For certain manufacturers' capital improvements, the county portion of the tax may be exempted for five years. Application must be submitted to the Chatham County Board of Assessors between January 1 and April 1 of a given year.
County Inventory Tax Exemption
Chatham County currently abates 100% of ad valorem property taxes for:
Manufacturing inventory/raw materials
Warehoused inventory of finished goods destined for shipment outside this state
Inventory of finished goods shipped here from outside the state and stored for transshipment to a final destination outside this state
Companies must apply for this exemption by April 1 of each year.
Computer Equipment Sales Tax Exemption
Computer equipment purchased or leased after January 1, 2001 for use in a Georgia high-technology company, and exceeding the annual threshold of $15 million will be exempt from sales and use tax. High-technology companies are specified as those with SIC 3674, 4812-4813, 4822, 7371-7379, 8711, or 8721-8733.
The term "computer equipment" means any individual terminal or organized assembly of hardware, including but not limited to:
Central processing units
Scanners
Printers
Electronic data storage devices
Memory chips
Data transmission equipment
Software products including operating systems and library and maintenance routines
Other related peripheral equipment
Pollution Equipment Tax Exemption
If a piece of new or replacement equipment has as its primary purpose air or water pollution control, you may receive both sales tax and property tax exemptions. First, the appropriate paperwork is submitted to the Department of Revenue for sales tax exemption approval. The Department's approval then qualifies a local property tax exemption for that equipment.
Primary Materials Handling Sales Tax Exemption
Purchases of equipment used directly for the handling and movement of tangible personal property in a new or expanding warehouse or distribution facility are exempt from sales and use tax. The facility or expansion must be worth $5 million or more and not used in direct retail sales.
Manufacturing Machinery Sales Tax Exemption
Machinery that is purchased or leased for direct use in manufacturing tangible personal property is exempt from sales and use tax when the machinery is:
Incorporated the first time into a new manufacturing plant located in this state
Bought to replace or upgrade machinery in a manufacturing plant presently existing in the state
Incorporated as additional machinery for the first time into a manufacturing plant presently existing in this state
Incorporated into and used in the construction or operation of a clean room of class 100 or less, provided that such clean room is used directly in the manufacture of tangible personal property (does not include the building or any permanent, non-removable component of the building that houses such clean room)
Incorporated into any telecommunications manufacturing facility and used for the primary purpose of improving air quality in advanced technology clean rooms of class 100 or less, provided such clean rooms are used directly in the manufacture of tangible personal property
Additional exemptions include:
Machinery purchased, or leased, to be used directly in the remanufacture of aircraft engines, parts and components on a factory basis
Tangible personal property consumed in the performance of a contract between the US Government and a contractor employing 500 or more full-time employees engaged in manufacturing
Replacement or repair parts that restore the machinery to its original condition or does not upgrade machinery that is used directly in the manufacture of tangible personal property at an existing manufacturing plant. Such term shall not include spare parts purchased with machinery that is incorporated into a new plant. This exemption applies to the first $150,000 of the sales price of each replacement or part, regardless of the method of invoicing or billing.
If machinery qualified for exemption is being purchased or leased for expansion of an existing manufacturing plant, the additional machinery will qualify for exemption if its acquisition results in a minimum increase in the productive capacity of the plant of 15%. The purchaser or lessee shall maintain sufficient records to substantiate the increase in plant productive capacity showing the production year immediately preceding the installation of the additional machinery and for the year immediately following completion of such installation.
