Timber Tax Credits – HB 4EX
By Hoffman & Associates
The Georgia General Assembly has recognized Hurricane Michael’s catastrophic impact on the citizens and economy of southwest Georgia, an area of the state heavily dependent on the timber industry for their livelihood.
Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida on October 10, 2018 as the first major hurricane (category 3+) to directly impact Georgia since the 1890’s. In mid-November 2018, the State of Georgia met to discuss how to handle the circumstances equitably and legislators passed two bills:
- House Bill 1EX to provide emergency funding for local & state agencies that were heavily impacted by Hurricane Michael for an amount up to $270 million.
- House Bill 4EX essentially creates a tax credit for taxpayers residing within southwest Georgia’s timber industry.
Disaster areas are ‘real property encompassed by the borders of the 28 counties’ – this geographic assignment has assisted in determining a taxpayer’s credit entitlement. Taxpayers residing within disaster areas shall be allowed tax credits in an amount equal to 100% of the taxpayer’s timber casualty loss. Taxpayers must first submit an application with the tax commissioner for preapproval, the first round of preapprovals will be announced between July 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019. Only taxpayers who have been issued preapproval certificates may claim the tax credits in the taxable year in which the taxpayer first completes the replanting of timber.
“We originally joked that we’d put a disaster plan in place, but we‘d probably never put it to use… we never dreamed we’d have a hurricane of that magnitude.” Tracy Sharkey, CPA. (Rooney, 2019)
For more information regarding these credits or any other tax concern, please contact us at 404-255-7400 or info@hoffmanestetalaw.com.
