One window, one item
Pick the item you can restock fastest and make it the BOGO item for the October window. Because the free unit is the same item, the cost to you is one extra unit of product, which you can count before the window opens.
Birmingham: a 4 percent city tax on top of the state's, and an October of event weekends for a BOGO offer
Birmingham adds a city sales tax of 4 percent to the state's, and Jefferson County adds 2 percent more, so a taxable delivery to an address inside the city and the county comes to 10 percent by our addition of the Department of Revenue's October 2026 rate rows. Food has its own rows: the city's grocery rate is 4 percent and the county's is 2 percent, which with the state's 2 percent food rate comes to 8 percent. That matters to a Shopify seller in two ways. A store based here that delivers locally has to read the local rows, not the state page, and a seller who runs a buy one get one offer has to keep the FTC's rules on the word free in view. The city also has an October full of events: the Barber Vintage Festival, held at Barber Motorsports Park, listed its 21st edition for October 9 to 11, 2026, and the Magic City Classic's own site lists the game at Legion Field for October 31, 2026. Neither organizer has posted a 2027 date, so this page treats October as a recurring month and plans the offer around what the FTC's guide on the word free allows. This is not tax advice; confirm with the Alabama Department of Revenue.
A BOGO window for an October of event weekends
- Before you set the price
Work out what a Birmingham shopper actually pays. A delivery inside the Jefferson County part of the city is 10 percent by our addition of the Department's rows for general goods and 8 percent for food, and a Shelby County address uses a different county row. A BOGO changes the price a shopper pays, not the rate. How the Department treats a free unit is not in the rate file and this page cites no ruling on it, so confirm that before you promise a tax-inclusive price.
- When you write the offer
The FTC's guide treats Buy 1-Get 1 Free as an offer that needs extreme care. State the terms next to the offer, keep the regular price of the paid item the one you really charge, and do not raise it for the window. If the second unit has to be the same item, say so in the headline.
Source: eCFR: 16 CFR 251.1, Guide concerning use of the word Free (paragraph a)
- The October event weekends
Both the Barber Vintage Festival and the Magic City Classic are October events, and neither organizer has posted 2027 dates. Schedule one BOGO window for October and tighten it to the weekends when the organizers post them, instead of guessing.
Source: Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum: Barber Vintage Festival
- Each month
Reopen the Department's rate file before you reprint any tax statement. It is updated monthly, and a city or county row can change from one month to the next.
Source: Alabama Department of Revenue: Local Cities and Counties Tax Rates Text File
Build it with the Buy one, get one (BOGO) template.
Questions merchants ask
- What is the sales tax rate in Birmingham?
- By our addition of the Department of Revenue's October 2026 rate rows, a taxable general sale delivered inside the Jefferson County part of the city is 10 percent: the state's 4 percent, the city's 4 percent and the county's 2 percent. A food sale is 8 percent. Birmingham also has rows under Shelby County, whose own general rate is 1 percent, and under St. Clair County. The file is updated monthly, so check it before you rely on a figure. This is not tax advice.
- How does this differ from the Alabama state page?
- The Alabama page covers the state's holidays and the flat rate for sellers outside the state. This page is the local side: the city and county rows a Birmingham-based seller reads when delivering locally. See the Alabama page for the remote seller rate.
- Does a BOGO change how much tax I charge?
- The rate rows do not change with an offer. How the Department treats a free item or a discount is not covered by the rate file, and we cite no ruling on it here, so confirm the treatment with the Department before you print a tax-inclusive price.
- When are the Birmingham events in 2027?
- Not posted by the organizers when we checked on October 10, 2026. The Barber Vintage Festival listed October 9 to 11, 2026 for its 21st edition, and the Magic City Classic's own site lists October 31, 2026. This page uses October as a month-level window.
Offer ideas for Birmingham
Food in the box
If the offer includes food, the Department's rows put it at 8 percent in the Jefferson County part of the city by our addition, against 10 percent for general goods, so list the two categories separately on a mixed order.
A per-customer limit
A visitor weekend invites one shopper to buy many pairs. Set a limit per customer, and say the limit in the offer, so a buyer who orders for a group is not surprised at checkout.
Source: eCFR: 16 CFR 251.1, Guide concerning use of the word Free (paragraph a)
Related reading
The year at a glance
Where Birmingham sits
Birmingham is a retail market with its own local rate rows on top of the state's, and an October of event weekends, so a store here can plan one BOGO window around organizer-listed weekends and price it against the local tax stack.
Facts and sources
The Department's October 2026 local rate file lists Birmingham's city sales tax on general sales at 4 percent, active from September 1, 2024, and Jefferson County's sales tax on general sales at 2 percent, active from January 1, 2025; with the state's 4 percent, our addition for the Jefferson County part of Birmingham is 10 percent.
Alabama Department of Revenue: Local Cities and Counties Tax Rates file (updated for October 2026; sum is our addition) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The same file lists Birmingham's city rate on food and groceries at 4 percent and Jefferson County's at 2 percent; with the state's 2 percent food rate, our addition for food delivered in the Jefferson County part of Birmingham is 8 percent.
Alabama Department of Revenue: Local Cities and Counties Tax Rates file (updated for October 2026; sum is our addition) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The file lists Birmingham's rows under Jefferson County, Shelby County and St. Clair County locality codes, and shows Shelby County's own sales tax on general sales at 1 percent, so the county part of the rate depends on which county the delivery address is in.
Alabama Department of Revenue: Local Cities and Counties Tax Rates file (updated for October 2026) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's page says the rate files contain local rate information for all Alabama cities and counties that levy sales, use, lodgings or rental taxes, that the current file holds current, active information only, and that both files are updated monthly.
Alabama Department of Revenue: Local Cities and Counties Tax Rates Text File (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate for Birmingham city, Alabama is 195,893 residents on July 1, 2025, down from 200,486 in the April 2020 estimates base.
U.S. Census Bureau: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places (Vintage 2025, SUB-EST2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Barber Vintage Festival's page lists the 21st annual Barber Vintage Festival for October 9 to 11, 2026 at 6030 Barber Motorsports Parkway, Birmingham, Alabama 35094, and posts no 2027 dates.
Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum: Barber Vintage Festival (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Magic City Classic's own site lists the event for October 31, 2026 at Legion Field, 400 Graymont Avenue, Birmingham, and shows no 2027 date.
Magic City Classic: event site (accessed October 10, 2026)
The FTC's guide on the word free says that because the public regards the offer of free merchandise as a special bargain, all such offers must be made with extreme care to avoid any possibility that consumers will be misled, and names Buy 1-Get 1 Free and 2-for-1 Sale among the representations it covers.
eCFR: 16 CFR 251.1, Guide concerning use of the word Free (paragraph a) (accessed October 10, 2026)
Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.