Georgia Bill Proposes Changes to Sales and Use Tax Reporting and Collection Rules

On February 14, 2019, the Georgia House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of House Bill 182. Effective for January 1, 2020, the bill would amend O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2(8)(M.1) to lower the sales threshold on the requirement to collect or report sales and use tax from $250,000 to $100,000 and would repeal subsection (c.2) of O.C.G.A. § 48-8-30 in its entirety to eliminate the option to provide notification to the purchaser and state in lieu of collecting and remitting tax.

O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2 currently requires out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales tax if the seller obtains gross revenue of more than $250,000 from the retail sales of tangible personal property delivered within Georgia or if the seller conducts 200 or more separate retail sales of tangible personal property delivered within Georgia. Alternatively, O.C.G.A. § 48-8-30 currently gives retailers that reach that threshold the option to instead provide specified information and notification to the purchaser and to the Department of Revenue stating that sales or use tax may be due. House Bill 182 would remove the option for sellers to provide the required notification instead of collecting and remitting tax.

House Bill 182 adopts the same sales threshold used by the South Dakota statute at issue in South Dakota v. Wayfair, 138 S. Ct. 2080 (2018). If enacted, the legislation would be effective for sales made on or after January 1, 2020.

A Georgia marketplace bill has also been introduced, House Bill 276, that if enacted would also become effective January 1, 2020.