Georgia Business Licence

Georgia has no state-issued "business licence." What the PSI outline calls a business licence is the occupation tax certificate issued by the county (unincorporated area) or city where the contractor keeps its office, under the uniform rules of O.C.G.A. Title 48, Chapter 13, Article 1. The state licence from the Construction Industry Licensing Board is separate — and since 2011 the local government may not issue the occupation tax certificate until it sees that state licence and an E-Verify affidavit (36-60-6).

1. Who levies it and on whom — 48-13-5, 48-13-6, 48-13-7

• An occupation tax is a revenue-raising tax levied by ordinance or resolution of a local government on persons, partnerships, corporations or other entities for engaging in an occupation, profession or business (48-13-5(4)). Counties may tax businesses with one or more locations or offices in the unincorporated part of the county; municipalities those within the corporate limits (48-13-6). The article supersedes conflicting local law.
• A location or office is any structure or vehicle where the business is conducted — but not a temporary or construction work site that serves a single customer or project and not a delivery or sales vehicle of a business that has an office (48-13-5(3)). An electrical contractor therefore pays the occupation tax where its shop or office is, not in every county where it wires a house.
• A business with no location or office in Georgia may be taxed by a jurisdiction where it has employees or agents exerting substantial efforts to solicit or serve customers, or owns income-producing property (48-13-7).
• Excluded from the article: businesses regulated by the Public Service Commission, electric membership corporations (Title 46, Chapter 3) and farm operations (48-13-16).