Alabama has adopted a new nexus rule outlining a business’s obligation to collect and remit local (county and municipal) sales and use tax, whether or not that business has a permanent physical location in the state. The rule will apply to all transactions occurring on or after January 1, 2014. Any seller responsible for collecting and remitting state sales or use tax with respect to a sales or taxable use must collect and remit the corresponding sales or use tax for the appropriate local jurisdictions – including home rule authorities. A seller may only avoid the obligation to collect and remit local sales and use tax on a transaction if the seller’s physical presence in the locality would not have been sufficient to create a state sales and use tax collection obligation if the transaction been an interstate transaction. The threshold used to determine whether a seller is obligated to collect and remit state sales or use tax for an interstate transaction will be used to determine whether the seller is obligated to collect and remit local sales or use tax by examining the contacts the seller has within each local jurisdiction where local sales or use tax is due. Activities that create a physical presence in a locality include delivery of goods in the retailer’s own vehicle, sales solicitation with shipment from outside the locality via common carrier and other activities where physical presence is established by the retailer. An obligation to collect and remit a local jurisdiction’s sales or use tax under this rule does not obligate the business to file a return for or pay any other local tax or fee such as a local business license. This rule does not address sourcing issues associated with the determination of where tax is due or in which local jurisdiction tax is due. (Rule 810-6-5-.04.02, Alabama Department of Revenue, effective November 29, 2013, applicable on or after January 1, 2014)