Georgia Business Taxes & Incentives

Gainesville-Hall County, Georgia maintains a stable business tax environment and offers attractive incentives to new and existing businesses to encourage the creation of new jobs and investment.

Georgia's Corporate Income Tax

Georgia's Corporate Income Tax rate of 6% has remained unchanged since 1969. "Single Factor Gross Receipts" apportionment formula results in a substantial and permanent reduction of Georgia income taxes for companies that manufacture products within the state of Georgia and sell those products or services to customers in other states. This is designed to encourage manufacturing, distribution and service companies to invest or expand in Georgia.

Georgia Business Tax Incentives for Job Creation and Investment

Job Tax Credit Program Qualified businesses in Gainesville-Hall County may qualify for this credit if they create at least 15 new jobs in a calendar year. Job Tax Credits of $1,750 each year for five years for each new full time job created and maintained. For example: $1,750 x 15 new jobs x 5 years = $131,250 in tax credits.
Port Job Tax Credit Bonus is a $1,250 per job bonus for businesses that already qualify for the job tax credits and have a 10% increase in Georgia Port traffic over the previous year.
Quality Job Tax Credits Businesses qualify for this credit if they create a minimum of 50 new jobs that pay at least 110% of the county average. Credits are per job, per year, for up to 5 years based on an increasing scale system.
Retraining Tax Credits Direct investment for employee retraining for quality and productivity enhancements and certain software technologies may qualify for credits of 50% of the employer's direct cost of up to $500 per employee.
Additional credits are available for equipment, capital investments, retraining employees, childcare, R&D, and small business fast growth companies.
Credits earned in Hall County may be used to offset up to 50% of a company's Georgia corporate income tax liability in any taxable year following the year in which the credits are earned. Credits not used may be carried forward and applied for up to 10 years.

Effective Property Tax Rates for Gainesville-Hall County

The following rates apply to all real and personal property owned by individuals and corporations, and are specific to the taxing jurisdiction.

City of Gainesville: 1.29% of Fair Market Value (FMV)
Hall County (Unincorporated areas) : 1.03% of FMV
City of Oakwood: 1.19% of FMV
City of Flowery Branch: 1.2% of FMV
City of Buford: 0.91% of FMV

Depreciation Schedule (Personal Property)

The depreciation of machinery will depend on the group that the taxpayer listed the equipment under when filing a claim with the Hall County Personal Property Assessors. For tax year 2011, the following were the percentages used for depreciation on each class for the first year of business:

GROUP 1: 87% Typical Economic Life of 5-7 years
GROUP 2: 92% Typical Economic Life of 8-12 years
GROUP 3: 95% Typical Economic Life of 13 years or more
GROUP 4: 67% Typical Economic Life of 1-4 years

Companies operating 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, may be eligible for accelerated depreciation on equipment.

Multi-Shift - Accelerated Depreciation

Additional depreciation of production machinery and equipment that was utilized over 85% of total available time over a 12-month period may be allowed with annual filing.

Inventory Tax Exemption (Freeport)

100% Freeport Tax Exemption (ad valorem) with annual filing for the following classes of inventory:

Raw materials and goods in process of manufacture
Finished goods held by the manufacturer
Finished goods destined for shipment out-of-state.

Industrial Revenue Bond (IRB) Financing

Tax exempt bond financing is available for companies seeking to finance the purchase of land, buildings and equipment for eligible manufacturing projects. Rates for tax-exempt bonds are market-based and established on the credit and strength of the individual company and projects. Tax-exempt IRB financing can be used for projects with capital investment between $1 million and $20 million.

Sales and Use Tax and Exemptions

Gainesville-Hall County and State of Georgia Sales Tax total 7%. Georgia Law provides a 100% sales and use tax exemption for qualified purchases including:

raw materials
goods intended for resale
qualified machinery used directly in the manufacture of tangible personal property
material handling equipment used in qualified distribution businesses.
direct and indirect energy which is integral to the manufacture of personal property property (exemption phased in by 25% each year beginning in 2013 until it reaches 100%)

If you have questions about Georgia business tax specifics, email Tim Evans or call (770) 532-6206 for more information. Additional assistance is available for qualified businesses.