Georgia manufacturers can receive temporary property tax relief for property tax year 2021, with the passage of HB 451, which expands the state’s Level 1 Freeport Inventory Exemption.
The Freeport exemption, offered by several of the state’s local governments, allows Georgia manufacturers to exempt finished goods surplus inventory from ad valorem tax within the year the goods are manufactured. HB 451 provides manufacturers with the choice of applying the Freeport Exemption to the fair market value of eligible finished goods as of either January 1, 2020 or as of January 1, 2021. The law is designed to help manufacturers recovering from economic and logistical disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Georgia manufacturers taking advantage of this temporary tax relief need to consider the methods available to obtain relief, given the deadline for filing property tax returns and submitting the Freeport Inventory Exemption application for property tax year 2021 was April 1, 2021 for most jurisdictions.
