Time of Payment of Tax on Insurance Premiums; Filing of Returns; Penalties

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Insurance
  4. Fees and Taxes
  5. Time of Payment of Tax on Insurance Premiums; Filing of Returns; Penalties

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  1. The annual premium taxes required in this chapter shall be paid to the Commissioner annually on or before March 1 following the close of the preceding calendar year upon all the premiums received during that calendar year. At the same time each such insurance company shall file with the Commissioner an annual return on a form prescribed by the Commissioner showing, by quarters, the gross direct premiums received during the preceding calendar year and the installment payments made during that year.
  2. Installments of the annual premium taxes shall be due and payable for each calendar quarter on the twentieth day of March, June, September, and December in each year based upon the estimated amount of gross direct premiums received during that calendar quarter. A final payment of tax due for the year shall be made at the time each such insurance company files its annual return for such year.
  3. Any insurance company which fails to report and pay any installment of tax or which estimates any installment of tax to be less than 80 percent of the amount finally shown to be due in any quarter shall be subject to penalty and interest as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section for any underpayment of taxes due and payable for that quarter. Any insurance company paying, for each installment required in this chapter, 25 percent of the amount of the annual premium taxes reported on its annual return for the preceding year shall not be subject to any penalty or interest for such underpayment.
  4. A penalty of 10 percent of the amount owed, together with interest on the principal amount at the rate of 1 percent per month, or any part of a month, from the date due until the date paid shall be imposed for late payment, underpayment, or nonpayment of any taxes or amounts imposed under this chapter.
  5. When the date prescribed by or imposed pursuant to law for the making of any return, the filing of any paper or document, or the payment of any tax or license fee pursuant to this chapter falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the making of the return, the filing of the paper or document, or the payment of the tax or license fee shall be postponed until the first day following which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
  6. Subsections (b) and (c) of this Code section shall not apply to any such insurance company whose annual premium taxes for the immediately preceding calendar year was less than $500.00.

(Code 1933, § 56-1304, enacted by Ga. L. 1960, p. 289, § 1; Ga. L. 1974, p. 4, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1284, § 1.)

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Penalty applies to late payments of quarterly installments.

- Since this section clearly specifies that payments of premium taxes are due on specific dates, i.e., the twentieth day of March, June, September and December, late payments are equivalent to a failure to pay, and the 10 percent penalty is assessable as to the underpayment. Since the underpayment constitutes all the tax that is due and payable, the 10 percent penalty is assessable against the total amount of tax owed by the insurer during that quarter. With respect to the failure to pay any tax at all, a 10 percent penalty is assessable against all of the amount of the tax due and owing for that particular quarter. 1978 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 78-8.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- "Dividends" on policies as affecting computation of tax insurance premiums, 141 A.L.R. 1411.


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