Abatement or Reduction of Tax on Insurance Premiums

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Insurance
  4. Fees and Taxes
  5. Abatement or Reduction of Tax on Insurance Premiums

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Whenever any insurance company doing business in this state shall make it appear to the Commissioner, by evidence satisfactory to him, that one-fourth of its total assets, as of December 31 of any taxable year, exclusive of direct obligations of the United States, consists of or is invested in any or all of the following classes of property:

  1. General obligation bonds of this state or of any political subdivision of the State of Georgia;
  2. Revenue bonds or revenue anticipation certificates of any county, municipality, or political subdivision of this state;
  3. Revenue bonds or revenue anticipation certificates of any authority or public corporation created by or pursuant to the laws of this state;
  4. Real estate situated in and subject to taxation by this state or its political subdivisions;
  5. Tangible personal property located in this state and subject to taxation by this state or its political subdivisions;
  6. Loans secured by liens on real estate situated in this state;
  7. Policy loans on insurance policies issued by the company on lives of persons resident in this state;
  8. Intangible property having a taxable situs in this state; or
  9. Shares in Georgia corporations in which the insurance companies are authorized to invest under the laws of this state,

    then the gross premium tax levied by Code Section 33-8-4 shall be abated or reduced to 1 1/4 percent upon the gross premium of any company subject to taxation by said Code section and, if the amount so invested by any company shall be as much as three-fourths of its total assets, exclusive of direct obligations of the United States, then the said premium tax shall be abated or reduced to one-half of 1 percent upon the gross premiums of the company subject to taxation by said Code section.

(Code 1933, § 56-1305, enacted by Ga. L. 1960, p. 289, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 33.)

Law reviews.

- For article, "Why Captives, Lord, What Have They Ever Done?: The Georgia Captive Insurance Company Act," see 26 Ga. St. B.J. 119 (1990).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Retaliatory tax may be added to premium tax to which this section applies.

- The retaliatory tax provisions (see O.C.G.A. § 33-3-26) and this section are not mutually exclusive; a company having met the statutory standards could qualify for the abatement provisions allowed on the gross premium tax; the same company could also be subject to retaliation because of the existing tax structure of its home state; thus, a foreign insurer coming within both provisions, i.e., abatement and retaliation, would first have the gross premium tax figured at the applicable rate; to this dollar amount would be added the amount of retaliatory tax, if any, computed against the foreign insurer because of the existing differential between the Georgia aggregate tax and free structure and that of the foreign state in which the company is based. 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 138.

Certificates of deposit issued by Georgia banks to an insurance company domiciled in another state, but licensed in Georgia, where these certificates are not funds received directly from Georgia premiums or funds which are used as working capital for carrying on the Georgia business of this company, are not intangible property having a tax situs in this state. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-55.

Bank account in another state owned by foreign insurer whose principal place of business and administrative offices are in Georgia is intangible property with a taxable situs in Georgia and is therefore available for use in reducing the insurer's premium tax rate pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 33-8-5. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-22.


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