§ 15-70. Occupation tax levied; schedule; restrictions.

(a)

An occupation tax shall be levied upon those businesses and practitioners of professions and occupations with one or more locations or offices in the corporate limits of the City and/or upon the applicable out-of-state businesses with no location or office in the State pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 48-13-7 based upon the number of employees of the business or practitioner.

(b)

The tax rate determined by number of employees for each business, trade, profession, or occupation is as follows and will be developed and updated from time to time by the City Clerk for the City:

Employees	Tax Liability
0—5	$115.00
6—15	230.00
16—30	345.00
31—50	460.00
More than 50	575.00

 

(c)

No business or practitioner shall be required to pay more than one occupation tax for each of its locations.

(d)

No occupation tax shall be required from those real estate brokers, real estate agents, or real estate companies whose offices are located outside the jurisdiction and who sell property inside the jurisdiction. No occupation tax shall be required from those owners of real estate who operate and manage less than five residential dwellings or two commercial places of business.

(e)

On or before November 10 of each year, each person required to pay the occupation tax hereunder shall file with the City Clerk the third quarter employer's quarterly tax and wage report (DOL-4) that is required to be filed with the State. The Social Security numbers and salaries of individual employees may be redacted from the employer's quarterly tax and wage report (DOL-4) prior to its submission to the City Clerk so long as the number of individual employees can be ascertained by the City Clerk by reference to the form. In lieu of filing the third quarter employer's quarterly tax and wage report (DOL-4), each person required to pay the occupation tax hereunder may, on or before November 10 of each year, file with the City Clerk a sworn affidavit attested to by a certified public accountant stating the number of employees of the business or practitioner as computed on a full-time position basis or full-time position equivalent basis; provided, that for the purposes of this computation an employee who works 40 hours or more weekly shall be considered a full-time employee and that the average weekly hours of employees who work less than 40 hours weekly shall be added and such sum shall be divided by 40 to produce full-time position equivalents.

(f)

The number of employees of a business or practitioner is computed on a full-time position equivalent basis; provided that for the purposes of this computation an employee who works 40 hours or more weekly shall be considered a full-time employee and that the average weekly hours of employees who work less than 40 hours weekly shall be added and such sum shall be divided by 40 to produce full-time position equivalents.

(Code 1978, § 16-64; Ord. No. 1995-14, 12-7-1995; Ord. No. 2004-10, § I, 12-2-2004)