Georgia Disabled Veteran Business Occupation Tax Exemption

Chapter 12 of Title 43 lets three groups "peddle, conduct business, or practice the professions and semiprofessions in any county or municipality in this state without paying an occupation tax, administrative fee, or regulatory fee": a disabled veteran of any war or armed conflict, a blind person, and a peacetime veteran with a physical disability incurred during service. Who qualifies. Code section 43-12-2 requires that the applicant live in Georgia and have income low enough not to be liable for Georgia income tax. A war veteran must show a physical disability of 10% or more, service ended under conditions other than dishonorable, and service during a war period; the section lists the First World War period of the 1933 federal Economy Act, December 7, 1941 to December 31, 1946, June 27, 1950 to January 31, 1955, and August 5, 1964 to May 8, 1975. A peacetime veteran must show a 25% disability incurred in the line of duty, from VA, the Department of Veterans Service or the service branch, and a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable. The war veteran's 10% can be proved by two physicians' certificates, a VA or Department letter, or the service branch. How to get it. Apply first to the probate judge of your home county, with the proof and an affidavit that you owe no Georgia income tax; the judge issues a certificate of eligibility good for ten years (section 43-12-3). With it, the Department of Veterans Service issues the certificate of exemption, naming the one business and the place it is carried on; only that business is exempt (section 43-12-4). The Department's page tells veterans to take VS Form 40-025, an ID, the DD-214 and the VA summary of benefits letter to the probate court, and register the business with the county using the judge's letter; some counties also ask for the Department's VS Form 40-026, which a field office issues. Limits. No exemption for selling alcohol, operating pool or billiard tables, dealing in futures, or pawnbroking or auctioneering (section 43-12-8). Letting someone else use the certificate gets it cancelled and is a misdemeanour (section 43-12-9). The Department can cancel a certificate if the holder stops qualifying physically or financially, after ten days' notice and a hearing. Where the agency and the statute differ. The Department's page describes the conditions as a discharge "under honorable conditions" and a service-connected rating of 10% or more. The statute bars only a dishonorable discharge, asks 25% of a peacetime veteran, and keeps two conditions the page leaves out: the war period, and the income test. The Department's application form lists the Persian Gulf and OEF/OIF eras as wartime, though section 43-12-2(c) names no war period after May 8, 1975; a later veteran may have to qualify on the peacetime 25% route, and the probate judge decides. Bills to drop the income test (Senate Bill 561 of 2024) and to clarify eligibility (House Bill 632 of 2025-2026) did not pass. A county may exempt more generously by its own ordinance; the county entries in this catalog say where one does. The text is FindLaw's copy of the Code, current to March 28, 2024, because the State's official free code on LexisNexis would not open on October 24, 2026; every act of 2024, 2025 and 2026 whose first reader names Title 43 was read, and none amends the chapter.