2021 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 8 - Employment Security
Article 5 - Contributions and Payments in Lieu of Contributions
§ 34-8-150. Payment of Contributions by Employers; Deferral of De Minimis Amounts

1. Contributions shall accrue from each employer for each calendar year in which the employer is subject to this chapter with respect to wages payable for employment, except as provided in Code Sections 34-8-158 through 34-8-162. Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, such contributions shall become due and be paid before the last day of the month next following the end of the calendar quarter to which they apply, in accordance with such regulations as the Commissioner may prescribe; provided, however, that with respect to employers as defined in paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 34-8-33, the Commissioner shall provide by regulation that such contributions shall become due and be paid on an annual basis not later than such date as shall be prescribed by resolution of the Commissioner. Such contributions shall become delinquent if not paid when due and shall not be deducted, in whole or in part, from the wages of individuals in such employer's employ.
2. 1. For calendar quarters beginning on or after July 1, 2009, when the combined amount of contributions under this Code section and assessments under Code Section 34-8-180 or 34-8-181 due from an employer for any calendar quarter does not exceed $5.00, such amount may be regarded as a de minimis amount with respect to that calendar quarter.
   2. Payment of such de minimis amount for such calendar quarter, otherwise due before the last day of the month next following the end of the calendar quarter, may be deferred, at the option of the employer, until the January 31 reporting date next following, if the employer:
      1. Files all quarterly wage and tax reports, including a report of such de minimis amount due;
      2. Timely pays all other amounts due; and
      3. Makes full payment of any deferred de minimis amount by the January 31 report date next following.
   3. In the event that an employer fails to comply with paragraph (2) of this subsection, any such deferred de minimis amount shall become delinquent as of the date originally due under this Code section and Code Section 34-8-165, 34-8-180, or 34-8-181, as applicable, and the employer shall be subject to all the provisions thereof.
3. In the payment of any contributions, a fractional part of a cent shall be disregarded unless it amounts to one-half cent or more, in which case it shall be increased to one cent.

(Code 1981, §34-8-150, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 139, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 781, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1084, § 1; Ga. L. 2009, p. 139, § 2/HB 581.)

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1996, "commissioner" was capitalized at the end of the second sentence in subsection (a).

- Ga. L. 2009, p. 139, § 1/HB 581, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Works Job Creation and Protection Act of 2009.'"

- For annual survey of law on labor and employment law, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 181 (2010).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under Ga. L. 1937, p. 806 and former Code 1933, § 54-650.2 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- It is clear that the "person" referred to in former Code 1933, § 54-650.2 (see now O.C.G.A. § 34-8-168) is not the employer because Ga. L. 1937, p. 806 (see now O.C.G.A. § 34-8-1 et seq.) contained other provisions which, in effect, made the employer personally liable for the tax by prohibiting the employer from deducting the taxes, in whole or in part, from the wages of the employees, and by providing for collection of the unpaid taxes from the employer. Thus, if the term "person" in former Code 1933, § 54-650.2 was construed to mean the "employer," the statute would be redundant. Brumby v. Brooks, 234 Ga. 376, 216 S.E.2d 288 (1975), later appeal, 140 Ga. App. 210, 230 S.E.2d 359 (1976) (decided under Ga. L. 1937, p. 806 and former Code 1933, § 54-650.2)

- While the debtor was the responsible person for filing the debtor's employer's unemployment returns and paying unemployment taxes to Georgia's unemployment fund, because the debtor received discharge in the debtor's Chapter 7 case, any act to collect from the debtor a debt for unemployment taxes, interest and penalties with respect to wages paid by the employer was enjoined. Shaw v. Georgia (In re Shaw), Bankr. (Bankr. N.D. Ga. Apr. 2, 2014).

- Debtor was entitled to judgment that any debt the debtor owed for unpaid unemployment taxes was dischargeable because taxes that O.C.G.A. § 34-8-150(a) required employers to make did not constitute "tax required to be collected or withheld" within the meaning of 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8)(C) and, therefore, the unemployment taxes were not excepted from discharge. Shaw v. Georgia (In re Shaw), Bankr. (Bankr. N.D. Ga. Apr. 2, 2014).

Cited in Tucker v. Caldwell, 608 F.2d 140 (5th Cir. 1979).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Editor's notes

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions decided under Ga. L. 1937, p. 806 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- It does not appear that licensed nurses (registered professional nurses or licensed practical nurses), acting within the scope of their statutory authority, are performing "domestic services" within the meaning of this chapter. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-34 (decided under former Ga. L. 1937, p. 806; see O.C.G.A. Ch. 8, T. 34).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 76 Am. Jur. 2d, Unemployment Compensation, §§ 15, 18, 19.

- 81 C.J.S., Social Security and Public Welfare, §§ 286 et seq., 343, 357, 358.

- Receiver as within social security and unemployment compensation acts, 143 A.L.R. 984.

Constitutionality, construction, and application of provisions of social security or unemployment compensation acts which vary rate of employers' contributions according to period in which business has been conducted, 163 A.L.R. 1148.