Taxes and Incentives
Mobile on the Move. Mobile area businesses have benefited from the comparatively low local and state tax rates. More often than not, the taxes impacting business are eliminated or reduced by local and state incentive programs. And, the state’s Alabama Industrial Development Training Program (AIDT) is ranked in the nation’s top workforce training programs for company-specific recruiting and training.
SOURCE: Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, 2008.
Download Graph
Local and State Taxes
All real property in Alabama is subject to state, county, and local property (ad
valorem) taxes unless exempted by law. Additionally, this condition holds for
all manufacturing and non-manufacturing equipment (including office furniture
and fixtures, computer equipment, and other items of personal property) if
located in the state of Alabama on October 1. All pollution control equipment
acquired or constructed primarily for the control, reduction, or elimination of
air or water pollution, is exempt from ad valorem taxes when said exemption is
specifically claimed. Alabama does not impose an inventory tax on finished
goods, work-in-process accounts, or raw materials stocks.
Real and personal property used for business, commercial, industrial, or
manufacturing purposes in Alabama is defined as Class 2 property and assessed at
20% fair market value. The property (ad valorem) tax rate per $1,000 of assessed
valuation is as follows:
| Ad Valorem Tax Rates | |||||||||
| Municipality | State Mills | + | County Mills | + | School Mills | + | Local Mills | = | Total Mills |
| Bayou La Batre | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 5.0 | = | 53.5 |
| Chickasaw | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 4.5 | = | 53.0 |
| Citronelle | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 6.0 | = | 54.5 |
| Creola | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 0.0 | = | 48.5 |
| Dauphin Island | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 5.0 | = | 53.5 |
| Mt. Vernon | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 0.0 | = | 48.5 |
| Saraland | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 3.5 | = | 52.0 |
| Satsuma | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 5.0 | = | 53.5 |
| Mobile | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 29.5 | + | 7.0 | = | 63.5 |
| Prichard | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 29.5 | + | 5.0 | = | 61.5 |
| Unincorporated | 6.5 | + | 20.5 | + | 21.5 | + | 0.0 | = | 48.5 |
All real and personal property in Alabama subject to property tax is valued at
fair and reasonable market value. Real property improvements are usually valued
using the cost approach to arrive at a replacement cost new, then depreciated
based on the condition of the property plus any obsolescence suffered by the
property. Land is usually valued using the market or sales comparison approach
reflecting what similar property is selling for. A value per square foot or
front foot is usually assigned.
Personal property is valued by using the cost approach to arrive at a
replacement cost new, then depreciated based on condition and obsolescence.
Depreciation (derived from tables developed by the Department of Revenue) is
then applied to the replacement cost. For more information regarding ad valorem
taxes please visit the following website for the "State of Alabama Property Tax
Index":
www.ador.state.al.us/advalorem/index.html.
Sales & Use Tax
There are three types of sales & use tax in Alabama. They are general, machinery, and automotive. The applicable rates for the various municipalities in Mobile County are as follows:Local Incentives
| General Sales & Use Tax Rates | |||||||
| Municipality | State Tax % | + | County Tax % | + | Local Tax % | = | Total Tax % |
| Bayou La Batre | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 3.50 | = | 9.00 |
| Chickasaw | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 4.00 | = | 9.50 |
| Citronelle | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 3.00 | = | 8.50 |
| Creola | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 3.00 | = | 8.50 |
| Dauphin Island | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 2.00 | = | 7.50 |
| Mt. Vernon | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 4.00 | = | 9.50 |
| Saraland | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 3.50 | = | 9.00 |
| Satsuma | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 3.00 | = | 8.50 |
| Mobile | 4.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 4.00 | = | 9.00 |
| Prichard | 4.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 5.00 | = | 10.00 |
| Unincorporated | 4.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 0.00 | = | 5.50 |
| Machinery Sales & Use Tax Rates | |||||||
| Municipality | State Tax % | + | County Tax % | + | Local Tax % | = | Total Tax % |
| Bayou La Batre | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 1.00 | = | 4.00 |
| Chickasaw | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | = | 4.50 |
| Citronelle | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 0.75 | = | 3.75 |
| Creola | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | = | 4.50 |
| Dauphin Island | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 3.00 | = | 6.00 |
| Mt. Vernon | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 4.00 | = | 7.00 |
| Saraland | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | = | 4.50 |
| Satsuma | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 2.00 | = | 5.00 |
| Mobile | 1.50 | + | 1.00 | + | 2.00 | = | 4.50 |
| Prichard | 1.50 | + | 1.00 | + | 0.75 | = | 3.25 |
| Unincorporated | 1.50 | + | 1.50 | + | 0.00 | = | 3.00 |
| Automotive Sales & Use Tax Rates | |||||||
| Municipality | State Tax % | + | County Tax % | + | Local Tax % | = | Total Tax % |
| Bayou La Batre | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 1.00 | = | 4.00 |
| Chickasaw | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 1.50 | = | 4.50 |
| Citronelle | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 0.75 | = | 3.75 |
| Creola | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 1.50 | = | 4.50 |
| Dauphin Island | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 2.00 | = | 5.00 |
| Mt. Vernon | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 0.50 | = | 3.50 |
| Saraland | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 2.00 | = | 5.00 |
| Satsuma | 2.00 | + | 1.00 | + | 2.00 | = | 5.00 |
| Mobile | 2.00 | + | 0.50 | + | 2.00 | = | 4.50 |
| Prichard | 2.00 | + | 0.50 | + | 0.75 | = | 3.25 |
| Unincorporated | 2.00 | + | 1.50 | + | 0.00 | = | 3.50 |
Local Incentives
Local Property Tax Abatement (Ad Valorem)
Property tax abatements are available for qualifying projects for a 10-year maximum period excluding school millage. Generally, the project is titled in the public body and leased to the private user with an option to purchase for a nominal sum at the end of the lease term.
