City launches online payment option for lawyers

This year, for the first time, lawyers can pay their occupation tax online with a credit card from the convenience of their law office or home.

Each attorney practicing law in Decatur pays a $425 annual occupation tax to the city, which is billed on Oct. 31 and due no later than Dec. 31.

Our new online system allows for payments by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and Paypal.  No additional fees are imposed for paying on the web--just the $425 amount. This is a pretty good deal for occupation taxpayers considering that other types of local government taxes often involve surcharges for online payments.

Users are not required to create an account.  There is no registration process, no login or user name, no passwords, and no PINs. 

To use the service, just go to decaturgatax.com and click on "Occupation Tax" on the upper left. Select 2013 as the year, search by "Business Name" and enter your name as it appears on your tax statement to pull up your record.  Once you've accessed your record, you'll see your option to pay.

We still accept cash, check, or charge in person, and checks through the mail.  But we encourage all lawyers to consider using the new online service.

The city also accepts online credit card payments for recreation programs, after-school and summer camp registration, parking tickets, commercial sanitation services, storm water drainage fees, and property taxes.  This latest addition to the city's online payment menu stems from the city's ongoing commitment to support local professionals and businesses through greater automation of services.

Online renewals for regular business license payments will be available later this year.