I am an oregon resident but work on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska and only came home for 8 weeks total for the year. Why am I having to owe $6000 to state taxes?

[xmasbaby0]

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[Hal_Al]

Q. Why am I having to owe $6000 to state taxes?

A. Because you are a legal resident of OR. As such, you pay OR income tax, on all your income, regardless of where earned. 

The general rule is: your report all your income on your home state return, even the income earned out of state. You file a non-resident state return for the state you worked in and pay tax to that state. Your home state will give you a credit, or partial credit, for what you paid the non-resident state. 

Since AK does not have an income tax, you do not have a non-resident return to file. But you still have to pay tax on that income to your home state.

When you worked in a state without an income tax (e.g. Texas or Alaska), there will be no credit, since there was no AK tax. In other words, having worked in a state without an income tax does not get you out of paying state tax on that income, to your home state.