This post deals specifically with e-commerce tax issues in the state of Georgia
Although web sales are generally thought to be non-taxable, if your client has a physical location they will have to pay sales tax for all of their in-state sales. Â Not only are there state taxes to process, there are additional county-based local taxes which have to be accounted for in your e-commerce solution. Â I know this sounds like a huge pain, and it somewhat is, but it is a necessary thing to consider in order to ensure that your client does not receive any unnecessary headaches while running their new e-commerce website.
There is however a kink to this process when considering online sales. Â Local taxes are county based. Â When was the last time you saw a “County” line on a checkout form? Since it is rather unconventional to include a “County” line on your checkout forms, these rates are typically calculated based on the zip codes provided when customers are purchasing items.
SPOILER ALERT! Â The remainder of this article deals specifically with Sales Tax issues for the state of Georgia
Georgia Tax Rates for Online Sales
In reviewing this situation for a current project we are working on for a company based in Georgia, we decided to add a 7% tax for all items purchased from within the state of Georgia (4% state tax + 3% Local Tax). Â Since there are only 9 counties with a lower local tax rate, we then determined (conservatively) the zip codes for all the counties that had a lower Local Tax rate (2% rather than the traditional 3%). Â We then created a negative tax rate criteria for all orders from these zip codes, so when someone made a purchase from a zip code that fell within the lower rate it would reduce the tax amount by 1% (2% in the case of Whitfield County since they only have a 1% local tax bringing the total tax rate to 5%). Â We’ve provided a breakdown below of all the Counties and associated zip codes with the lower rates.
Counties & Associated Zip Codes with 2% Tax Rate
Bibb County
- 31201
- 31204
- 31206
- 31216
Burke County
- 30456
- 30830
Cherokee County
- 30114
- 30115
- 30183
- 30188
- 30189
Cobb County
- 30008
- 30060
- 30062
- 30064
- 30066
- 30067
- 30068
- 30069
- 30080
- 30082
- 30106
- 30126
- 30144
- 30152
Fayette County
- 30214
- 30215
- 30269
- 30290
Glynn County
- 31520
- 31522
- 31523
- 31525
- 31527
Greene County
- 30642
- 30678
Gwinnett County
- 30017
- 30024
- 30044
- 30045
- 30047
- 30071
- 30092
- 30093
- 30096
Counties and Associated Zip Codes with 1% Tax Rate
Whitfield County
- 30710
- 30720
- 30721
- 30740
We hope this helps you and maybe saves you a little time! Â If you happen to be looking into an e-commerce solution for your own company, we would love to talk with you! Â Contact us and we’ll be in touch with you shortly.
Paul Johnson says
You missed the extra 1% that is associated with addresses inside the city limits of Atlanta.
https://etax.dor.ga.gov/salestax/salestaxrates/LGS_2012_Jan_Rate_Chart.pdf