Georgia income tax in 2026: a 4.99% flat rate and higher deductions

For 2026, Georgia taxes all Georgia taxable income at one flat rate, 4.99%, down from 5.19% for 2025. There are no brackets: what keeps lower incomes out of tax is the standard deduction and the exemption for dependents, not a lower rate. The cut comes from HB 463, the Georgia Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2026, which the Governor signed on May 11, 2026 and which applies to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, so the whole year is taxed at 4.99%.

Georgia’s cities and counties add no income tax of their own. A state law passed in 2010 says “there shall be no local income taxes whatsoever levied or collected by any political subdivision of this state, and no local income tax returns shall be required.”

HB 463 also schedules more cuts. From January 1, 2027, the rate is to fall by 0.125 percentage point a year until it reaches 3.99%, while the standard deduction and the dependent exemption rise each year. Every yearly step waits a year whenever any of three tests fails on December 1: the Governor’s revenue estimate for the next fiscal year is not at least 3% above the current one, the last fiscal year’s net revenue was not higher than in each of the three years before it, or the Revenue Shortfall Reserve does not hold more than the revenue the next cut is projected to cost. The Office of Planning and Budget reports on the tests by December 1 each year. With no delays, the rate would be 4.865% for 2027 and would reach 3.99% in 2034.

Georgia starts from your federal return. Form 500 begins with federal adjusted gross income, not federal taxable income, and Schedule 1 adds and subtracts the items Georgia treats differently to reach Georgia adjusted gross income. From that come either the Georgia standard deduction or your itemized deductions, then $5,000 for each dependent for 2026, and the 4.99% rate applies to what is left.

You follow your federal choice: if you take the standard deduction on the federal return you take Georgia’s, and if you itemize federally you must itemize for Georgia. For 2026 the standard deduction is $15,000 for single filers, heads of household and married people filing separately, and $30,000 for married couples filing jointly, up from $12,000 and $24,000 for 2025. Since 2024 there has been no personal exemption for yourself or your spouse, and no extra $1,300 deduction for being 65 or older or blind.

As an example, a single filer with $60,000 of federal adjusted gross income, no Georgia adjustments and no dependents has $45,000 of Georgia taxable income for 2026 and owes $2,246, about 3.7% of income, against $2,491 on the same income for 2025. A married couple filing jointly with $100,000 of federal adjusted gross income and two children aged 3 and 8 has $60,000 of taxable income after the $30,000 deduction and $10,000 for the children, so $2,994 of tax for 2026 before the $250 credit for the younger child; for 2025 the tax was $3,529.

Georgia does not tax Social Security. Social Security benefits, and Railroad Retirement benefits paid by the Railroad Retirement Board, that are included in federal adjusted gross income are subtracted on Schedule 1 of Form 500.

Other retirement income is taxed only above the retirement income exclusion. For 2026, a person aged 62 to 64, or under 62 and permanently disabled, can exclude up to $35,000, and a person 65 or older up to $65,000. Each spouse qualifies separately, so a married couple can exclude up to twice the amount, and up to $5,000 of each person’s exclusion can be earned income such as wages. HB 463 raises the amount for people 65 or older to $70,000 from 2027, and part-year residents and nonresidents prorate the exclusion.

Military retirement has its own exclusion for younger retirees. For 2026, a retiree under 62 can exclude up to $17,500 of military retirement income, and another $17,500 with more than $17,500 of earned income in Georgia; from 62, the general retirement exclusion applies. From 2027, under HB 266 of 2025, a retiree under 65 can exclude up to $65,000 of military retirement pay, but not on top of the general retirement exclusion.

The July 2025 tax law (Public Law 119-21) created federal deductions for 2025 through 2028: up to $25,000 of qualified tips, up to $12,500 of qualified overtime pay ($25,000 on a joint return), up to $10,000 of interest on a qualifying car loan, and $6,000 for each person 65 or older. Georgia did not adopt them. HB 1199, signed March 20, 2026, ties Georgia to the Internal Revenue Code as of January 1, 2026, for tax years from 2025, but treats the tips, overtime and car loan interest provisions as not in effect. The federal deductions are also taken after adjusted gross income, on Schedule 1-A, and Georgia starts from adjusted gross income, so none of them, the senior deduction included, reaches a Georgia return.

Instead, HB 463 created two smaller Georgia subtractions for tax years 2026 through 2028. A full-time employee paid by the hour can subtract up to $1,750 of qualified overtime compensation as federal law defines it; an overtime amount reported only on a Form 1099 does not qualify on that basis alone. Someone in an occupation the U.S. Treasury lists as customarily receiving tips can subtract up to $1,750 of cash tips, which include tips paid in cash or charged and tips received through a tip-sharing arrangement, as long as the tip was voluntary, not negotiated and set by the person paying it.

