Key takeaways
- Monthly is the default, and the return and payment are due on the 20th of the following month.
- The discount is available only if tax is paid before the 20th, so schedule payment for the 18th or 19th, not the due date.
- The December 20, 2026 due date is a Sunday and moves to the next working day, but aim to pay on the Friday before.
- A client can request quarterly, bi-annual or annual filing only before February 20, based on the preceding calendar year's liability.
- Local taxes can sit on the same login or on separate city and county accounts, so confirm each jurisdiction's filing route.
Where the return is filed
State sales tax is filed and paid through My Alabama Taxes, the Department of Revenue's online portal. For state-administered local sales, use, rental and lodgings taxes, the Department describes ONE SPOT as a single point of filing, so one return can carry the state and many local amounts.
Set up the firm's access before the first due date, not on the 18th. Ask the client for the portal username, the account number on their registration notice and the name of whoever holds the original login, then have the client grant your staff access instead of sharing one password.
How filing frequency works
Monthly is the default. A client may request a lighter schedule only on the preceding calendar year's liability: quarterly if it was under $2,400, bi-annual if it was under $1,200 or if sales fell in no more than two thirty-consecutive-day periods, and annual if it was under $600 or if sales fell in no more than one thirty-consecutive-day period.
Requests to change status can only be made before February 20 for that year. February 20, 2027 is a Saturday, so for 2027 treat the Friday before as the working deadline. A client whose 2026 liability came in under $2,400 should be reviewed in January, before that date.
Do not move a seasonal client to annual filing just because the dollar test passes. An annual filer's December and January cash-flow surprise is one return for the whole year, due January 20, with nothing in between to catch a coding mistake.
Due dates from November 2026 into 2027
A monthly return is due on or before the 20th of the month after the sales. October 2026 sales are due Friday, November 20, 2026. November sales are due December 20, 2026, a Sunday. December sales are due Wednesday, January 20, 2027.
The Department says that when the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the return must be submitted electronically or postmarked on or before the next working day, and electronic payment information must be transmitted by 4 p.m. Central on that day. For the November return that means Monday, December 21, 2026, assuming no holiday intervenes.
Quarterly filers owe on April 20, July 20, October 20 and January 20 for the quarter just ended, so the fourth quarter of 2026 is due January 20, 2027. Annual filers owe for 2026 on January 20, 2027 as well.
Build the firm's internal date earlier than the state's. A practical rule is client records in by the 10th, return prepared by the 15th, client approval by the 17th, payment initiated by the 18th. That leaves two days for a rejected payment.
The discount is the reason to file early
Alabama allows a discount if the tax is paid before the 20th day of the month in which it is due. It is 5% on the first $100 of tax and 2% on tax over $100, capped at $400.
Worked example: a client owes $1,000 for the month. The discount is $5 on the first $100 plus 2% of the remaining $900, which is $18, for $23. On $5,000 of tax it is $5 plus $98, or $103. The cap is reached at $19,850 of tax, since $5 plus 2% of $19,750 is $400.
The wording is before the 20th, while the return is due on or before the 20th. A client who pays on the 20th itself is on time but may not earn the discount, so tell the client to pay by the 19th. Note that the Department says the discount rate on non-state-administered local taxes may differ from the state's.
Late-filing penalties and what to do
The Department's guidance lists a failure to timely file penalty of 10% of the tax required to be paid or $50, whichever is greater, a failure to timely pay penalty of 10% of the tax required to be paid, and interest at the current rate. Penalty and interest are due if tax is paid after the 20th of the month in which it is due.
On $1,000 of tax paid late, the client loses the $23 discount and faces a 10% pay penalty of $100 plus interest. If the return is also late, the filing penalty applies at the greater of $100 or $50. The Department lists both penalties, so read the notice to see which were assessed rather than assuming they stack.
A zero-sales month still needs a return. File it, because a missed return on a month with no tax can still draw the $50 minimum filing penalty described above, and a late history makes the next conversation harder.
State rates and mixed-rate clients
The state's general rate is 4%. Automotive sales are 2%, manufacturing and farm machinery are 1.5%, and food or grocery sales are 2% effective September 1, 2025, down from 3%. Vending machine food products are 3% and all other vending sales are 4%.
The rate change matters for grocers and restaurants-with-retail. If a client's point-of-sale system still carries a 3% food category from before September 1, 2025, every sale since has been overtaxed at the state level. Ask for a sample of three receipts per category in the first month you take over.
Local taxes
Cities and counties add their own rates, and not all are collected by the state. The Department says non-state-administered local taxes may be filed through My Alabama Taxes and ONE SPOT, but the discount may differ, and some jurisdictions still want their own return.
At onboarding, list every location the client sells from or delivers to and write down, for each, which return it is reported on. Ask: 'Please send the city or county tax letters you have received, and tell us which locations you collect tax for.' Because every jurisdiction is due on the 20th and the discount may differ between them, reconcile the portal total to the point-of-sale report by jurisdiction each month, not just in total.
Records to collect each period
Request the same package every month, due by the 10th: the point-of-sale or invoicing sales summary by tax rate and jurisdiction, the bank deposit detail, any exempt-sale certificates for sales the client excluded, a list of refunds or returns, and the prior period's filing confirmation.
Suggested wording: 'Please upload your sales summary by tax rate and location for October, plus certificates for any sale you did not charge tax on. Reply NONE if there were no sales. We file on the 18th to capture the discount.' Send it by the 10th.
If gross sales do not tie to deposits within a few percent, ask for payment-processor reports before filing. Card processor deposits are net of fees, and cash deposits often lag by days.
Running this as a recurring request
Usual can generate the monthly records request for each client on a schedule, with a due date such as the 10th, and its reminders can skip weekends and holidays. A close-tracker view shows which clients have not sent their sales summary, so the firm sees who is blocking the filing before the 15th.
The portal login and the filing itself stay outside Usual. The firm still files in My Alabama Taxes and keeps the confirmation with the client's folder.