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Effective April 29, 2021, Georgia courts and the Georgia Tax Tribunal are prohibited from granting any deference to the Georgia Department of Revenue’s interpretation of the tax law, unless that interpretation has been formally adopted as a rule under the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). S.B. 185, 2021 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Ga. 2021).
Taxpayers in Georgia (and in other states with similar practices) should be aware that they are now on equal footing with the taxing authority, and that the taxpayer’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute will be accorded the same weight as the taxing authority’s interpretation. Administrative agencies will have to promulgate formal rules in Georgia to be granted any judicial deference and will otherwise be held to the same standard to which taxpayers have always been held in advancing their construction of the tax law. Taxpayers, on the other hand, may find more success