40-25-70

Refund of tobacco taxes.

(a) For the purpose of this article, the following terms shall have the respective meanings ascribed by this section:

(1) DEPARTMENT. The Alabama Department of Revenue.

(2) FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN TRIBE. A tribe that is acknowledged by the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs as being an Indian Nation or Tribe.

(3) OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS. Smoking tobacco, cigars, stogies, cheroots, chewing tobacco, snuff, and other products taxable under this chapter excluding cigarettes.

(4) RESERVATION. a. All land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government, notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way running through the reservation, b. all dependent Indian communities within the borders of the United States whether within the original or subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within or without the limits of a state, and c. all Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-of-way running through the same.

(5) RESERVATION TOBACCO VENDOR. A seller of tobacco products which is an Indian nation or tribe, one or more members of such tribe, or an entity wholly owned by either or both, which sells cigarettes or other tobacco products, or both, within the boundaries of a qualified reservation.

(6) TRIBAL MEMBER. A person duly enrolled on the tribal rolls of a federally recognized Indian tribe located within the State of Alabama.

(b) A permitted wholesaler is required to stamp all packages of cigarettes and pay the applicable other tobacco product taxes on the monthly tax return for tobacco product sold to a reservation tobacco vendor in this state. A reservation tobacco vendor is eligible for a refund of the tobacco taxes paid on cigarettes or other tobacco products, or both, when these tobacco products are sold to tribal members of legal smoking age as specified in Chapter 11 of Title 28. The reservation tobacco vendor may submit a monthly refund petition with supporting documentation to the department. The documentation must include the reservation tobacco vendor's name, address, number of tribal members of legal smoking age, permitted wholesaler's name, date purchased, quantity purchased, quantity sold, brand of cigarettes or description of other tobacco products, or both.

(1) Refunds will be allowed to reservation tobacco vendors for tobacco products purchased on or after October 1, 2015, upon submission of properly completed refund petitions and supporting documentation. The reservation tobacco vendor shall have two years from the date of sale of tobacco products to apply to the department for the refund.

(2) The number of cigarettes subject to refund in any fiscal year purchased by tribal members within the boundaries of a federally recognized Indian tribe shall not exceed 14,600 cigarettes annually or prorated monthly for each tribal member of legal smoking age.

(3) No refund is allowed to tribal members for tobacco products purchased at other retailers located off the reservation.

(Act 2015-535, 2nd Ex. Sess., §3.)