Special Federal Incentives
- Gulf Opportunity Zone
- Enhanced Section 179 expensing for small businesses
- Fifty percent bonus depreciation for expansion or new building construction
- Increase in the Rehabilitation Tax Credit to help restore commercial buildings
- Employer-provided housing incentives
- Expansion and extension of the Employee Retention Tax Credit
- Extension of the net operating loss carryback period
- Reduction of demolition and cleanup costs
- Renewal Community
- Portions of the Mobile/Prichard Area (Brookley Industrial Complex included) are designated RC by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which runs through 2009.
- Tax credits up to $1,500 annually
- Section 179 deduction on depreciable property
- Zero percent capital gains rate for a minimum of 5 years; and
- Brownfields cleanup cost deductions
State of Alabama
- Capital Investment Tax Credit
- Program allows a corporate income tax credit of up to five percent (5%) of the initial capital cost per 20 years of qualified projects to new and expanding companies. The 5% is applied against earnings before taxes (EBT) on the corporate income statement
- Site Preparation Grant Program
- Alabama Act No. 97-645 authorizes the State Industrial Development Authority to sell bonds to make grants to counties, municipalities, local industrial development boards or authorities, or economic development authorities, airport authorities or public corporations, to pay for site preparation for land owned or possessed by lease by these entities.
- Sales and Use Tax Exemptions
- Credit is permitted for sales and use taxes paid to another state or subdivision thereof. The total credit allowed cannot exceed the amount of state or local sales and use tax liability. Exemptions are available on the purchases of construction materials and machinery & equipment purchased to use in the new facility, as well as materials or products that become an ingredient or component part of products sold by a manufacturer.
- Enterprise Zone
- Alabama’s Enterprise Zone Act of 1987 offers some of the best tax and non-tax incentives in the country. Mobile has three designations including:
- Employer’s maximum tax credit on operations in the EZ shall not exceed $2,500 per new permanent employee hired (applies to ANY state income tax liability;
- Exemption from state sales and use tax on building construction materials and machinery & equipment;
- Exemption from state sales and use tax on improvement to housing in an EZ.
- Industrial Development Bond Financing
- Local authorities may issue tax exempt bonds for financing industrial development for new and expanding businesses. There is no ad valorem tax assessment on land, building and/or equipment when financed by bonds. Sales and use tax exemption also apply.
- Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT)
- AIDT, often referred to as Alabama’s #1 incentive, is designed to recruit and train a company’s entire workforce to company specifications at no cost. In Mobile, courses are established in aviation, electromechanical maintenance, distribution control systems/instrumentation, office automation/desktop publishing and management. Other courses are custom designed for a specific company.
- Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
- Job training funds are made available through the federal WIA and administered locally by the Mobile Consortium (Mobile Works) to offer education and training programs designed to prepare individuals for entry into occupations that are in demand, as well as assist employers in their efforts to fill labor force needs in Mobile.
- Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ)
- The Mobile FTZ No. 82 is located within the Brookley Industrial Complex; the 1700-acre multi-use, multi-modal industrial complex in the city of Mobile. Approved usages include storage, processing, manufacturing and display of merchandise. Companies such as Atlantic Marine, Degussa and Zeneca are all active sub-zones.
SOURCE: Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, 2008.
back to topIncentive Program Resources
- Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Overview (pdf) - State and county incentive programs.
- Downtown Mobile Alliance - The resource for city of Mobile incentive programs in detail including TIF, Renewal Community, GO Zone, and Historic Tax Credit.
- Alabama Department of Revenue - Qualifications for state incentive programs and application forms as well as contacts that can assist at the Alabama Department of Revenue.