Alabama latest to opt for e-tax filing service

Alabama companies that file sales tax returns for as many as 453 different

taxing jurisdictions in the state can now look to one Web site for relief.

Birmingham-based Nationtax Online is offering one-stop electronic preparation,

filing and payment services for more than 300 of those jurisdictions.

Rhonda Jung, a company spokeswoman, said Alabama has the most taxing

jurisdictions in the country, adding the Louisiana is the second-highest

with 64. It is also one of only six states nationwide that allow local municipalities — cities and counties — to collect their own sales taxes.

Tax filers would pay $3.95 each month to Nationtax regardless of the

number of municipalities they file to. Jung said all filers have to do is

enter their sales information on the Web site (www.nationtax.com), and the

taxes are automatically calculated for each jurisdiction. She said jurisdictions

usually have different tax rates.

Filing electronically, she said, is more cost-effective, convenient,

faster and more efficient for companies that must file sales tax returns

monthly.

"If (companies) are doing business in every city and county in Alabama,

they're paying 12 times a year for each jurisdiction," she explained. "Think

of that in paper tax forms, and that is a lot of paper. Some companies have

two people on staff who fill out just Alabama tax forms. That's all they

do."

In addition to Alabama, the company offers business tax services to

11 other states, including Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana,

Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Vermont. The company, Jung

said, has plans to expand into 25 more states.