O.C.G.A. § 48-2-40 (2019)
Rate of interest on past due taxes
Except as otherwise expressly provided by law, taxes owed the state
or any local taxing jurisdiction shall bear interest at an annual rate equal to the bank prime loan rate as posted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in statistical release H. 15 or any publication that may supersede it, plus 3 percent, to accrue monthly. Such annual interest rate shall be determined for each calendar year based on the first weekly posting of statistical release H. 15 on or after January 1 of each calendar year. Interest shall begin to accrue from the date the tax is due until the date the tax is paid. For the purposes of this Code section, any period of less than one month shall be considered to be one month. This Code section shall also apply to alcoholic beverage taxes.
History
Code 1933, § 91A-239.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1980, p. 10, § 4; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1759, § 1; Ga. L. 2016, p. 574, § 3/HB 960.
Annotations
Cross references. Penalties for failure to pay taxes or license fees on alcoholic beverages, § 3-2-11. Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2016, p. 574, § 6(b)/HB 960, not codified by the General Assembly,
provides: “The new penalty and interest rates provided in Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this Act shall apply to penalties and interest accrued on or after the effective date of this Act.” This Act became effective July 1, 2016. Law reviews. For article, “Procedure and Problems in Georgia Ad Valorem Tax Appeals,” see 26 Ga. St. B.J. 98 (1990).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Demand for payment of interest and fees proper. - When the plaintiff argued that the defendants improperly demanded interest and fees based on the higher assessment amount as the plaintiff entered into a consent agreement with the county tax commissioner to lower the value of the property prior to levy on the executions, the plaintiff’s substantive claims were prohibited as a matter of law because the tax executions were validly issued by the commissioner; the plaintiff failed to pay the taxes while pursuing the plaintiff’s appeal of the assessment and awaiting a refund; and the defendants were authorized to levy the executions and demand payment as the plaintiff failed to plead that the executions were void as a matter of law or were cancelled by the commissioner in the consent judgment. B.C. Grand, LLC v. FIG, LLC, 352 Ga. App. 646, 835 S.E.2d 676, 2019 Ga. App. LEXIS 622 (2019), cert. denied, No. S20C0503, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 425 (Ga. June 1, 2020).
Failure to award interest. - When a trial court found a tax commissioner improperly refused to pay a tax execution holder’s executions, but did not find the commissioner had good cause for the refusal and did not award the holder 20 percent interest, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 15-13-3(a), the matter had to be remanded for a determination of the good cause issue and to consider the holder’s entitlement to one percent interest per month, pursuant to O.C.G.A. §§ 48-2-40 and 48-3-20. Scott v. Vesta Holdings I, LLC, 275 Ga. App. 196, 620 S.E.2d 447, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 930 (2005). County was not entitled to interest per O.C.G.A. § 48-2-40 as the payments in lieu of taxes were not taxes, and nothing in the parties’ memorandum of understanding or lease provided for the payment of such interest. In re Carbo Ceramics, No. 20-31973, No. 21-3031, 2024 Bankr. LEXIS 318 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Feb. 8, 2024).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Reference in O.C.G.A. § 48-2-40 to a month means that period of time from any day of a month to the same (or
nearest) day of the next succeeding month. 1982 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U82-19.