---
title: O.C.G.A. § 48-11-3. Collection of tax via stamps; sale at discount to distributors; alternate method of collection of tax; prohibition of sale or exchange of stamps; redemptions.
collection: code
id: 48-11-3
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 48-11-3 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-11-3
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-11-3.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-11-3/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t48-ch9-18-(v37a)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=66c26a66_0#page=100
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-11.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-11-2.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-11-4.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: REVENUE AND TAXATION / TAXES ON TOBACCO AND VAPING PRODUCTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 48-11-3. Collection of tax via stamps; sale at discount to distributors; alternate method of collection of tax; prohibition of sale or exchange of stamps; redemptions.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, the taxes imposed by Code Section 48-11-2 shall be collected and paid through the use of stamps. The commissioner shall secure stamps of such design and materials as the commissioner deems appropriate to protect the revenue and shall sell the stamps to licensed distributors at a discount of not less than 2 percent and not more than 8 percent of the value of the stamps. The exact percentage of the discount shall be based on brackets according to the volume of cigars, cigarettes, loose or smokeless tobacco, alternative nicotine products, and vapor products handled by the distributor pursuant to regulations promulgated by the commissioner. The commissioner shall prescribe by regulation the condition, method, and manner in which stamps are to be affixed to containers of cigars, cigarettes, loose or smokeless tobacco, alternative nicotine products, and vapor products.

(b) The commissioner may prescribe by regulation an alternate method, in lieu of the sale of stamps, of collecting and paying the tax imposed upon cigars and little cigars. The commissioner may also prescribe by regulation an alternate method, in lieu of the sale of stamps, of collecting and paying the tax imposed on loose or smokeless tobacco, alternative nicotine products, or vapor products. Any such regulations shall be promulgated so that use of the alternate method will result in the same revenue to the state as the state would realize through the sale of stamps to the distributors.

(c) No distributor shall sell or exchange with another distributor any stamps issued pursuant to this chapter. The commissioner is authorized to redeem at cost price any stamps presented for redemption by a licensed distributor when the commissioner determines from physical inspection that no cigars, cigarettes, loose or smokeless tobacco, alternative nicotine products, or vapor products have been sold by the distributor under pretense of the tax imposed by this chapter having been paid through use of the stamps.

## History

Ga. L. 1955, p. 268, § 4; Ga. L. 1955, Ex. Sess., p. 48, § 1A; Ga. L. 1960, p. 125, § 2; Ga. L. 1964, p. 50, § 2; Ga. L. 1967, p. 563, § 5; Code 1933, § 91A-5503, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 2003, p. 665, § 20; Ga. L. 2020, p. 257, § 2/SB 375.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2003, p. 665, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘State and Local Tax Revision Act of 2003.’”