Georgia low income credit counts all tax unit members and omits the food stamp bar #10659

ga_low_income_credit_potential gets two Georgia low income credit rules wrong on main (25c4253483). Neither is fixed by the open draft #10050, which covers filers who can be claimed as dependents.

1. Exemptions count every tax unit member

• Law: O.C.G.A. 48-7A-3(b) multiplies the credit by the taxpayer's dependents. O.C.G.A. 48-7A-2 limits "dependent" to the taxpayer, the spouse, and a natural or legally adopted child.
• Form: line 2 of the Low Income Credit Worksheet lists the same three groups.
• Model: the formula reads tax_unit_size, so it also counts other dependents, such as a parent. Its own comment says the form excludes adult dependents.
• Result: a filer with $15,000 of wages and a dependent parent in tax year 2025 has ga_low_income_credit_potential of $10. The expected amount is $5. The final credit in this case is $0 only because the household has no Georgia tax to offset.

2. Food stamp recipients are not barred

• Law: O.C.G.A. 48-7A-3(e) denies the credit to any individual who receives a food stamp allotment for all or part of the taxable year.
• Model: the formula has no SNAP check.
• Result: a filer with $15,000 of wages and $1,200 of snap in tax year 2025 gets a $5 credit. The expected amount under the statute is $0.
• Source conflict: the 2025 IT-511 and the Georgia DOR credit page list other limits but do not mention food stamps. Georgia's forms and guidance appear not to apply this bar, so this needs a ruling before it is implemented.

Questions for the fix

• Joint returns: does receipt by one spouse bar the whole return, or only that spouse's share? Subsection (e) says "any individual".
• Test coverage: the existing YAML cases set tax_unit_size as an input, so they do not exercise the count. New cases should build real households, including a stepchild or other relative who is a federal dependent.
• Merge order: Apply District of Columbia, Georgia and Idaho rules for a filer who can be claimed as a dependent #10050 changes this same formula and still reads tax_unit_size, so a fix needs to account for it.

Sources

• O.C.G.A. 48-7A-3 (FindLaw)
• O.C.G.A. 48-7A-2 (FindLaw)
• "2025 IT-511 booklet #page 17,35"
• Georgia DOR Low Income Tax Credit

Not verified: the FindLaw text is marked current as of March 28, 2024. Check the official code for later amendments.