Bessemer local tax guide
Who pays Bessemer's local tax
Bessemer's tax attaches to the place of work. A commuter from Hueytown or Birmingham who clocks in at a Bessemer plant, warehouse, or office pays the 1% on those earnings, and a Bessemer homeowner employed elsewhere pays Bessemer nothing. The fact sheet's resident and commuter columns are identical because both assume the job is inside the city. No credit applies for tax paid to another city, and employees do not file a city return; the employer handles withholding and payment. Workers who travel between job sites should ask payroll which hours are treated as Bessemer work.
How Bessemer's occupational tax is figured
The tax is a flat 1% of gross wages, verified against the Alabama League of Municipalities list of cities with an occupational tax. It is a city tax, not a county or school levy, and it ignores the deductions and exemption that shape your Alabama return.
On a $40,000 salary Bessemer takes $400 and take-home pay falls from $32,691 to $32,291. At $60,000 the tax is $600, leaving $47,281 rather than $47,881. Each extra $1,000 of pay earned in the city costs the same 1%, no matter your bracket.
Worked example: a $75,000 Bessemer paycheck
A single filer at $75,000 owes $7,670 in federal income tax on $58,900 of taxable income. Alabama subtracts that federal tax before applying its 2%, 4%, and 5% brackets, producing $3,127 of state tax. Social Security and Medicare take $4,650 and $1,088.
Bessemer's 1% adds $750, so annual take-home pay is $57,715, or $4,810 a month. A worker with the same salary in Montgomery keeps $58,465 because that city has no occupational tax in effect.
Shift work, hourly pay, and the occupational line
Many Bessemer jobs are hourly, in distribution, manufacturing, and retail. Statewide, a full-time $20 an hour worker grosses $41,600 and takes home $33,907 before any city tax, and Bessemer's 1% comes off the gross pay on top of that. Overtime and shift differentials are wages too, so the city deduction grows with them.
Employers list the tax as a separate city or occupational deduction. Alabama Form A-4 adjusts only state withholding, so if the Bessemer amount looks wrong, the fix runs through your payroll department, not through a new withholding form.
Bessemer next to other Alabama cities
Bessemer and Birmingham both sit in Jefferson County and both charge 1%, so shifting work between them leaves a $75,000 paycheck unchanged at $57,715. Auburn and Opelika also charge 1%. Gadsden doubles the cost at 2%, or $1,500 on $75,000, and Montgomery collects no occupational tax.
Use the Birmingham calculator to confirm a cross-town offer, and the Alabama state calculator for jobs in cities without an occupational tax.
Tips for Bessemer paychecks
Confirm the worksite is inside city limits
Industrial parks along the Interstate 20/59 corridor can sit in Bessemer, a neighboring town, or unincorporated Jefferson County. Only work inside Bessemer's boundaries is subject to its 1%.
Watch overtime-heavy months
Because the tax is a percentage of gross wages, a month with heavy overtime raises the city deduction along with your pay. Budget from your gross, not your base rate.
A move home will not stop the deduction
Moving out of Bessemer while keeping a Bessemer job leaves the tax in place. Only a job located outside the city removes it.