Individual tax rates; credit for withholding and other payments; applicability to estates and trusts

(a) A tax is imposed upon every resident of this state with respect to the Georgia taxable net income of the taxpayer as defined in Code Section 48-7-27. A tax is imposed upon every nonresident with respect to such nonresident’s Georgia taxable net income not otherwise exempted which is received by the taxpayer from services performed, property owned, proceeds of any lottery prize awarded by the Georgia Lottery Corporation, or from business carried on in this state. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the tax imposed by this subsection shall be levied, collected, and paid annually. (a.1)(1) On and after January 1, 2024, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be 5.39 percent for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2024; provided, however, that such rate shall be reduced by 0.10 percent annually beginning on January 1, 2025, until the rate reaches 4.99 percent, provided such annual reductions in the tax rate shall be subject to delays as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection. (2) Each prospective annual reduction in the tax rate that would otherwise occur as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be delayed by one year for each year that any of the following are true as of December 1: (A) The Governor’s revenue estimate for the succeeding fiscal year is not at least 3 percent above the Governor’s revenue estimate for the present fiscal year; (B) The prior fiscal year’s net revenue collection was not higher than each of the preceding three fiscal years’ net tax revenue collection; or (C) The Revenue Shortfall Reserve provided for in Code Section 45-12-93 does not contain a sum that exceeds the amount of the decrease in state revenue projected to occur as a result of the prospective reduction in the tax rates set to occur the following year. (3) The Office of Planning and Budget shall make the determinations necessary to implement the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection and shall report its determinations by December 1 of each year to the department, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the chairpersons of the House Appropriations Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee. This paragraph shall not be applicable after the final reduction to the rate of 4.99 percent occurs. (b) Reserved. (c) The amount deducted and withheld by an employer from the wages of an employee pursuant to Article 5 of this chapter, relating to current income tax payments, shall be allowed the employee as a credit against the tax imposed by this Code section. Amounts paid by an individual as estimated tax under Article 5 of this chapter shall constitute payments on account of the tax imposed by this Code section. The amount withheld or paid during any calendar year shall be allowed as a credit or payment for the taxable year beginning in the calendar year in which the amount is withheld or paid. (d) The tax imposed by this Code section applies to the Georgia taxable net income of estates and trusts, which shall be computed in the same manner as in the case of a single individual. The tax shall be computed on the Georgia taxable net income and shall be paid by the fiduciary. History. Ga. L. 1931, Ex. Sess., p. 3, § 24; Code 1933, § 92-3101; Ga. L. 1937, p. 109, § 2; Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 150, § 2; Ga. L. 1955, Ex. Sess., p. 27, § 1; Ga. L. 1960, p. 1005, § 1; Ga. L. 1971, p. 605, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1975, p. 857, § 1; Code 1933, § 91A-3601, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1979, p. 5, § 62; Ga. L. 1987, p. 191, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 597, § 2; Ga. L. 2018, p. 8, § 1-2/HB 918; Ga. L. 2022, p. 114, § 2-1/HB 1437; Ga. L. 2023, p. 335, § 2-2/SB 56, effective January 1, 2024; Ga. L. 2023, p. 730, § 7(12)/HB 475, effective July 1, 2023; Ga. L. 2024, p. 18, § 1/HB 1015, effective July 1, 2024. Amendments. The 2022 amendment, effective January 1, 2024, added subsections (a.1) and (a.2), and reserved paragraph (b)(1), relating to individual income tax tables. The first 2023 amendment, effective January 1, 2024, in subsection (a.1), rewrote paragraph (a.1)(1), which read: “On and after January 1, 2024, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be at the rates provided in subsection (a.2) of this Code section for each respective tax year; provided, however, that the actual rates for a given year tax year shall be subject to delays as provided in this subsection.”; rewrote the introductory language of paragraph (a.1)(2), which read: “Each prospective change in the tax rates that would otherwise occur as provided in paragraphs (2) through (6) of subsection (a.2) of this Code section shall be delayed by one year for each year that any of the following are true as of December 1:”; substituted “preceding three fiscal” for “preceding five fiscal” in subparagraph (a.1)(2)(B); and substituted “final reduction to the rate of 4.99 percent occurs” for “final reduction in the rates occurs as provided in paragraph (6) of subsection (a.2) of this Code section” at the end of paragraph (a.1)(3); deleted subsection (a.2), which read: “Subject to the provisions of subsection (a.1) of this Code section: “(1) For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be levied at the rate of 5.49 percent; “(2) For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be levied at the rate of 5.39 percent; “(3) For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be levied at the rate of 5.29 percent; “(4) For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be levied at the rate of 5.19 percent; “(5) For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2028, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be levied at the rate of 5.09 percent; and “(6) For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2029, the tax imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be levied at the rate of 4.99 percent.”; deleted the (b)(1) designation and deleted paragraph (b)(2), which read: “To facilitate the computation of the tax by those taxpayers whose federal adjusted gross income together with the adjustments set out in Code Section 48-7-27 for use in arriving at Georgia taxable net income is less than $10,000.00, the commissioner may construct tax tables which may be used by the taxpayers at their option. The tax shown to be due by the tables shall be computed on the bases of the standard deduction and the tax rates specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection. Insofar as practicable, the tables shall produce a tax approximately equivalent to the tax imposed by paragraph (1) of this subsection.” See Editor’s notes for applicability. The second 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted the second and third sentences in paragraph (b)(2), which read: “The tax shown to be due by the tables shall be computed on the bases of the standard deduction and the tax rates specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection. Insofar as practicable, the tables shall produce a tax approximately equivalent to the tax imposed by paragraph (1) of this subsection.” The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, substituted “5.39 percent” for “5.49 percent” near the beginning of paragraph (a.1)(1). See Editor’s notes for applicability.