July 02, 2009

Governor Riley: Cities, Counties Have Until Monday to Notify State About Sales Tax Holiday

MONTGOMERY - Governor Bob Riley is reminding local governments they have until the end of Monday to notify the state if their county or municipality will participate in this year’s sales tax holiday.

The sales tax holiday this year runs from August 7-9. Alabama shoppers pay no state sales tax on certain items during those days and no local sales tax in participating cities and counties.

“Alabamians deserve this break from sales taxes. This tax-free weekend not only helps people save some money, it gives our retailers a boost and that helps our economy. So I hope we have more cities and counties participating than we’ve ever had before,” said Governor Riley. “The more that join in, the greater the benefit for the people of Alabama.”

Governor Riley signed the Sales Tax Holiday Act into law in 2006. In addition to temporarily waiving the state sales tax on certain items, the law gives cities and counties the option of waiving their own sales taxes to enhance savings for consumers and boost their local economies.

However, unless a locality has previously voted to participate annually and that decision hasn’t changed, they are required to submit a certified copy of their resolution or ordinance providing for the sales tax holiday to the Alabama Department of Revenue. The deadline for notifying the department this year is Monday, July 6.

As of July 1, 223 localities have notified the state they will participate in the sales tax holiday and 53 have said they will not. 195 localities have not notified the state yet about their status.

For more information on the 2009 sales tax holiday, including a list of localities that have notified the state of their participation status, visit www.ador.state.al.us/salestax/salestaxhol.htm