Employer’s liability.

(b) Withheld tax. The amount of tax deducted and withheld by an employer from an employee’s wages under this article shall be held to be a special fund in trust for the state; and the employer’s liability for the tax shall be discharged only by payment of the tax to the commissioner. To the extent that the tax is deducted and withheld, the employer shall not be liable to any other person for the amount of the tax and shall be indemnified against the claims and demands of any person for the payment of any amounts made to the commissioner in accordance with this article.

(c) Assessment, collection, and payment. Except as otherwise provided by law, the liability of an employer under subsection (a) of this Code section and the amount of the fund described in subsection (b) of this Code section shall be assessed, collected, and paid in the same manner and subject to the same provisions and limitations, including, but not limited to, penalties as are income taxes. In the event any employer is delinquent in payment of the tax imposed by this article, the commissioner may give notice of the amount of the delinquency by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to all persons having in their possession or under their control any credits or other personal property belonging to the employer and to all persons owing any debts to the employer at the time of receipt by them of the notice. In lieu of registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, the notice may be served and the recipient may acknowledge service thereof by telephonic facsimile transmission or by other means of instantaneous electronic transmission. Thereafter, no person so notified shall transfer or make any other disposition of the credits, other personal property, or debts until the commissioner has consented to a transfer or disposition or until 30 days have elapsed after receipt of the notice. Each person so notified must advise the commissioner, within five days after receipt of the notice, of any and all credits, other personal property, or debts in such person’s possession, under such person’s control, or owing by such person as provided in this Code section.

(d) Amount due on face of return. The filing of any return by an employer in compliance with this article which shows on its face an amount due shall by operation of law constitute an assessment of the amount shown to be due on the return against the employer filing the return as of the date the return is filed. For the purposes of this Code section, an entry on a return showing the date of receipt by the department shall be prima-facie evidence that the return was actually received and filed on the date indicated. If payment is not made either with the return or on or before the due date of the return, whichever is later, the amount shown to be due shall be in default and the commissioner may issue an execution for the collection of the amount due.

(e) Protest of proposed assessment. Each protest of a proposed assessment of taxes due under this article shall be filed within ten days of the notice of the proposed assessment unless the commissioner authorizes additional time. The filing of a protest and the filing of a request for additional time for the filing of a protest shall toll the period of limitations for making an assessment until the protest or request is withdrawn by the employer or denied by the commissioner. History. Ga. L. 1960, p. 7, § 11; Code 1933, § 91A-3909, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1857, § 37; Ga. L. 1996, p. 780, § 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3; Ga. L. 2022, p. 352, § 48/HB 1428. The 2022 amendment, effective May 2, 2022, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in subsection (c). Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 16, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section shall apply with respect to notices delivered on or after July 1, 2000. JUDICIAL DECISIONS Tax lien rendered choate. — For purposes of determining the priority between competing tax liens held by the State of Georgia and the United States, the Georgia statute which provides that a return filed by a taxpayer constitutes an assessment for the unpaid amount as shown on that return rendered Georgia’s lien choate, the return sufficiently identifying the lienor, the property, and the amount. In re Alliance Transp., Inc., 47 Bankr. 743, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 6481 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 1985). RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 85 C.J.S., Taxation, §§ 1977, 2003, 2042 et seq.