Earlier this year Governor Nathan Deal signed House Bill 386 which included a number of changes to Georgia’s tax system. These changes will take effect January 1, 2013, and include:
- The nullification of the existing Agricultural Certificate of Exemption, ST-A1, as a valid state form,
- The replacement of ST-A1 with a tax exemption certificate issued yearly by the Department of Agriculture to each qualified agricultural producer, and
- The necessity of the agricultural producer to apply annually to the Department of Agriculture for the tax exemption certificate at a small fee.
What this means for any of your accounts that have previously been tax exempt with OconeeEMC is that effective January 1, 2013, no accounts will be tax exempt due to House Bill 386. For your accounts to be tax exempt from January 1, 2013 forward, you will need to provide OconeeEMC with a copy of your new tax exemption certificate issued by the Department of Agriculture.
For you to be tax exempt on January 1, 2013, we will need your new tax exemption form by December 31, 2012.
You will need to list on a separate sheet of paper each account that needs to receive the exemption. Attach this sheet to your exemption certificate. If you set up new accounts during the calendar year you will need to inform us at the time of account setup that the account needs to be tax exempt. If you fail to notify us that the account(s) is to be tax exempt, and tax is charged and collected on those accounts, you will need to request a refund from the State of Georgia. Oconee EMC will not be able to refund collected sales tax.
Per the attached Department of Agriculture, applications for the exemption certificate will be accepted starting November 15, 2012, via their website at www.agr.georgia.gov.