HB1353: HB1353 Excise tax; rooms, lodgings, and accommodations; exclude usufructs from assessments

Georgia law lets cities and counties collect an excise tax on rooms, lodgings, and accommodations, and lets local governments assess innkeepers to make sure they are paying what they owe. Currently, any such assessment is treated as presumed correct unless challenged. This bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 48-13-53.5 to add one exception: usufructs, a legal arrangement under Georgia property law where someone has the right to use and occupy property without owning it, would not be subject to this assessment process at all. The rest of the assessment rule, that a local government's assessment of an innkeeper is presumed correct, stays the same. The bill does not include a stated effective date beyond the standard process, and it repeals any conflicting laws.

• Rewrites the state law on lodging tax assessments (O.C.G.A. § 48-13-53.5) to add usufructs, a Georgia property arrangement granting a right to use property without owning it, as an exclusion.
• Keeps in place the existing rule that a local government's assessment of an innkeeper under the lodging excise tax is presumed correct unless proven otherwise.
• Removes usufruct holders or arrangements from being subject to assessment under the local hotel and lodging excise tax rules.
• Repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change.

Local governments (cities and counties) that impose excise taxes on rooms, lodgings, and accommodations, innkeepers and property owners who operate under usufruct arrangements, and short-term rental or lodging operators whose property rights are structured as usufructs rather than outright ownership.

If enacted, local tax officials would no longer be able to assess usufruct-based lodging arrangements for excise tax compliance purposes, which could shield certain property arrangements from the same scrutiny applied to standard innkeepers, affecting how local hotel and lodging tax revenue is verified and collected.

• Section 1 amends Article 3 of Chapter 13 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, which governs the excise tax on rooms, lodgings, and accommodations.
• Section 1 revises Code Section 48-13-53.5 to keep assessments 'prima facie correct' but adds that usufructs shall not be subject to assessment.
• Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2026-02-19House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-18House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-17House Hopper (House)

• Charles Martin (R, HD-049)Primary sponsor

• hotel and lodging tax
• property law
• local government taxation
• usufructs