HB 429: Ad valorem tax; exempt vehicles owned by a natural person for which a title was issued before March 1, 2013

Under current Georgia law, motor vehicles owned by individuals are generally subject to yearly ad valorem tax (a property tax based on the vehicle's value), unless a specific exemption applies. This bill creates a new exemption for vehicles owned by a natural person (an individual, not a business or organization) whose Georgia title was issued before March 1, 2013. The bill sets up these older-titled vehicles as their own separate category of property. For that category, owners would not have to report the vehicle for tax purposes, no tax rate would be calculated, and no ad valorem tax would be collected on it at all. The exemption does not apply to vehicles owned by businesses or other entities, only to those owned by individuals. The change would take effect January 1, 2027, and would apply to tax years starting on or after that date.

• Creates a new Georgia Code section (48-5-472.1) exempting individually owned vehicles titled in Georgia before March 1, 2013 from ad valorem tax.
• Removes the return, rate-setting, and collection procedures for these older-titled vehicles, meaning no tax paperwork or payment is required for them.
• Leaves the existing ad valorem tax rules in place for vehicles owned by businesses or other entities, and for individually owned vehicles titled after March 1, 2013.
• Sets the effective date as January 1, 2027, applying to all tax years beginning on or after that date.

Individual Georgia vehicle owners whose cars, trucks, or other motor vehicles were titled in the state before March 1, 2013. It does not affect vehicles owned by companies, nonprofits, or other entities, nor vehicles titled on or after that date. County and local tax offices that collect vehicle ad valorem taxes are also affected, since they would lose the ability to tax this group of vehicles.

Owners of older, already-titled vehicles would stop paying the annual ad valorem tax on those vehicles starting in 2027, lowering their yearly costs. Local governments and school districts that rely on this tax revenue would collect less from this category of older vehicles going forward.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 48-5-471(a) to note that individually owned vehicles are taxed 'except as specifically provided' in the new exemption section.
• Section 2 adds O.C.G.A. § 48-5-472.1, creating a separate tax subclassification for individually owned vehicles titled before March 1, 2013, and exempting them from return, rate, and collection procedures.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as January 1, 2027, applying to taxable years beginning on or after that date.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-10Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
3. 2025-03-06House Third Readers (House)
4. 2025-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-02-18House Second Readers (House)
6. 2025-02-13House First Readers (House)
7. 2025-02-12House Hopper (House)

• David Wilkerson (D, HD-38)Primary sponsor
• Brian Prince (D, HD-132)
• Devan Seabaugh (R, HD-34)
• Shaw Blackmon (R, HD-146)
• Michael Smith (D, HD-41)
• Bruce Williamson (R, HD-112)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   166 yea, 0 nay (7 not voting, 7 excused)

   PASSAGE: House Vote #238

• property taxes
• vehicle taxes
• ad valorem tax
• car ownership
• tax exemptions