Section 48-2-44. Penalty and interest on failure to file return or pay revenue held in trust for state; penalty and interest on willful failure to pay ad valorem tax; distribution of penalties and interest

   (a) In any instance in which any person willfully fails to file a report, return, or other information required by law or willfully fails to pay the commissioner any revenue held in trust for the state, he shall pay, in the absence of a specific statutory civil penalty for the failure, a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of revenue held in trust and not paid on or before the time prescribed by law, together with interest on the principal amount at the rate specified in Code Section 48-2-40 from the date the return should have been filed or the revenue held in trust should have been remitted until it is paid.

(b) (1) In any instance in which any person willfully fails, on or after July 1, 1981, to pay, within 90 days of the date when due, any ad valorem tax owed the state or any local government, he shall pay, in the absence of a specific statutory civil penalty for the failure, a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of tax due and not paid on or before the time prescribed by law, together with interest as specified by law. This 10 percent penalty shall not, however, apply in the case of:

      (A) Ad valorem taxes of $500.00 or less on homestead property as defined in Part 1 of Article 2 of Chapter 5 of this title; or

      (B) With respect to tax year 1986 and future tax years, ad valorem taxes of any amount on homestead property as defined in Part 1 of Article 2 of Chapter 5 of this title, if the homestead property was during the tax year acquired by a new owner who did not receive a tax bill for the tax year and who immediately before acquiring the homestead property resided outside the State of Georgia and if the taxes are paid within one year following the due date.

   (2) Any city or county authorized as of April 22, 1981, by statute or constitutional amendment to receive a penalty of greater than 10 percent for failure to pay an ad valorem tax is authorized to continue to receive that amount.

   (3) With respect to all penalties and interest received by the tax commissioner on or after July 1, 1998, unless otherwise specifically provided for by general law, the tax commissioner shall distribute penalties collected and interest collected or earned as follows:

      (A) Penalties collected for failure to return property for ad valorem taxation or for failure to pay ad valorem taxes, and interest earned by the tax commissioner on taxes collected but not yet disbursed, shall be paid into the county treasury in the same manner and at the same time the tax is collected and distributed to the county, and they shall remain the property of the county; and

      (B) Interest collected on delinquent ad valorem taxes shall be distributed pro rata based on each taxing jurisdiction's share of the total tax on which the interest was computed.

Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 38; Code 1933, § 91A-239.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1979, p. 5, § 10; Ga. L. 1980, p. 10, § 3; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1857, § 5; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1322, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1120, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 81, § 48.