County and Municipal Corporation Taxes on Other Than Life Insurance Companies

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  2. Georgia Code
  3. Insurance
  4. Fees and Taxes
  5. County and Municipal Corporation Taxes on Other Than Life Insurance Companies

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  1. Counties and municipal corporations are authorized to levy tax at a rate not to exceed 2.5 percent upon the gross direct premiums of all foreign, alien, and domestic insurance companies doing business in this state other than life insurance companies. The tax shall be in addition to the taxes levied by Code Section 33-8-4, and it may be levied upon the gross direct premiums received by such companies during the preceding calendar year. The tax shall be levied upon premiums derived from policies insuring persons, property, or risks in Georgia from January 1 to December 31, both inclusive, of each year without regard to business ceded to or assumed from other companies. The tax shall be imposed upon gross premiums received during the preceding calendar year from direct writing without any deductions allowed from premium abatement of any kind or character or for reinsurance or for losses or expenses of any kind; provided, however, deductions shall be allowed for premiums returned or change of rate or canceled policies; provided, further, that deductions shall be permitted for returned premiums or assessments, including all policy dividends, refunds, or other similar returns paid or credited to policyholders.
  2. The taxes provided in this Code section are county and municipal taxes and shall be levied for county and municipal purposes and shall be collected and distributed as follows:
    1. On or before January 1 of the first year that the tax is levied, each county and municipal corporation levying the tax shall file with the Commissioner a certified copy of the pertinent parts of all ordinances and resolutions and amendments thereto which impose the tax, and such filing shall be a condition to the validity and enforceability of such an ordinance or resolution;
    2. On or before February 1 of each year, the Commissioner shall furnish to each insurance company a list of all counties and municipal corporations where the tax as authorized by this Code section has been imposed for the then current year together with the applicable tax rate levied by each such county and municipal corporation and the population percentages by which the taxes are to be allocated to each such county and municipal corporation as provided in this Code section;
      1. On March 1 of each year, each insurance company upon which a tax is imposed by subsection (b) of this Code section shall file a certified return on a form prescribed by the Commissioner showing gross direct premiums received during the preceding calendar year that will appear in the company's certified annual statement.
      2. Reserved.
      3. On or before August 1 of each year, the Commissioner shall collect taxes imposed pursuant to this Code section on behalf of counties and municipal corporations whose ordinances have been filed with the Commissioner. The premiums tax collected for each year shall be based upon gross direct premiums written during the preceding calendar year. Penalty and interest as prescribed in subsection (d) of Code Section 33-8-6 shall be imposed for late payment, underpayment, or nonpayment of such taxes;
    4. The total amount of premiums taxable by the state on insurance companies as defined in this Code section shall be allocated to each county unincorporated area and each municipal corporation based upon a fraction, the numerator of which is the population of the unincorporated area or municipal corporation and the denominator of which is the total population of the state. Tax rates levied by each county shall be applied to the premiums allocated to its unincorporated area, and tax rates levied by each municipal corporation shall be applied to the premiums allocated to it; and
    5. On or before October 15 of each year, the Commissioner shall distribute the taxes imposed by counties and municipal corporations which are actually remitted to and collected by the Commissioner. On or before October 15 of each year, the Commissioner shall distribute any delinquent taxes actually collected by the Commissioner for a previous year, exclusive of any interest or penalty on such delinquent taxes, which delinquent taxes have not previously been distributed.
  3. For purposes of this Code section, population shall be measured by the United States decennial census of 1990 or any future such census plus any corrections or revisions contained in official statements by the United States Bureau of the Census made prior to the first day of September immediately preceding the distribution of the proceeds of such taxes by the Commissioner and any additional official census data received by the Commissioner from the United States Bureau of the Census or its successor agency pertaining to any newly incorporated municipality.Such corrections, revisions, or additional data shall be certified to the Commissioner by the Office of Planning and Budget on or before August 31 of each year.
  4. Any county or municipal corporation which, on January 1, 1983, levied a tax on all premiums of insurance companies, other than life insurance companies, at a rate in excess of 2.5 percent may continue to levy the tax at a rate in excess of 2.5 percent, provided that the rate of such tax shall not exceed the rate which was in effect in such county or municipal corporation on January 1, 1983, reduced annually beginning January 1, 1984, by one-third of the difference between such January 1, 1983, rate and 2.5 percent, so that the rate levied on January 1, 1986, shall not exceed 2.5 percent.
  5. It shall be in contravention of public policy for a county or a municipal corporation that levies taxes for county or municipal purposes on foreign, alien, and domestic insurance companies doing business in this state, as provided in subsection (a) of this Code section, to impose additional taxes or any other fees of any kind for services provided by such county or municipal corporation to such insurance companies for accidents involving motor vehicles except for the following:
    1. Where the coverage for such services is expressly provided by an insurance company to the insured and the services are lawfully billed to the insured;
    2. Where emergency medical services are provided to the insured by the county or municipal corporation, whenever the insured's medical insurance covers the services provided and the insured assigns the right to collect to the service provider; or
    3. Where other services are provided to the insured by the county or municipal corporation which are expressly authorized by state or federal law to be billed directly to an insurance company.

