Code of Alabama - Title 11: Counties and Municipal Corporations - Section 11-51-183 - Certification and disposition of taxes; charge for collection and administration; redistribution of over-charges; warrant; fees

Section 11-51-183 - Certification and disposition of taxes; charge for collection and administration; redistribution of over-charges; warrant; fees.

(a) The Commissioner of Revenue shall deposit into the State Treasury all municipal taxes collected by the department under this division; and, on a bi-weekly basis, the commissioner shall certify to the Comptroller the amount of taxes collected under the provisions of this division for the approximate two-week period immediately preceding the certification and the amount to be distributed to each municipality, less collection and administration charges deducted, which shall be paid to the treasurer or other custodian of funds of the municipality within three days after certification thereof.

(b) The Department of Revenue shall charge each municipality its actual cost for collecting and administering the municipal license taxes. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, the charge shall not exceed two percent of the amount collected for that municipality.

(c) Within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year, the Department of Revenue, in cooperation with the office of the Examiner of Public Accounts, shall recompute its actual cost for collection and administration of local taxes for the preceding fiscal year. Any collection and administration over-charge shall be redistributed to the municipalities for which the department collects and administers local taxes on a pro rata basis of each municipality's receipts. No under-charge shall be recovered, either directly or indirectly, from any municipality.

(d) The Comptroller shall at least once each month issue a warrant on the funds collected under this division payable to the department for the amount of the charges as determined by the Commissioner of Revenue.

(e) The department shall not charge a fee to the municipality, city, or town 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 Section 11-3-11.3(i).

(f) The department shall make available to those localities for which it administers the taxes imposed pursuant to this section the same services that are made available to municipal governments pursuant to this division and Article 3, commencing with Section 11-51-200, of this chapter. In the event a general law establishes a system to remit municipal taxes or municipal business license taxes through a central portal provided by the Department of Revenue, such collection shall only occur through the portal when the levy is standardized with all other similar local levies regarding the point of collection, measure of taxation, due dates, discounts, and exemptions but not the rate of tax.

(g) For the purpose of this section, the terms collection and administration shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 11-3-11.3(i).

(Acts 1965, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 203, p. 272, §4; Act 98-192, p. 310, §3; Act 2018-150, §1.)

Last modified: May 3, 2021