If you’re planning on filing a sales and use tax return in Georgia, you’ll need to know the following
information:
- Total sales in Georgia
- Amount of sales exempt from tax
- Amount of sales tax collected
- Amount of taxable sales
Georgia sales tax compliance has a state-level sales tax rate of 4%. However, in Atlanta and Clayton County, the Motor Vehicle taxes 1% less than the normal rate. The sale of food (which includes groceries, food ingredients, unprepared food, etc.) is tax exempt at the state level. Although you don’t have to pay taxes on food at the state level, there are still taxes applied to the sale of food at Georgia’s local level.
Georgia Sales Tax Rates and Requirements
Georgia sales tax compliance offers three frequencies for which you can file for returns: monthly, quarterly, and annual. The Georgia DOR will start taxpayers on a monthly filing frequency; however, taxpayers can submit a written request to the Georgia DOR to have their filing frequency changed. Don’t forget to file your taxes before the 20
th of each month because that is the deadline of each filing period. If the 20
th of the month falls on a weekend or a business holiday, then the deadline is extended to the next business day.
If the taxpayer pays $60,000 or more in state sales tax for the previous calendar year, the taxpayer must make monthly accelerated tax payments (prepaid tax). The state’s “prepaid tax” is 50% of the average monthly state sales tax the taxpayer paid the previous calendar year. This amount will be calculated by the Georgia DOR annually and automatically filled into returns filed on the GTC (Georgia Tax Center).
When it comes to taxes, the city of Atlanta is a tricky place. Everywhere in Georgia, outside of Atlanta, only charges state and county tax, so properly distributing Atlanta’s special taxes can be the most challenging part about filing a sales tax return in Georgia. Georgia sales tax compliance has many local county and special taxing jurisdictions with varied rates. In total, there are 161 different local taxing rates. On average, the range of the local jurisdiction sales tax rate is usually somewhere between 2% to 4.9%.
Georgia Sales Tax Compliance Services
Agile’s experienced sales tax consultants can help by completing your company’s ongoing compliance filings in the state of Georgia. In fact, we’ve offered an outsourcing solution for both this process since 2005. You can learn more about our
outsourced sales tax compliance services or simply give us a call at (888) 350-4829. We are interested to learn more about your needs, and you might be surprised how little it will cost to have a sales tax expert take this responsibility off your hands!
