Georgia IRS Tax Attorney

GA Tax Landscape

Georgia moved to a flat individual income tax in 2024 and has been stepping the rate down each year toward 4.99%, but the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR) enforces it as aggressively as any graduated-rate state. The DOR assesses, audits, and collects entirely independently of the IRS; a federal Offer in Compromise or installment agreement does not bind the DOR, which runs its own collection track and can file state tax liens and levies on the same underlying income. Because the IRS shares audit adjustments with Georgia under information-sharing agreements, a federal examination frequently produces a separate Georgia assessment months later. Federal exposure in Georgia is concentrated. The film and television industry, drawn by the Georgia Film Tax Credit, is the largest audit target for both agencies: the state requires third-party audits of the credit, and the IRS scrutinizes credit brokers, loan-out companies, and the treatment of transferred credits as income. Atlanta's Fortune 500 corporate base and technology corridor produce equity-compensation issues, including RSU vesting and option exercises that generate CP2000 notices and source-income questions for departing employees. The logistics economy around the Atlanta airport and the Port of Savannah, and the gig and contractor workforce that serves it, drives Schedule C, 1099-K, and worker-classification audits in which the IRS pursues unpaid employment taxes and the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against owners personally. Georgia's large military installations raise combat-zone exclusion and contractor-income issues, and the state's agricultural base from the Coastal Plain to the Piedmont produces crop-insurance and depreciation examinations. Employee Retention Credit claims pushed by aggressive promoters across metro Atlanta have become a leading enforcement priority. The IRS Atlanta field office and the Atlanta campus in Chamblee together handle examination, collection, and processing for a large part of the Southeast. Federal tax practice is national, so Segal, Cohen & Landis represents Georgia clients in audits, appeals, penalty abatement, Offers in Compromise, and Tax Court from Beverly Hills, while coordinating any parallel Georgia DOR matter so a federal resolution is not undone at the state level.