What is sales tax rate in Shelby county Alabama?

Answer 1

It can be difficult to calculate sales tax in Shelby County. Sales tax is computed at the point of sale (like a person buying something at a store) or computed for the delivery address, ex. shipped merchandise.

There is a 4% Alabama state sales tax and a 1% county sales tax in Shelby county. Any additional tax is based on the city. Sales tax is 'generally' 9% for most of the county, since most of the county is within the city limits of a city. However, for unincorporated areas (i.e. not within the city limits of ANY city) there is no city tax, obviously. In this case, the tax would simply be %5 (AL standard 4% + Shelby County 1%)

Note: You cannot use ZIP code as a method of computing the tax rate; sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. For 35040 (Calera) it would work, since Calera has no city tax (at least the last I checked, anyway). However, 35178 (Vincent), which you would think would be simple due to the smaller population, is a nightmare. The 35178 (Vincent) ZIP code spans not only multiple cities and unincorporated areas (out of city limits) but multiple counties as well. You practically have to get down to the street level to figure the correct tax for this ZIP. When in doubt, contact the county tax collector's office.

As you can see, there is no simple answer. Sorry!