(Code 1981, §33-8-8.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 1595, § 3; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 33; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1284, § 2; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 33; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1581, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 528, § 2; Ga. L. 2008, p. 292, § 2/HB 977; Ga. L. 2008, p. 490, § 1/SB 348; Ga. L. 2009, p. 652, § 3/HB 410; Ga. L. 2019, p. 337, § 1-44/SB 132.)

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, substituted "March 1 of each year" for "March 1, 1984, and on the same date in each subsequent year" in subparagraph (b)(3)(A); substituted "August 1 of each year" for "August 1, 1988, and on the same date in each subsequent year" in subparagraph (b)(3)(C); and substituted "October 15 of each year" for "October 15, 1988, and on the same date in each subsequent year" in two places in paragraph (b)(5).

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1988, "United States Bureau of the Census" was substituted for "United States Census Bureau" in subsection (c).

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 1983, p. 1595, § 5, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that that Act would apply to all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 1984.

Although subparagraph (b)(3)(A) imposes certain duties on insurance companies to be fulfilled on March 1, 1984, Ga. L. 1984, p. 1284, § 2, which added this language, was not approved until April 4, 1984. It seems, therefore, that such duties will not be imposed on insurance companies until March 1, 1985, and on the same date in each subsequent year, as called for in subparagraph (b)(3)(A).

Ga. L. 2008, p. 292, § 6(b)/HB 977, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "Section 2 of this Act shall expire on January 1, 2015, unless the General Assembly acts to extend these provisions." The General Assembly took no action to extend these provisions prior to January 1, 2015, and therefore, subsection (a.1) was repealed effective January 1, 2015.

Ga. L. 2009, p. 652, § 6(a)/HB 410, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that the amendment to this Code section "shall be applicable to all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009".

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). For article, "Revenue and Taxation: Amend Titles 48, 2, 28, 33, 36, 46, and 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating Respectively to Revenue and Taxation, Agriculture, the General Assembly, Insurance, Local Government, Public Utilities, and State Government," see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 217 (2011).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

County taxing power preempted prior to 1984.

- O.C.G.A. § 33-8-8.2, effective January 1, 1984, does not affect the validity of a DeKalb county license tax imposed for the years 1974 through 1981, when preemption of the county's power to tax casualty insurance companies could be fairly implied from the sweeping language and broad scope of the 1960 general Act regulating the insurance industry on a state-wide basis, and particularly from the state-wide gross premium tax on casualty insurance companies contained in O.C.G.A. § 33-8-4. Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. DeKalb County, 251 Ga. 309, 304 S.E.2d 386 (1983).

Holding in Cotton State Mut. Ins. Co. v. DeKalb County, 251 Ga. 309, 304 S.E.2d 386 (1983), is to be applied prospectively only. Federated Mut. Ins. Co. v. DeKalb County, 176 Ga. App. 70, 335 S.E.2d 873 (1985), aff'd, 255 Ga. 522, 341 S.E.2d 3 (1986).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Inactive municipalities.

- The population of an inactive municipality may not be assigned to the county for premium tax purposes under O.C.G.A. § 33-8-8.2. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-76.

Tax rate for legal services insurance.

- Companies offering prepaid legal services insurance should pay taxes on those premiums at the statutory rate established for nonlife insurance companies. 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-44.

Flood insurance premiums.

- Flood insurance premiums collected by private insurance companies pursuant to the National Flood Insurance Program are not subject to municipal and county taxes as provided in subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 33-8-8.2. 1995 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 95-12.

Insurance companies exempt from federal income tax as religious and charitable organizations are subject to state and local premium tax liability unless specifically exempted. 1995 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 95-19.


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