Alaska rules that touch your website, calls and email

Federal law governs texting and email everywhere in the country, so start with our guides on the TCPA and recording business calls. This page covers the Alaska rules layered over them. Nothing here is legal advice, and the facts are current to October 2026.

What must Alaska contractor advertising show?

AS 08.18.051(b) says that all advertising, contracts, correspondence, cards, signs, posters and documents a contractor prepares for the contracting business must show the contractor's name, mailing address and the address of the principal place of business. Advertising and contracts must also include the contractor's registration number. Alaska calls the state credential a registration, and the number is the one on your certificate from the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing.

The statute has a website provision. An advertisement that directs customers to your website or landing page satisfies the rule if the ad states that the required information is on that site and the site contains it. The Legislature's bill record for HB 402 (Chapter 57, 2022) gives an effective date of November 8, 2022. For a short ad such as a truck door or a directory listing, write "Reg. number, addresses and details at yourdomain.com" and put the full block on the site.

Subsection (c) applies to people, not paper. Contractors and their employees, solicitors and agents must use their true names and addresses and the true name of the contractor firm whenever they act as a contractor. Subsection (a) adds that a contractor registered under one name may not act under any other name unless that name is also registered. That matters for a website that uses a trade name or a lead-generation brand different from the registered name: the registered name has to appear on the site, and any second name has to be registered itself.

Home inspectors have their own version. Under AS 08.18.023, the pre-inspection document and the written inspection report must each include the inspector's registration number. If your inspection reports come out of software or a client portal, make the number a fixed field.

The registration also carries a bond. AS 08.18.071 sets it at $25,000 for a general contractor, $20,000 for a general contractor with the residential endorsement who does only residential work, $10,000 for a mechanical or specialty contractor or home inspector, and $5,000 for a project of $10,000 or less. Our Alaska contractor licenses guide explains who needs which. The Department of Law's consumer pages warn homeowners that people sometimes say "licensed and insured" when they hold only a business license and liability insurance, so a visible registration number on your website does real work.

Can you record calls in Alaska?

AS 42.20.310 prohibits using a device to hear or record a conversation, in person or by phone, without the consent of a party to it. You are a party to every call your business takes, so recording through your own lines, a tracking number or an AI receptionist has the consent the statute needs. A caller in another state may have stricter protection, so open with a short recording notice. The AI receptionist guide has script ideas.

What are Alaska's rules on sales calls and texts?

AS 45.50.475 is Alaska's own do-not-call statute, and a violation counts as an unfair trade practice under AS 45.50.471(b)(41). A person violates it by:

• soliciting a customer whose number has been on the national do-not-call registry for the minimum time that registry requires;
• soliciting a customer who has told the caller, or the business the caller represents, not to call that number;
• placing a call that uses an automated or recorded message as an advertisement or solicitation.

The statute defines a telephone solicitation as a call to a customer at home or on a cell phone to encourage buying property, goods or services. It excludes calls made in response to the customer's own request, business-to-business calls, and calls to someone who bought from you or the business you call for within the last 18 months, unless that person asked you to stop. A written request is presumed received 10 days after mailing. That 18-month exclusion helps a service company with a customer list, but it ends when the customer says stop, so log every request.

The statute also gives an employer a defense. A company is not liable for a call that broke its own policy and resulted from good-faith error if it adopted written procedures, trained its people, and the call went against them. An individual caller has a similar defense if the call was unintended and the caller did not recklessly disregard policies that would have prevented it.

A second chapter, AS 45.63, regulates telephone sellers: people who make substantially the same offer to two or more persons by phone. They must register with the Department of Law at least 30 days before a solicitation campaign and get a signed written contract before taking payment, and buyers get a seven-day refund window. Section 45.63.080 exempts a person who holds an AS 08.18 contractor registration and is acting within it from the registration, fee, written-contract and finality-of-sale provisions (the remaining seller duties, such as refunds for defective or misrepresented services, are not on the exemption list). A registered contractor selling its own contracted work is therefore outside the registration duty. If you sell something outside your registration, such as a product or a plan separate from your trade, ask the Department of Law first, because selling without registering is a class C felony under AS 45.63.060.

The chapter's definition of telephonic means includes electronic communication between computing devices and written notices urging a person to call. We did not find Alaska guidance on whether either statute reaches marketing texts, so treat texts under the federal TCPA and our texting compliance mistakes page.

What does Alaska's door-to-door rule mean for phone and online quotes?

AS 45.02.350 says a contract for goods or services of $10 or more from a person soliciting a door-to-door sale must let the buyer revoke the offer within five business days of entering the contract. The seller must give written notice of that right at the time of the sale. Revocation is effective on tender of rejected goods or on posting a registered letter of rejection. A door-to-door sale occurs when the seller or a representative personally solicits the sale and the buyer's agreement is made at a place other than the seller's place of business. The statute then defines "personally" to mean in person or by telephone.

Several transactions fall outside the definition, including one where the buyer started the contact and the goods or services are needed for a bona fide immediate personal emergency, and one where the buyer started the contact and specifically asked the seller to visit the home to repair or maintain the buyer's personal property. A customer who finds you through your website and asks for an estimate generally started the contact, although the statute does not name estimates as an exception. Cold calls or knocking on doors, followed by a signature on the spot, is the case the rule was written for. If you canvass neighborhoods after a storm, put the five-business-day notice on the contract. Our service contract guide lists what else belongs there.

Is a service invoice taxed in Alaska?

The Office of the State Assessor says plainly that the State of Alaska does not levy a sales tax. Cities and boroughs may, and state law gives them broad authority to decide what is taxable. Whether a mowing, plumbing or snow-plowing invoice is taxed therefore depends on the municipality where the work is done, and the state cannot give you the forms. Ask each municipality where you work, and check the annual publication Alaska Taxable, which lists every municipality that levies a tax. Our sales tax table shows how other states differ. When invoices come out of software, set the tax by job location, not by business address.

What this means for your setup

• Website: show the legal name as registered, the registration number, and both addresses in the footer. That lets a short ad rely on the website provision. Our website service builds that in.
• Business phone line and AI receptionist: recording is within AS 42.20.310 for calls you are on. Add a one-line notice anyway, and load do-not-call requests into the system so outbound calls skip them. See phone systems.
• Email: the Alaska statutes covered here address phone solicitation. No separate Alaska email statute was part of our research here, so keep CAN-SPAM basics: your mailing address and a working unsubscribe.
• Quotes and invoices: add the five-business-day notice if you sell away from your place of business after unsolicited contact, and tax by municipality.

Statutes and rules change. Confirm with the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing and the Department of Law before acting.

Frequently asked questions