If you are a business owner in the state of Alabama, odds are you recently received a letter in the mail from the Department of Revenue notifying you that beginning October 1, 2013, businesses can file their taxes through a new online system.
This system, known as ONE SPOT (Optional Network Election for Single Point Online Transactions), will ease the load on Alabama businesses by giving them a single website to visit each month to file their county and city sales, use and rental taxes, along with state taxes.
Before the ONE SPOT system, businesses were required to file different city, county and state taxes in different places at different times, often requiring significant paper work. So when a group of folks came to me during the 2012 session to discuss this legislation, it made all the sense in the world to me as a business owner.
However, it’s worth noting that businesses are not required to participate in ONE SPOT. It is completely up to each business owner to decide whether or not they want to use the system — which will save them time and money — or continue to file the way they always have.
I was proud to sponsor the ONE SPOT legislation. It will help existing Alabama businesses streamline the way they operate, and also encourage economic growth by making Alabama more attractive to new companies looking to locate here.
The My Alabama Taxes portal will allow you to sign up your business if you have not already done so. If you have questions, email onespot@revenue.alabama.gov.
I met with several of my legislative colleagues in Montgomery a few weeks ago to discuss how we can build on the success of ONE SPOT and continue to improve the business climate in Alabama.
We have created a Business License subcommittee and are currently finalizing the Alabama Business License Reform Act, which I plan to sponsor in the upcoming session.
Under current law, only certain businesses are required to obtain state and county business licenses. Many of the existing licenses are for antiquated endeavors, while certain other businesses, such as IT Firms, are not required to obtain a business license at all. This can be very confusing and, in turn, makes doing business in Alabama more difficult.
The Business License Reform Act will simplify Alabama’s business license laws by consolidating and eliminating more than a hundred existing state and county business licenses.
In an effort to make obtaining a business license simple and fair, every business with a location in Alabama will have to obtain a state business license. However, this legislation will eliminate all existing county business licenses authorized by a local act. Counties will be allowed to impose a flat business license fee on each location a business has in their county. This will be easier for both the businesses and the counties.
Similar to last year’s ONE SPOT legislation, this bill calls for the Revenue Department to create an online system where businesses can obtain their state business license, and eventually, all county and municipal business licenses, as well.
We should be doing everything we can to support our businesses. By continuing to eliminate the government bureaucracy in Alabama, we will not only improve existing businesses, but also encourage others to locate here in the future.
Alabamians have a long, proven track record of running successful businesses on their own. By giving them the tools to continue that good work, we all benefit.
Slade Blackwell is serving his first term in the Alabama State Senate representing Jefferson and Shelby Counties in District 15. For more information about Slade, please visit sladeblackwell.com or follow him on Facebook or on Twitter. To reach him by phone, please call 334-242-7851, or email him at sb@sladeblackwell.com.
