§ 11-3-11.3 — Collection of Local Taxes - Department of Revenue

Alabama § 11-3-11.3

• Jurisdiction: Alabama
• Title 11: Counties and Municipal Corporations
• Ch. 3: County Commission
• Art. 1: General Provisions

Text

(a) Counties may, upon request of the county commission, engage the Department of Revenue to collect and administer any county sales, use, rental, lodgings, tobacco, or other local taxes for which there is a corresponding state levy. Subject to subsections (d) and (e) below, the department shall collect and administer a county sales, use, rental, lodgings, tobacco, or other tax for which there is a corresponding state levy on behalf of the requesting county. Any county sales, use, rental, or lodgings tax levy administered and collected by the Department of Revenue pursuant to this section, whether the levy is imposed pursuant to the authority of Section 40-12-4, or any general, special, or local act of the Legislature, shall parallel the corresponding state tax levy, except for the rate of tax, and shall be subject to all definitions, exceptions, exemptions, proceedings, requirements, provisions, rules, regulations, direct pay permits and drive-out certificate procedures, statutes of limitation, penalties, fines, punishments, and deductions as applicable to the corresponding state tax, except where otherwise provided in this section, including provisions for the enforcement and collection of taxes. The Department of Revenue shall make available to those counties for which it collects and administers a sales, use, rental, or lodgings tax collected and administered pursuant to this section the same services which are made available to municipal governments pursuant to Division 4 of Article 2 of Chapter 51 and Article 3 of Chapter 51.
(b) The department shall prepare and distribute those reports, forms, and other information as may be necessary to provide for its collection and administration of any county tax it collects and administers and, on request, shall make all reports available for inspection by the governing body of the county. In collecting and administering a county sales, use, rental, or lodgings tax, the department shall have all the authority and duties as it has in connection with the collection and administration of the corresponding state tax including, without limitation, the provisions of Chapters 2A, 12, 23, and 26 of Title 40.
(c)(1) The Commissioner of Revenue shall deposit into the State Treasury all county taxes collected and, on a bi-weekly basis, shall certify to the Comptroller the amount of taxes collected for the approximate two-week period immediately preceding the certification and the amount, less the department’s actual cost of collection and administration, to be distributed to each county and which shall be paid to the treasurer or other custodian of funds of the county within three days after certification thereof.
(2) The department shall charge each county the actual cost to the department for collecting and administering a tax. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, however, the charge shall not exceed two percent of the amount collected for each county. At least once each month, the Comptroller shall issue a warrant to the department for the collection and administration charges due as determined by the Commissioner of Revenue. Payment shall be from funds collected under this section and shall be the actual cost of collection and administration, not to exceed two percent of the amount collected for each county.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the department shall not charge a fee to the county for the cost of filing, payment processing, and remittance services relating to any tax authorized to be filed under the ONE SPOT system of the department. References in this subsection to filing, payment processing, and remittance services shall mean and refer only to the ONE SPOT system to file and pay taxes authorized to be filed thereunder, and shall not include the collection and administration of local taxes as defined in subsection (i).
(4) Within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year, the department, in cooperation with the office of the Examiner of Public Accounts, shall recompute its actual costs for collection and administration of county taxes for the preceding fiscal year. Any collection and administration over-charge shall be redistributed to the counties for which the department collects and administers local taxes, on a pro rata basis of each county’s receipts. No under-charge shall be recovered, either directly or indirectly, from any county.
(d) Except where the department is collecting on July 1, 1998, any county which has a tax levy that will be collected and administered by the department pursuant to the provisions of this section shall forward a certified copy of the enabling ordinance or resolution to the department at least 60 days prior to the first day of the month on which it is to begin collecting and administering the tax.
(e) A new levy, or a levy changed by an amendment of a heretofore adopted levy, which will be collected and administered under this section shall not be subject to collection and administration by the department until the first day of the month following the expiration of 60 days after receipt by the department of a certified copy of the enabling ordinance or resolution with any amendment thereto.
(f) The department shall from time to time issue such rules for making returns and for ascertainment, assessment, collection, and administration of taxes subject to the provisions of this section as it may deem necessary to enforce its provisions and shall make available any municipal or county government a copy of those rules. Upon request, the department shall furnish any taxpayer with a copy of those rules.
(g) Any self-administered county governing body, as defined in Section 40-2A-3(21), may elect, by the adoption of an ordinance or resolution, to assess interest on any tax delinquency. Any such assessment of interest shall be consistent with the provisions of Section 40-23-2.1. Any self-administered county governing body may also elect, by the adoption of an ordinance or resolution, to pay interest on any refund of tax erroneously paid. In the event that the governing body elects to assess interest on any tax delinquency, the governing body must also elect to pay interest, at the same rate charged by the county on tax delinquencies, on any refund of tax erroneously paid. The applicable interest rate to be charged by or due from the county shall be determined pursuant to Section 40-1-44. References in this subsection to “erroneously paid” taxes on which interest shall be due to the taxpayer shall only mean and refer to taxes paid to the self-administered county or its agent as a result of any error, omission, or inaccurate advice by or on behalf of the self-administered county, including in connection with a prior examination of its books and records by the self-administered county or its agent.
(h) The applicable interest rate to be assessed on any tax delinquency or paid on any refund of erroneously paid taxes with respect to all county sales, use, rental, and lodgings tax levies collected by the department shall be determined in accordance with Section 40-1-44.
(i) For the purpose of this section, the terms collection and administration are defined as the act or process of managing local taxes and local tax assignments; this process includes, but is not limited to, any or all functions required or performed, or both, to receive, reconcile, process, audit, assess, collate, and distribute local taxes.

Legislative History

(Act 98-192, p. 310, §4; Act 2017-415, §1; Act 2018-150, §1.)