Skip to content
Georgia Commons
Menu

House · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session

HB 141: Revenue and taxation; allow businesses and practitioners to provide affidavits of certified public accountants in lieu of tax returns

Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date

House Bill 141 lets Georgia businesses and professionals submit a certified public accountant's affidavit instead of tax returns when local governments calculate occupation taxes.

Read the full bill text

These buttons carry the bill's own text, not the summaries below. Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the text as filed, then the summaries under a heading that names them as ours. View raw is the text alone.

The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.

In plain language

Local governments in Georgia charge occupation taxes on businesses and licensed practitioners, and current law lets them ask for tax returns or other financial records to figure out how much tax to levy, including allocating gross receipts when a business operates in more than one jurisdiction. This bill gives businesses and practitioners another option: they can choose to submit a sworn affidavit from a certified public accountant (CPA) instead of handing over tax returns or other financial information. The bill amends two sections of Georgia's occupation tax law (O.C.G.A. § 48-13-10 and § 48-13-14). One change lets any business or practitioner elect to use a CPA affidavit in place of tax returns when a local government sets the occupation tax amount. The other change applies specifically to businesses with offices in multiple jurisdictions, allowing a CPA affidavit in place of tax returns when allocating gross receipts among those jurisdictions. All conflicting laws are repealed.

What the bill does

  • Adds a new option letting businesses and practitioners submit a certified public accountant's affidavit instead of tax returns to help local governments set occupation tax amounts.
  • Amends the multi-jurisdiction gross receipts allocation rule so businesses can use a CPA affidavit instead of tax returns to allocate receipts among jurisdictions.
  • Repeals any existing state or local laws that conflict with these new options.

Who it affects

Businesses and licensed practitioners who pay local occupation taxes, especially those operating offices in more than one Georgia jurisdiction, local governments that levy and calculate occupation taxes, and certified public accountants who would prepare the affidavits.

Why it matters

Businesses could avoid disclosing full tax returns to local governments by instead providing a CPA's sworn statement, potentially simplifying paperwork and protecting sensitive financial details, while local governments would need to accept these affidavits as an alternative basis for calculating occupation taxes.

Key provisions

  • Section 1 adds subsection (i) to O.C.G.A. § 48-13-10, letting a business or practitioner elect to provide a CPA affidavit in lieu of tax returns or other financial information for occupation tax determinations.
  • Section 2 revises paragraph (1) of subsection (d) in O.C.G.A. § 48-13-14, adding the same CPA affidavit option for allocating gross receipts of businesses with locations in multiple jurisdictions.
  • Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

From the bill

“A business or practitioner may elect to provide affidavits of certified public accountants in lieu of tax returns or other financial information to local governments to facilitate their determination of the amount of occupation tax to be levied.”

This is the bill's core provision allowing CPA affidavits instead of tax returns for occupation tax purposes.

Discussed in meetings (8)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

  1. Senate Finance Committee, March 17, 2026

    From 0:20:28 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 141 would let businesses and practitioners submit a CPA affidavit instead of full tax returns or other sensitive financial documents for local occupation taxes. The sponsor argued that local governments do not need entire business records to calculate these taxes and described a constituent's concern about financial information allegedly being used against the constituent after criticism of local officials. The sponsor identified NFIB and the Metro Chamber as supporters. Members asked why the bill did not cover other taxes or property valuation records. The sponsor said the bill addressed a specific occupation tax problem and expressed interest in broader work later. One member suggested making the bill effective upon the governor's signature rather than July 1. The sponsor preferred avoiding another House vote that could delay passage. No effective-date amendment was adopted in the transcript. The committee approved the bill unanimously.

  2. Senate Rules Committee, March 19, 2026

    From 0:48:55 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair called up the bill during a review of remaining measures, then moved on without explaining its provisions. No vote or scheduling decision was recorded.

  3. Senate Rules Committee, March 20, 2026

    From 0:31:03 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said businesses in municipalities that use gross receipts could have a certified public accountant submit the required figures rather than give the city access to their financial records and books. The sponsor described this as protecting small-business privacy while providing transparency. No substantive questions about this bill or calendar decision followed.

  4. Senate Rules Committee, March 23, 2026

    From 0:09:08 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The senator carrying HB 141 described it as a disclosure measure involving local governments. No details or vote were provided.

  5. Senate Rules Committee, March 25, 2026

    From 0:42:47 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

    Summary by Georgia Commons: A committee member selected HB 141 for the calendar. No provisions were discussed. The committee unanimously approved the calendar package containing the bill.

  6. Senate floor session, March 31, 2026 (legislative day 39, part 2)

    From 5:25:51 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Taken from Table)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The majority leader requested that the bill be removed from the table. The clerk read its title as allowing businesses and practitioners to use certified public accountants' affidavits instead of tax returns. The chair explained that removing and retabling the bills would preserve their availability for Thursday. The Senate removed this bill from the table without objection, then tabled it again without substantive debate.

  7. Senate floor session, April 2, 2026 (legislative day 40, part 2)

    From 5:04:38 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Taken from Table)

    Summary by Georgia Commons: The Senate removed HB 141 from the table without objection. The presenter said it would let businesses and practitioners provide certified public accountant affidavits instead of tax returns or other financial records when local governments determine occupation taxes. No questions or opposing remarks followed. The Senate passed the bill, 51–0.

Status timeline

  1. 2026-07-01Effective Date
  2. 2026-05-11Act 435
  3. 2026-05-11House Date Signed by Governor (House)
  4. 2026-04-10House Sent to Governor (House)
  5. 2026-04-02Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
  6. 2026-04-02Senate Third Read (Senate)
  7. 2026-04-02Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
  8. 2026-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)
Show full history (24 actions)
  1. 2026-03-31Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
  2. 2026-03-27Senate Tabled (Senate)
  3. 2026-03-18Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
  4. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
  5. 2026-01-12Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
  6. 2025-04-02Senate Tabled (Senate)
  7. 2025-04-02Senate Engrossed (Senate)
  8. 2025-03-13Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
  9. 2025-03-11Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
  10. 2025-03-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
  11. 2025-03-03House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
  12. 2025-03-03House Third Readers (House)
  13. 2025-02-19House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
  14. 2025-01-30House Second Readers (House)
  15. 2025-01-29House First Readers (House)
  16. 2025-01-28House Hopper (House)

Sponsors

  • Martin Momtahan (R, HD-17)Primary sponsor
  • Trey Kelley (R, HD-16)
  • Mandi Ballinger (R, HD-23)
  • Chas Cannon (R, HD-172)
  • Brent Cox (R, HD-28)
  • Noel Williams, Jr. (R, HD-148)
  • Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-31)

Votes

  1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2025

    158 yea, 16 nay (1 not voting, 5 excused)

    PASSAGE: House Vote #144

  2. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2025

    31 yea, 24 nay (0 not voting, 1 excused)

    MOTION TO ENGROSS: SB 214, HB 66, HB 79, HB 129, HB 134, HB 141, HB 370, HB 397, HB 445, HB 463, HB 532, HB 586, HB 652: Senate Vote #383

  3. PassedSenate voteMarch 27, 2026

    26 yea, 22 nay (3 not voting, 3 excused)

    MOTION TO TABLE REMAINING LEGISLATION ON THE RULES CALENDAR: Senate Vote #835

  4. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2026

    51 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 1 excused)

    PASSAGE: Senate Vote #976

Topics

  • occupation tax
  • local government taxation
  • small business
  • certified public accountants
  • tax returns

Ask about this bill

Answers come from this document. Not legal advice.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb141.md · https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp