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(a) Any person aggrieved by any action of the commissioner or the commissioner’s authorized agent may apply to the commissioner, in writing within ten days after the notice of the action is delivered or mailed to the commissioner, for a hearing. The application shall set forth the reasons why the hearing should be granted and the manner of relief sought. The commissioner shall notify the applicant of the time and place fixed for the hearing. After the hearing, the commissioner may make an order as may appear to the commissioner to be just and lawful and shall furnish a copy of the order to the applicant. The commissioner at any time by notice in writing may order a hearing on the commissioner’s own initiative and require the taxpayer or any other person whom the commissioner believes to be in possession of information concerning any manufacture, importation, use, consumption, storage, or sale of cigars, cigarettes, loose or smokeless tobacco, alternative nicotine products, or vapor products which have escaped taxation to appear before the commissioner or the commissioner’s duly authorized agent with any specific books of account, papers, or other documents for examination under oath relative to the information.
(b) Any person aggrieved because of any final action or decision of the commissioner, after hearing, may appeal from the decision to the superior court of the county in which the appellant resides. The appeal shall be returnable at the same time and shall be served and returned in the same manner as required in the case of a summons in a civil action. The authority issuing the citation shall take from the appellant a bond of recognizance to the state, with surety, conditioned to prosecute the appeal and to effect and comply with the orders and decrees of the court. The action of the commissioner shall be sustained unless the court finds that the commissioner misinterpreted this chapter or that there is no evidence to support the commissioner’s action. If the commissioner’s action is not sustained, the court may grant equitable relief to the appellant. Upon all appeals which are denied, costs may be taxed against the appellant at the discretion of the court. No costs of any appeal shall be taxed against the state. History. Ga. L. 1955, p. 268, §§ 19, 20; Code 1933, § 91A-5517, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 2003, p. 665, § 32; Ga. L. 2012, p. 831, § 7/HB 1071; Ga. L. 2020, p. 257, § 2/SB 375. The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, in the last sentence of subsection (a), deleted “or” preceding “loose” and substituted “, alternative nicotine products, or vapor products which have” for “which has”. Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2003, p. 665, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘State and Local Tax Revision Act of 2003.’ ” JUDICIAL DECISIONS Appeal procedure. — Trial court properly dismissed a tobacco retailer’s appeal of a decision of the Georgia Tax Tribunal that the retailer owed unpaid taxes as the general intention behind the creation of the Tribunal did not permit the court to ignore the plain language of O.C.G.A. § 48-11-18 concerning the designated appellate forum available to tobacco tax payers. Moosa Co. LLC v. Dep't of Revenue, 353 Ga. App. 429, 838 S.E.2d 108, 2020 Ga. App. LEXIS 14 (2020), cert. denied, No. S20C0816, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 679 (Ga. Aug. 24, 2020). RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 53 C.J.S., Licenses, § 109 et seq.