Employers report the overtime and tip amounts on the 2026 Forms W-2 and 1099 without applying the $1,750 limit, which you apply on your Georgia return. Reporting them does not lower Georgia withholding, so the saving, at most about $87 on each $1,750 at the 4.99% rate, comes when you file.

For 2025, a full-year Georgia resident had to file if required to file a federal return, if he or she had income Georgia taxes but the federal government does not, or if income was more than the Georgia standard deduction: $12,000, or $24,000 for a married couple filing jointly. The rules apply as long as your legal residence is Georgia, even while you live elsewhere temporarily, and you can file below them to get back Georgia tax withheld. DOR has not yet published its 2026 instructions; the standard deduction itself rises to $15,000 and $30,000 for 2026.

A part-year resident who has to file a federal return must file in Georgia. A nonresident must file if he or she works in Georgia or has other Georgia-source income, such as rent from Georgia property, Georgia lottery winnings or income from a partnership, S corporation or LLC, and has to file a federal return. The exception: a nonresident whose only Georgia activity is working as an employee does not file if the Georgia pay is no more than the lesser of 5% of pay for work everywhere or $5,000.

Everyone files Form 500; Form 500EZ was discontinued from tax year 2025. Use the same filing status as on your federal return.

Georgia returns for a calendar year are due April 15 of the next year, so 2026 returns are due April 15, 2027; a fiscal-year return is due the 15th day of the fourth month after the year ends. You get six more months to file, to October 15, 2027, automatically if you have a federal extension, or by mailing Form IT-303 before the due date if you do not; attach a copy of Form 4868, the IRS confirmation or Form IT-303 to the Georgia return. An extension to file is not an extension to pay: tax owed is due April 15, 2027, and Form IT-560 is the voucher for a payment made with an extension.

Estimated tax is required if you expect gross income for the year above the total of your dependent exemptions, your deductions and $1,000 of income not subject to withholding. For 2026 the installments are due April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027, on Form 500-ES or online through the Georgia Tax Center, and you can pay the whole amount with the first one. An underpayment penalty is figured on Form 500 UET.

Employers withheld Georgia tax at 5.19% until HB 463 was signed and could start withholding at 4.99% from May 11, 2026. The 4.99% rate still applies to all 2026 income, and the return settles the difference. DOR says most refunds are issued within three weeks of receiving a return but can take up to 12 weeks, and first-time Georgia filers, or people who have not filed in five or more years, get a paper check.

Georgia is paying a one-time surplus refund in 2026. HB 1000, signed March 20, 2026, refunds the lesser of your 2024 Georgia tax (line 16 of the 2024 Form 500) or, by 2024 filing status, $250 for single filers and married people filing separately, $375 for heads of household and $500 for married couples filing jointly. You qualify if you filed both your 2024 and 2025 Georgia returns by the 2025 return’s due date, April 15, 2026, or October 15, 2026 with an extension; part-year residents and nonresidents get a prorated amount, and someone claimed as a dependent for 2024 qualifies only with 2024 earned income.

DOR began issuing the refunds on May 4, 2026 and applies them first to any amount you owe the state; its Surplus Tax Refund Eligibility Tool on the Georgia Tax Center shows your status. The refund is not taxable on a Georgia return, though DOR notes it may be taxable federally. Georgia paid earlier special refunds in 2022, 2023 and 2025.

Credits come off the tax itself, and under the 2025 instructions the credits used on a return cannot exceed its tax. The main credits for individuals are listed below.

In the year you move, you file Form 500 as a part-year resident with Schedule 3. Georgia taxes all your income while you are a resident and only Georgia-source income, such as pay for work done in Georgia, for the rest of the year. Schedule 3 lists your income as if you had lived in Georgia all year beside the part Georgia taxes; that share sets how much of the standard deduction and dependent exemptions you get, and the retirement exclusion is prorated too. A resident who is only temporarily away stays a resident until he or she becomes a permanent resident of another state.

A few things catch people who move. DOR says a pension from another state becomes taxable in Georgia when you move here, subject to the retirement exclusion, and a Georgia pension is not taxed by Georgia once you move away. A married couple with one Georgia resident and one nonresident can file separate Georgia returns or a joint return using Schedule 3. And a first-time Georgia filer receives the refund as a paper check, even on an electronically filed return.

Across the state line, Georgia taxes residents on income earned anywhere and gives a credit for income tax paid to another state on the same income, so a Georgia resident working in a state with an income tax may have to file there too and then claims the credit in Georgia. A nonresident who works in Georgia owes Georgia tax on the pay for work done here, and employers must withhold it once more than 5% of the employee’s earned income, or more than $5,000 of wages, is for work in Georgia. Tennessee and Florida do not tax wages, so someone who lives there and works in Georgia pays Georgia’s tax with no home-state income tax on that pay.