XML::Simple will do the job nicely. The following code

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
use XML::Simple;

my $xml = XMLin('login.xml');
print Dumper($xml);
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$VAR1 = {
          'LOGIN' => {
                     'firstName' => 'Alice',
                     '_AgeAtApplicationYears' => '33',
                     'phone' => '111-111-1111',
                     'state' => 'HI',
                     'zip' => '11111',
                     'userName' => 'testUser',
                     'lastName' => 'Firstimer',
                     'address' => '111 test street'
                   }
};
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To access e.g. the 'state' attribute, use $xml->{LOGIN}->{state}

Hope this helps, -gjb-

Update: What you call 'embedded tags' are actually termed attributes in XML speak ;)