Headquarters Tax Credit
On this page find information and instructions for claiming the Headquarters Tax Credit.
- Tax Credit Code: 113
Summary
Companies establishing their headquarters or relocating their headquarters to Georgia prior to January 1, 2009 may be entitled to a tax credit if the following criteria are met: 1) At least fifty (50) headquarters jobs are created; and 2) within one year of the first hire, $1 million is spent in construction, renovation, leasing, or other cost related to such establishment or reallocation. Headquarters is defined as the principal central administrative offices of a company or a subsidiary of the company. The credit is available for establishing new full-time jobs.
To qualify, each job must pay a salary which is a stated percentage of the average county wage where the job is located: Tier 1 counties at least 100%; Tier 2 counties at least 105%; Tier 3 counties at least 110%; and Tier 4 counties at least 115%. The company has the ability to claim the credit in years one through five for jobs created in year one and may continue to claim newly created jobs through year seven and claim the credit on each of those jobs for five years. The credit is equal to $2,500 annually per new full-time job meeting the wage requirement or $5,000 if the average wage of all new qualifying fulltime jobs is 200% or more of the average county wage where new jobs are located. The credit may be used to offset 100 percent of the taxpayers Georgia income tax liability in the taxable year. Where the amount of such credit exceeds the taxpayer’s tax liability in a taxable year, the excess may be taken as a credit against such taxpayer’s quarterly or monthly withholding tax.
Forms
To claim the credit against withholding, a business must file Form IT-WH as provided in the headquarters tax credit regulation or as instructed by the Commissioner. This credit should be applied for and claimed on Form IT-HQ.
IT-WH Notice of Intention to Claim Withholding Benefit
IT-HQ Application for Georgia Headquarters Job Tax Credit
Relevant Links
O.C.G.A. §48-7-40.17 before the 2009 amendments