Scottsboro, Alabama

Scottsboro: Trade Day vendors, plant workers and cross-state commuters

Scottsboro is about 42 miles, or just over an hour, from our office in Arab. Give us a call and we will set a time that makes the drive easy to plan.

Call 256-586-4635 Contact us

We have one office, in Arab. We do not have an office in Scottsboro.

Trade Day since 1902

Scottsboro, the Jackson County seat, sits on the Tennessee River where it widens into Lake Guntersville. Trade Day, which started in 1902 as Horse Swapper’s Day, still fills the courthouse square on the Saturday before each first Monday. For many of the vendors who set up there, a table of goods is also a source of income, and part of our work is helping them sort out how those sales belong on a tax return.^[1,3,4]

Unclaimed Baggage has sold lost airline luggage here since 1970, the city owns the Goose Pond Colony resort on the lake, and manufacturing provides about a fifth of local jobs. Plenty of residents commute to Huntsville or across the line to Chattanooga. That mix of plant work and long commutes shapes the returns we see from Scottsboro: W-2s with overtime, withholding that deserves a second look, and paychecks that cross a state line.^[2,5,4,1]

The Jackson County Courthouse square in Scottsboro on Trade Day — Trade Day on the courthouse square, Scottsboro

Jackson County notes

15,578 residents at the 2020 Census.^[1]
Many residents commute to jobs in Huntsville and Chattanooga.^[1]

Scottsboro questions

This is general information, not advice for your return. Every return is different, so please call us to talk about yours.

I live in Scottsboro but work in Chattanooga. Which state do I file in?

Tennessee does not tax wages, so as an Alabama resident you generally report those wages on your Alabama return. Check that your employer is not withholding for the wrong state, and bring your W-2 either way.^[6]

Income tax services

I set up a booth at Trade Day most months. Is that a business?

If you buy to resell or make things to sell, and you do it regularly, yes. That income is reported, and your costs, including booth fees and what you paid for the goods, count against it.

Bookkeeping

We moved here for a plant job partway through the year.

A part-year resident files Alabama Form 40 for the part of the year spent here, plus a return in the former state if that state has an income tax. We prepare both returns.^[6]

For Jackson County

Commuters Multi-state and part-year returns when work crosses a state line. Trade Day vendors Sorting hobby sales from business income, and keeping track of costs. Plant workers W-2s, overtime pay and a look at your withholding.

Scottsboro to Arab

Call 256-586-4635 to set a time at our office in Arab, and bring your questions along with your paperwork.

Call 256-586-4635 Other towns we serve

Sources

Local details on this page come from these public sources, checked in September 2026.