The Georgia entry, field by field
This is the registry entry our engine applies for tax year 2026, rendered field by field. Where a field is blank in the registry, the row says so rather than filling the gap.
- Credit for TY2026
- Current credit Yes. Our rules registry carries a current Georgia research credit for tax year 2026.
- Structure
- Incremental: the credit applies to qualified research expenses above a state base amount
- Credit rate
- 10% of qualified research expenses above the base amount
- Base method
- The base amount is the formula Georgia's own statute prescribes, not the federal §41(c) fixed-base computation. The registry carries that formula and the preparer notes that go with it; both are set out below.
- Liability limit
- 50% of the applicable tax liability Tax liability sits outside the study, so this is a preparer determination at filing time, not something the study computes.
- Carryforward
- 5 years
- Carryback
- None recorded
- Refundable?
- Not determined in our registry - we confirm it in the study The registry treats an unverified "nonrefundable" as unknown rather than asserting it.
- State form
- IT-RD (filed with the Georgia return; a copy of federal Form 6765 must be attached)
- Statute
- O.C.G.A. §48-7-40.12
How the Georgia credit is computed
The Georgia credit is incremental: it applies to the qualified research expenses that exceed a state base amount, not to the whole year's spending. The registry carries a rate of 10%.
The base amount is the formula Georgia's own statute prescribes, not the federal §41(c) fixed-base computation. The registry carries that formula and the preparer notes that go with it; both are set out below.
On limits, the amount used in a year is limited to 50% of the applicable tax liability. Unused credit carries forward 5 years. Refundability: not determined in our registry, so the study confirms it against the statute rather than asserting it here.
Ricerca computes the Georgia figure from the same substantiated expense base as the federal §41 credit, using the registry entry for the tax year claimed and applying the state's own qualification rules to it. Where the registry is silent on a point, the study says so and the position is resolved with the return preparer instead of being assumed.
Claiming it alongside the federal credit
The federal §41 credit comes first. It is computed from the qualified research expenses the study substantiates - wages for qualified services, supplies consumed in research, computer and cloud rental, and the allowable share of contract research - and it lands on Form 6765 with the return.
The Georgia credit is then computed from that same substantiated base, with the state's own rules applied on top: its rate, its base amount, its caps, and its own view of what counts. Where the work was physically performed matters: state credits generally reach the research done in the state, so the same employee can sit inside one state's base and outside another's.
That is why the allocation work is done once, at the expense level, with the state attribution recorded as it is built rather than reverse-engineered at filing time.
One base, two computations
- 1 Qualify the activities under the four-part test and total the year's QREs.
- 2 Compute the federal §41 credit and file it on Form 6765.
- 3 Apply the Georgia entry above to the Georgia share of that base, and file it on IT-RD (filed with the Georgia return; a copy of federal Form 6765 must be attached).
What the registry tells the preparer
These notes travel with the Georgia entry inside the platform and are reproduced here verbatim, including the registry's own emphasis. They are written for the person signing the return, which is exactly why they belong on a page about the credit.
- CARRYFORWARD IS FIVE YEARS FOR THIS CREDIT YEAR. H.B. 1181 (2024) reduced the O.C.G.A. §48-7-40.12(d) carryforward from ten years to five for unused credits generated in taxable years beginning on or after 1/1/2025; credits generated in earlier years keep their ten-year runway. Georgia Form IT-RD (2025) Section 6 line 8 prints the five-year rule.
- BASE AMOUNT IS A GEORGIA GROSS RECEIPTS COMPUTATION, NOT A QRE COMPUTATION. O.C.G.A. §48-7-40.12(a): base amount = current-year Georgia gross receipts x the LESSER of (i) the average of the ratios of Georgia qualified research expenses to Georgia gross receipts for the three preceding taxable years or (ii) 0.300. 'Georgia gross receipts' is the numerator of the gross receipts factor of O.C.G.A. §48-7-31(d). Where the enterprise had no Georgia gross receipts in one or more of the three preceding years, Form IT-RD and Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-7-8-.42 set the base at current-year Georgia gross receipts x .300.
- ELIGIBILITY GATE: §48-7-40.12(b) allows the credit only where the business enterprise, FOR THE SAME TAXABLE YEAR, claims and is ALLOWED a research credit under IRC §41 - and only to a 'business enterprise' as §48-7-40.12(a) defines it (manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, processing, telecommunications, broadcasting, tourism, and research and development industries; retail is excluded).
- LIABILITY LIMIT AND WITHHOLDING OFFSET: the credit taken in any one year may not exceed 50% of the enterprise's remaining Georgia net income tax liability after all other credits (§48-7-40.12(d)). Under §48-7-40.12(e) the amount above that limit may instead be taken against the taxpayer's quarterly or monthly withholding payments under O.C.G.A. §48-7-103 - an election made on Form IT-WH within the statutory window, and a preparer determination this study does not make.
- FILING: Form IT-RD and federal Form 6765, from the entity generating the credit, are filed with the Georgia income tax return (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-7-8-.42). For a pass-through entity the credit is applied first against entity-level Georgia income tax and then apportioned to shareholders or partners (Form IT-RD, Section 6 note).
Sources
The citations below are carried verbatim on the Georgia registry entry. They are what the study cites, and what a reviewer can check.
- Statute
- O.C.G.A. §48-7-40.12
- Regulation
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-7-8-.42
- Form
- IT-RD (filed with the Georgia return; a copy of federal Form 6765 must be attached)
Registry entry version 2025.1, exported from services/study-api/app/engines/rules_engine.py (STATE_RULES_2024 + STATE_RULES_REGIME_OVERRIDES via RulesEngine.get_state_rules) on September 10, 2026. The registry is versioned per state and per tax year: the entry above governs TY2026, and a study for an earlier year is computed under that year's entry instead.