2020 Georgia Code
Title 48 - Revenue and Taxation
Chapter 2 - State Administrative Organization, Administration, and Enforcement
Article 1 - State Administrative Organization
§ 48-2-12. Rules and Regulations; Forms

1. The commissioner shall have the power to make and publish in print or electronically reasonable rules and regulations not inconsistent with this title or other laws or with the Constitution of this state or of the United States for the enforcement of this title and the collection of revenues under this title.
2. The commissioner shall prescribe the forms he deems necessary for the administration and enforcement of this title or any law which it is his duty to administer.
3. The authority granted to the commissioner pursuant to this Code section shall be exercised at all times in conformity with Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act."
4. This Code section shall apply to all rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to this title or pursuant to any revenue law of this state which is not a part of this title.

(Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 7; Code 1933, § 91A-215, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 2010, p. 838, § 10/SB 388; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 48/HB 323.)

The 2017 amendment, effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted "with respect" following "shall apply" in subsection (d).

- For annual survey of administrative law, see 57 Mercer L. Rev. 1 (2005). For annual survey on administrative law, see 70 Mercer L. Rev. 1 (2018).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 25 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- Ga. L. 1972, p. 1104, § 1 et seq. (see now O.C.G.A. Pt. 1, Art. 5, Ch. 5, T. 48) does not establish detailed procedures for the employment and termination of the appraisal staff. The commissioner may make necessary rules and regulations not inconsistent with that Act, and such rules and regulations shall have the full force and effect of law. Spell v. Blalock, 243 Ga. 459, 254 S.E.2d 842 (1979).

- Florida public authority's action under O.C.G.A. § 48-6-7(b), protesting the denial by the Revenue Commissioner of the State of Georgia of its request for a refund of real estate transfer tax, paid pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 48-6-1, was denied since it was found that the exemption provided in O.C.G.A. § 48-6-2(a)(3) did not apply to the out-of-state public authority; the Commissioner's determination that the exemption did not apply to such an entity was entitled to deference pursuant to the principles of O.C.G.A. § 48-2-12. Hicks v. Fla. State Bd. of Admin., 265 Ga. App. 545, 594 S.E.2d 745 (2004).

Trial court erred in declaring invalid a regulation used to interpret a research tax credit codified in a state statute on the ground that the regulation exceeded the scope of the authority upon which it was predicated; the state revenue commissioner had explicit authority to promulgate regulations for the enforcement of the Public Revenue Code and the collection of revenues under it, the regulation itself was authorized by statute, and the regulation reasonably required that a recipient have a positive Georgia taxable net income for each of the preceding three years in order to receive the tax credit. Ga. Dep't of Revenue v. Ga. Chemistry Council, Inc., 270 Ga. App. 615, 607 S.E.2d 207 (2004).

- Grant of the Georgia Department of Revenue's motion to dismiss the appellants' complaint seeking a refund under O.C.G.A. § 48-2-35 of state sales tax paid was affirmed because the appellants failed to comply with a regulation that, before seeking a refund on behalf of their customers under § 48-2-35, the appellants were required to affirmatively show that the alleged erroneously or illegally collected tax had been refunded to their customers, which the appellants admittedly had not done.

Cited in Effingham County Bd. of Tax Assessors v. Samwilka, Inc., 278 Ga. App. 521, 629 S.E.2d 501 (2006).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions under Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 25 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- Rules and regulations providing for stop payments to be issued after 180 days and the return of funds to the general treasury are deemed reasonable in the absence of statutory authority to the contrary. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-103 (decided under Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 25).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 71 Am. Jur. 2d, State and Local Taxation, § 98.

- 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 326 et seq. 81A C.J.S., States, §§ 260, 261.