HB930: HB930 Income tax; refundable credit for grocery, transportation, and utility costs; provide

This bill combines several tax changes into one act. Starting with the 2026 tax year, individual taxpayers would get a new refundable credit worth $1,000 (or $2,000 for married couples filing jointly) plus $1,000 per dependent, meant to offset grocery, transportation, and utility costs. A separate one-time refundable credit up to $1,000 would help pay for approved workforce training programs, and the State Workforce Development Board would have to publish an annual list of the training programs the state needs most. The bill also creates a new, non-refundable credit worth up to $5,000 per year for up to five years for attorneys who move into rural counties (population under 50,000) to practice wills and estates or landlord-tenant law; it excludes attorneys already practicing there and repeals itself at the end of 2029. It expands Georgia's low-income housing tax credit to cover certain projects that missed out on a federal housing credit. Finally, it adds a 0.20% excise tax on retail sales handled by online marketplace facilitators. Most provisions take effect July 1, 2026, with the tax credit parts applying to tax years starting January 1, 2026.

• Creates a new refundable state income tax credit of $1,000 (single/head of household) or $2,000 (married filing jointly), plus $1,000 per dependent, to offset grocery, transportation, and utility costs starting in 2026.
• Creates a one-time refundable tax credit of up to $1,000 for expenses paid toward a workforce training program approved for the taxpayer's local workforce area.
• Requires the State Workforce Development Board to publish an annual list of training programs considered most critical to the state's workforce needs by December 31 each year.
• Creates a non-refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 per year, for up to five years, for attorneys who take up wills and estates or landlord-tenant practice in a rural county (population under 50,000), with exclusions for attorneys already practicing there before July 1, 2026.
• Expands the Georgia housing tax credit so certain low-income housing projects can get a state credit equal to 100 percent of the federal credit even if they never actually received federal housing tax credits.
• Imposes a new 0.20 percent excise tax on retail sales of tangible personal property facilitated by online marketplace facilitators, on top of existing sales tax.

Individual Georgia taxpayers and families who pay for groceries, transportation, and utilities; workers seeking job training; attorneys considering practicing wills, estates, or landlord-tenant law in small rural counties; developers of low-income housing projects; and online marketplace facilitators and the retailers and consumers who use them.

Georgia households could see a direct reduction in their state income tax bills, or a refund check, tied to everyday living costs, while workers get help paying for job training. Rural areas could gain more legal services for wills and landlord-tenant issues, and shoppers using online marketplaces could face a small new tax on those purchases.

• Section 1-1 adds O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.27, creating the grocery, transportation, and utility cost credit effective January 1, 2026, refundable and not counted as taxable income.
• Section 2-1 adds O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.28, a one-time refundable credit up to $1,000 for approved workforce training expenses.
• Section 2-2 adds O.C.G.A. § 34-14-4, requiring the State Workforce Development Board to publish a High-Demand Workforce Training List annually by December 31.
• Section 3-1 adds O.C.G.A. § 48-7-29.29, the rural attorney tax credit, capped at $5,000 per year for up to five years, with no carryforward and a repeal date of December 31, 2029.
• Sections 4-1 and 4-2 revise O.C.G.A. §§ 33-1-18 and 48-7-29.6 to let certain qualified Georgia housing projects receive the full federal-equivalent housing tax credit even without an actual federal award.
• Section 5-1 adds a new Article 9 to Chapter 13 of Title 48, imposing a 0.20 percent excise tax on marketplace-facilitated retail sales, collected the same way as the existing sales tax.
• Section 6-1 sets the overall effective date as July 1, 2026, but makes Parts I through IV apply retroactively to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

1. 2026-01-12House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-04-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-04-04House Hopper (House)

• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)Primary sponsor
• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)

• income tax credits
• cost of living relief
• workforce training
• rural legal services
• low-income housing tax credit