If you have your eye on a new TV or getting a head start on your Christmas shopping, you only have a few days before your Amazon bill goes up.

Starting Nov. 1, Amazon will start collecting and remitting sales tax in Alabama. As part of Alabama's Simplified Seller Use Tax Remittance Program - an effort to streamline the collection of sales taxes from online retailers located outside the state- the tax rate is set at a flat 8 percent.

The tax applies to all sales regardless of where an item is shipped in the state.

The flat tax rate is available to any retailer that sells services or items in the state but does not have a physical presence here. In return for agreeing to join the program, retailers like Amazon can lock in the 8-percent tax rate even if the federal government adopts a higher figure later. Companies that pay their bills by the 20th of the month will also be able to deduct and keep 2 percent of the taxes it collects.

In all, more than 50 retailers have signed on to be part of Alabama's simplified tax remittance program since it was launched in 2015.

Taxing online purchases has been a goal of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers - many of whom feel tax-free online shopping puts them at a disadvantage - and governments looking to shore up their own coffers. In Alabama, 50 percent of the collected taxes will go the state's general fund; 25 percent to cities; and 25 percent to counties, prorated based on population.

The Nov. 1 change will make Alabama the 29th state to collect sales tax from Amazon.