The Alabama Streamlined Sales Tax Commission Issues Its Report; What’s Next?

As we reported last month, the ten-member Alabama Streamlined Sales Tax Commission issued its preliminary report and recommendations, and those recommendations have generally been well received by the business community. The report is subject to public comment until Thursday, January 12 and constitutes Phase I of II of the Commission’s work.

Most notably, the Commission members unanimously agreed that the Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR) would be the “single entity administrator” if—but only if—Congress enacts either the Main Street Fairness Act (S. 1452 or H.R. 2701) or one of the two more recently-introduced pieces of legislation, the Marketplace Equity Act of 2011 (H.R. 3179) and the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2011 (S. 1832), or a combination thereof. If that were to occur, and the Alabama Legislature were to pass conforming legislation, the State of Alabama would rejoin the vast majority of states that require their department of revenue or similar taxing authority to be the sole administrator for both state and local sales taxes. We are closely monitoring Congressional debates over the three bills, following a lengthy and sometimes heated hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 30, 2011.

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