Many Jefferson County employers have yet to file occupational tax data needed to calculate refunds (with list)

View full sizeSpecial master Ed Gentle.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- More than 60 percent of Jefferson County businesses have not provided the data needed to calculate worker refunds for Jefferson County occupational taxes in 2009, a list posted online today by a special master shows.

The special master, Ed Gentle, has contacted more than 13,000 businesses that withheld occupational taxes from workers during the refund period, Jan. 12, 2009-Aug. 13, 2009.

But nearly 8,000 businesses still had not filed the requested information with the special master by Friday, according to a spreadsheet posted on the official refund Web site.

The deadline to provide the information is Aug 15, which was extended from its original July 13 deadline because of the number of requests for extensions.

"Although we continue to receive data forms daily, we wanted to encourage those employers that have not submitted a data form to do so for the good of their employees," Terry Turner, a partner in Gentle's law firm, said in a statement Friday.

The list also was posted so workers could confirm whether their employer during the refund period had provided the information needed so they can get their money back.

A lawsuit filed in 2007 led to Circuit Court Judge David Rains' ruling in 2009 repealing the state law that authorized the tax on wages for most people working in Jefferson County and a related business license fee.

Rains allowed the county to continue collections while it unsuccessfully appealed his decision.

The county took in some $37.8 million, all but $21,000 from the occupational tax, before the Legislature passed a replacement version of the levies in August 2009.

But before any rebate can go out, the special master needs to know how much each employee paid in occupational taxes during the refund period, so he can calculate their share.

Once Rains approves the repayments, checks will be distributed to workers through the employer that withheld the affected tax.

The businesses will be paid a fee -- funded by the county -- for their efforts in providing the data, informing employees about the settlement proposal, and distributing the refunds.

The fee, 11/2 percent of the total all employees will be due in the automatic refund, will be paid by the special master after the employee data is submitted. The $31.2 million automatic refund pool represents 83 percent of the tax collections subject to rebate.