The Holiday Edition of the Alabama Retail Quarterly should be arriving in your mailbox soon. If yours has yet to arrive, you can read it now online. Inside This Issue: Alabama 2015 holiday sales to near $11 billion Alabama Retail Comp…
Every year small package carriers FedEx and UPS evaluate their shipping rates and make adjustments that can have a substantial effect on you and your business. UPS rate increases will be effective Dec. 28, while the new FedEx rates take…
When Terry Shea stepped off the plane Oct. 7 in Washington D.C., she knew the next several hours would be a whirlwind. In less than 24 hours, the co-owner and vice president of Wrapsody in Hoover and Auburn and a member of…
Long before the Christmas lights are strung and the glittery décor starts popping up in window displays, retailers were hard at work preparing for the holiday shopping season. Store owners describe the months of November and December as “make-or break”…
Tax-exempts need certificates Retailers buying or selling for resale need sales tax license A notice the Alabama Revenue Department sent to retailers Nov. 4 about new certification requirements for statutorily tax-exempt organizations — such as United Way agencies and YMCAs…
Major trial lawyers in the state are actively looking for private, class-actions under the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act, or ADTPA, thanks to a July ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled that federal…
By Melissa Johnson Warnke Manager of Communications and Engagement Retail is the backbone of Alabama communities. In fact, 1 in 4 people in our state work in retail – it’s the largest private-sector employer. Our more than 4,100 members sell everything from food to…
While a new law deals only with tax-exempt groups, it could have record-keeping repercussions for retailers, innkeepers and other businesses that sell merchandise or rent rooms to the tax exempt, especially if the business doesn’t already have a process in place to…
Halloween has become one of the most popular consumer holidays of the year. According to new research conducted for the National Retail Federation. Nearly two-thirds of adults, 157 million people, will celebrate the holiday in some way. “We’ve seen increases every year in…
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses throughout the country are hoping to see passage of federal e-fairness legislation this year. Right now, they are disproportionately impacted by an online loophole that allows their Internet competitors to evade collecting sales tax. This artificial…