home status elsewhere. The only residency question that matters here is whether a nurse who relocates to Alaska long-term wants to pursue PFD eligibility, which requires a full prior calendar year of residency and is generally not realistic for someone on a series of short travel contracts.
In American Samoa
American Samoa has essentially no travel-nurse assignment market comparable to the 50 states or even Guam; the territory's single hospital system (LBJ Tropical Medical Center) is not a typical travel-nursing agency placement, so this persona is largely not applicable here. The underlying federal tax-home principles would apply identically if it ever were.
Professional Athletes
In Alaska
Alaska has no major professional sports franchises subject to jock-tax duty-day apportionment, and because the state has no income tax, it could not impose one on visiting athletes even if a franchise existed. This is a non-issue for Alaska.
In American Samoa
No major U.S. professional sports franchise is based in American Samoa, and there is no jock-tax apportionment regime. American Samoa is, however, well known as an outsized per-capita source of NFL and college football talent; players who grew up there and later earn NFL income are taxed on that income under the ordinary duty-day rules of whatever states and teams they play for, not under any American Samoa-specific regime.
Snowbirds, Long Visitors, and RVers
In Alaska
Alaska's snowbird dynamic runs in reverse from Sun Belt states: Alaskans who winter in Arizona, Hawaii, or the Lower 48 to escape the cold risk crossing the 180-day cumulative absence threshold for PFD eligibility if that time away is not documented against an allowable absence category, since 'wanted warmer weather' is not itself one of the enumerated exceptions. A long-term visitor to Alaska who is not actually relocating does not become an Alaska resident by physical presence alone, since PFD eligibility requires the pre-January-1 affirmative-step evidence and a full qualifying calendar year of residency, not just time spent in the state.
In American Samoa
Long-term visitors face the same closer-connection analysis as anywhere else, complicated by the land-tenure system: without the ability to buy communal land outright, a snowbird-style arrangement in American Samoa typically means a long-term lease rather than home ownership, which changes the kind of documentary evidence (lease agreements, utility bills in the resident's name) that would need to substitute for a deed or homestead filing in a residency dispute.
Remote Workers
In Alaska
A remote worker who physically relocates to Alaska and works for an out-of-state employer owes no Alaska tax on those wages, since there is nothing to tax; the employer's home state may still apply its own convenience-of-employer rule to the arrangement, so the exposure runs entirely through the other state's rules, not Alaska's. Alaska residency itself, separate from the tax question, only matters here if the worker also wants PFD eligibility, which layers on the year-long residency and intent requirements above.
In American Samoa
American Samoa has no convenience-of-the-employer rule, and because it runs a separate tax code rather than a mirror code, a mainland employer's payroll system is even less likely to be set up to handle American Samoa withholding correctly than for Guam or the USVI. A remote worker relocating to American Samoa should expect to actively manage employer withholding and filing status rather than assume standard mainland payroll processes will translate correctly.
Military
In Alaska
Alaska hosts significant active-duty populations (JBER, Eielson AFB, Fort Wainwright), and follows the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Military Spouses Residency Relief Act: a servicemember stationed in Alaska on orders does not become an Alaska domiciliary solely because of the posting. Separately, active duty military service is one of the PFD's specifically allowed absence categories, so an Alaska-resident servicemember posted outside the state on orders does not lose PFD eligibility for that absence, and a nonresident servicemember stationed in Alaska on orders generally cannot claim PFD residency based on the posting alone.
In American Samoa
American Samoa follows the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA), and Publication 570 specifically addresses active-duty members whose state of legal residence is American Samoa: their military pay is American Samoa-source income and follows the U.S. Government employee wage rules described above regardless of duty station, meaning it is taxable on the U.S. return even though they are American Samoa residents.
Airline Crew
In Alaska
Federal law (49 U.S.C. § 40116) limits state taxation of air carrier employees to their state of residence, which is moot for Alaska-domiciled crew since Alaska has no income tax to apply to any portion of their wages regardless of where flight time is flown.
In American Samoa
Pago Pago International Airport has limited scheduled service compared to Guam or the mainland, and American Samoa is not a significant airline crew base; the federal carve-out at 49 U.S.C. section 40116 for air carrier employees would apply the same way it does elsewhere if it became relevant, but this is a marginal persona for American Samoa specifically.
Tools for This Move
Alaska to American Samoa FAQ
Do I owe Alaska state income tax if I move here?+
No. Alaska is one of the few states with no personal income tax at all, so there is no state return to file and no day-count residency test to worry about for tax purposes. What actually matters in Alaska is Permanent Fund Dividend eligibility, which has its own separate residency rules under AS 43.23 that require a full prior calendar year of residency plus documented intent to stay.
Is American Samoa's tax system the same as Guam's or the US Virgin Islands'?+
No. Guam, the USVI, and the CNMI use a 'mirror code' that applies the U.S. Internal Revenue Code word for word with the territory's name substituted in. American Samoa has its own separate and independent tax system: A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 incorporates much of the Internal Revenue Code by reference, so the law is modeled on federal law, but rates and specific rules are set independently by the American Samoa Government, not automatically updated when Congress changes the federal code.
How long do I have to live in Alaska before I can get the Permanent Fund Dividend?+
You must have been an Alaska resident for the entire prior calendar year, taken at least one affirmative step toward residency (driver's license, lease, vehicle registration, voter registration, or similar) before January 1 of that qualifying year, and been physically present in Alaska for at least 72 consecutive hours during the qualifying year or the year before. Moving to Alaska in, say, June means your earliest possible qualifying year starts the following January 1.
Can I buy a house in American Samoa the way I would in any other U.S. territory?+
Generally, no. Over 90% of American Samoa's land is communally owned by extended families under the matai (chief) system, and non-natives cannot acquire that land outright; transferring communal land to individual ownership requires Land Commission recommendation and Governor approval, or 30 years of adverse possession. Most non-native residents live under a long-term lease rather than owning a home, which changes what proof-of-residence documentation looks like compared to anywhere else in this guide.
I'm an Alaska resident but I spend winters in Arizona. Will I lose my PFD?+
Only if your cumulative time away from Alaska during the qualifying year exceeds 180 days and that absence does not fall into one of the PFD Division's approved categories, such as documented medical treatment, active military service, or full-time schooling. Wanting to escape the winter is not itself an allowable absence category, so a snowbird who is away for more than half the year on that basis alone risks a denial.
Do I pay U.S. federal income tax on income I earn in American Samoa?+
If you're a bona fide American Samoa resident under the federal presence, tax home, and closer connection tests, your American Samoa-source income is generally exempt from U.S. federal tax. You do need to report worldwide income on your American Samoa return, and if you have non-American Samoa-source income above the filing threshold, you'll still need to file a U.S. return excluding the American Samoa income using Form 4563.
Can I claim Alaska residency for the PFD while my spouse and I actually live in another state most of the year?+
This is exactly the pattern the PFD Division screens for: an applicant who has claimed residency in, or received a residency-based benefit from, another state or country since the end of the prior qualifying year is disqualified. The division cross-checks applications against other states' voter, tax, and benefit records, and a mismatch is one of the most common reasons for denial or a fraud referral.
I work for the U.S. Government in American Samoa. Is my pay exempt like other residents' income?+
No, and this is a common and costly misunderstanding. Publication 570 specifically requires that wages and cost-of-living allowances paid by the U.S. Government for services performed in American Samoa be included in gross income on both your U.S. and American Samoa income tax returns, regardless of whether you are a bona fide American Samoa resident. A foreign tax credit is available for the American Samoa tax paid on the same income to avoid double taxation, but the U.S. filing obligation itself does not go away.
Does Alaska have a homestead exemption like Florida?+
Not in the general sense. Alaska's only statewide property tax relief program is the Senior Citizen and Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption, which exempts the first $150,000 of assessed value on a qualifying owner's primary residence if they are 65 or older or a disabled veteran. There is no broad homestead exemption available to all owner-occupants the way there is in states like Florida or Texas.
What if I'm not a U.S. citizen born in American Samoa? Can I still vote?+
People born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, not automatically U.S. citizens, unless a parent was a U.S. citizen or they separately naturalize. This status allows a U.S. passport and mainland residency rights, but American Samoa residents, whether national or citizen, do not vote in U.S. presidential elections, and the territory's Congressional delegate is non-voting. Local territorial elections are separately administered by the American Samoa Election Office.
I'm active duty military stationed in Alaska. Does that make me an Alaska resident?+
No, not automatically. Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, being stationed in Alaska on military orders does not by itself change your state of legal residence, and the same protection extends to a military spouse under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. Since Alaska has no income tax this mostly matters for PFD eligibility, which the posting alone does not confer either.
How many days do I need to be in American Samoa to count as a bona fide resident?+
183 days in the tax year is the cleanest path under the federal presence test, but there are four alternatives, including 549 days across the current and two prior years with at least 60 days each year. Meeting a presence prong alone is not enough; you also need to pass the tax home test and the closer connection test, which for American Samoa often weighs matai title, extended-family (aiga) ties, and lease-based home arrangements rather than conventional homeownership.
Considering the reverse move?
American Samoa to Alaska
Moving the other direction is a different fact pattern, not a mirror image: exit risk and establishment mechanics both flip.
View the American Samoa to Alaska guideAlso Consider, Leaving Alaska
Alaska to American Samoa Reading
Reviewed Against 16 Primary Sources
ResidencyIQ organizes public residency research into a reviewable reference. It does not provide legal or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional before making a residency decision.
Start your record
Build your Alaska to American Samoa mobility map.
Start with a free map, document your center of life, then upgrade when you need evidence, advisor collaboration, and audit-ready reporting.
Create Free Mobility Map