Business license · Alaska

Does Your LLC Need a Business License in Alaska?

The short answer. Alaska requires businesses that do business in Alaska to hold the Alaska Business License, issued by the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. Not every business is covered; the details are below. Your local government may also require its own license.

Alaska Business License at a Glance

General state business license	Required (see State license)
License name	Alaska Business License
Issued by	Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing
State license fee	Varies (see Cost)
Renewal	Depends (see Cost)
City or county licenses	Not confirmed (ask your local government)
Trade and professional licenses	Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing

Read from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, last checked September 30, 2026. See the sources.

Does Alaska Require a State Business License?

Alaska requires businesses that do business in Alaska to hold the Alaska Business License, issued by the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. Alaska law exempts a fisheries business, the sale of liquor under a state liquor license, an insurance business, a mining business, banks and credit unions, an investment club, work done as an employee, and occasional sales by a person not regularly in business. A business that sells tobacco or nicotine products at retail needs the license and an endorsement even if it would otherwise be exempt.

You apply for the Alaska Business License with the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. You can apply online or on paper. Go to the application page.

What It Costs and When to Renew

The fee is $50 for each year of the license term, and a license may be bought for one year or two years. The reduced $25 rate is only for a sole proprietor who is 65 or older or a disabled veteran, so it does not apply to an LLC.

The license expires on December 31 at the end of the one-year or two-year period you buy, and a new license issued after October 1 also covers the rest of that calendar year.

City and County Business Licenses

We have not confirmed whether local governments in Alaska license businesses. Ask the local government where the business is located before you open.

Professional and Trade Licenses

Alaska licenses occupations regulated under its professional licensing laws through the Professional Licensing Section of the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. A business in a licensed profession must give its professional license number on its business license application. Look up Alaska license requirements.

Our verified guides for specific trades in this state:

See trade and business license requirements by state for every trade we cover.

Other Alaska Registrations to Check

Alaska articles of organization, the filing that creates the LLC itself.
Sales tax in Alaska, for what a seller registers for in a state without a statewide sales tax.
Alaska resale certificate, to buy inventory for resale without paying tax on it.
How to get an EIN, the federal tax ID most LLCs need to open a bank account or hire.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Alaska requires businesses that do business in Alaska to hold the Alaska Business License, issued by the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. Alaska law exempts a fisheries business, the sale of liquor under a state liquor license, an insurance business, a mining business, banks and credit unions, an investment club, work done as an employee, and occasional sales by a person not regularly in business. A business that sells tobacco or nicotine products at retail needs the license and an endorsement even if it would otherwise be exempt.
: The fee is $50 for each year of the license term, and a license may be bought for one year or two years. The reduced $25 rate is only for a sole proprietor who is 65 or older or a disabled veteran, so it does not apply to an LLC. The license expires on December 31 at the end of the one-year or two-year period you buy, and a new license issued after October 1 also covers the rest of that calendar year.
: You apply for the Alaska Business License with the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. You can apply online or on paper.
: We have not confirmed whether local governments in Alaska license businesses. Ask the local government where the business is located before you open.
: Alaska licenses occupations regulated under its professional licensing laws through the Professional Licensing Section of the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. A business in a licensed profession must give its professional license number on its business license application.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state's law and agencies say about a general state business license, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you which licenses your own business needs: that turns on what the business does, where it operates, and what its city or county requires, and fees and exemptions change between our reviews. Confirm your own position with the state agency named on this page, the city or county where the business is located, and any state board that licenses your trade before you open.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Alaska sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=43.70.020&secEnd=43.70.020AS 43.70.020, License required; application
akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=43.70.030&secEnd=43.70.030AS 43.70.030, Levy and computation of license fee
akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=43.70.105&secEnd=43.70.105AS 43.70.105, Exemptions
akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=43.70.110&secEnd=43.70.110AS 43.70.110, Definitions
commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/BusinessLicensing/BusinessLicensingFAQs.aspxAlaska CBPL, Business Licensing FAQs (professional licenses under Alaska Statutes Title 8) (archived copy)
commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/BusinessLicensing/BusinessLicensingFormsFeesAlaska CBPL, Business Licensing Forms & Fees (archived copy)
commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/BusinessLicensing.aspxAlaska CBPL, Business Licensing (archived copy)

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.