So you just went into Settings > Taxes and Duties > scrolled down to “United States”, scrolled down to “Regions you’re collecting in”, Select “Alabama” and edited the “Sales Tax Information” with your LOCAL tax ID instead of your STATE tax ID? That’s all you have to do? Is Shopify still collecting the 4% STATE sales tax when you ship everywhere else in Alabama?
Topic summary
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Core issue: Shopify Tax is charging Alabama customers county and city taxes outside the merchant’s home county, despite guidance that only state tax applies statewide and local tax should apply only within the business’s county (and no city tax if the business is outside city limits).
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Conflicting views: Some participants note many states require destination-based local tax collection statewide; the original poster cites Alabama Department of Revenue and local city/county offices confirming county-only collection for the business’s county and no city tax if outside city limits. Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) is mentioned as a possible exception mechanism.
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Reported fix (worked for some): In Shopify > Settings > Taxes and Duties > United States > Regions you’re collecting in > Alabama > Edit sales tax information, enter the LOCAL county tax ID (often starting with “LCL”) instead of the state sales tax ID. At least two users say this corrected over-collection.
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Open/ongoing: Others report the change did not stop charges to other jurisdictions. Suggestions include contacting the state for written confirmation, asking Shopify for a tax override, and verifying shipping tax rules. No universal resolution confirmed.