HB 2: Safe Storage Tax Credit Act; enact

Georgia currently offers no tax credit tied to buying equipment that locks up firearms. House Bill 2 would add a new section to Georgia's income tax code (O.C.G.A. Chapter 7 of Title 48) letting individual taxpayers claim a credit equal to what they spent on firearm safe storage devices, such as gun safes, trigger locks, chamber locks, or cable locks, bought from a federally licensed dealer, up to $300.00 per year. Taxpayers would have to apply to the Georgia Department of Revenue for preapproval before claiming the credit, and approvals would be granted first come, first served until the statewide $5 million annual cap is reached. Taxpayers must keep receipts for three years, and the credit cannot exceed a person's total tax bill or be carried forward to future years. No one could claim more than $300.00 in credits over their lifetime. The credit would apply to tax years starting January 1, 2026, and the whole program would automatically expire on December 31, 2030.

• Creates a new state income tax credit equal to a taxpayer's spending on firearm safe storage devices, capped at $300.00 per person.
• Caps the total amount of credits the state will approve at $5 million per year across all taxpayers combined.
• Requires taxpayers to apply to the Department of Revenue for preapproval before claiming the credit, processed on a first-come, first-served basis within 30 days.
• Limits any individual taxpayer to $300.00 in these credits over their entire lifetime, not per year.
• Bars carrying the credit forward to future tax years or applying it against past years' taxes.
• Sets the program to automatically repeal on December 31, 2030.

Individual Georgia taxpayers who purchase gun safes, trigger locks, chamber locks, or cable locks from federally licensed firearms dealers; the Georgia Department of Revenue, which must build a preapproval process and enforce the annual funding cap; and federally licensed firearm dealers who sell the qualifying devices.

Gun owners who buy approved storage devices could recover part of the cost through a state tax credit, potentially encouraging safer firearm storage. Because total credits are capped at $5 million a year and awarded on a first-come basis, some taxpayers who apply late in the year could be denied even if they qualify.

• Section 1 titles the measure the 'Safe Storage Tax Credit Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code section 48-7-29.11A, defining 'firearm,' 'firearm safe storage device,' and 'eligible safe storage expenses.'
• Subsection (b) sets the credit at the lesser of actual eligible expenses or $300.00, with a $5 million aggregate annual cap on all credits statewide.
• Subsection (c) requires taxpayers to apply for preapproval, processed first-come, first-served, with denials issued once the yearly funding cap is reached.
• Subsection (d) requires taxpayers to keep receipts for three years and caps lifetime credits per taxpayer at $300.00.
• Subsection (e) prevents the credit from exceeding a taxpayer's tax liability and bars carrying it forward or back to other tax years.
• Subsection (g) automatically repeals the tax credit program on December 31, 2030.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as January 1, 2026, applying to taxable years beginning on or after that date.

1. 2025-01-15House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-14House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-13House Hopper (House)

• Michelle Au (D, HD-050)Primary sponsor
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Omari Crawford (D, HD-089)
• Yasmin Neal (D, HD-079)
• Anne Westbrook (D, HD-163)
• Gabriel Sanchez (D, HD-042)

• gun safety
• tax credits
• firearm storage
• state income tax
• gun owners