Georgia Payroll: Employer Tax and Software Guide

Georgia is one of the easiest states in the country to run payroll in, and that is worth saying plainly before anything else. One flat income tax rate rather than brackets. No local income tax in any city or county. No state disability program. No paid family leave contribution. An unemployment wage base of $9,500, among the lowest anywhere, which caps unemployment cost per employee at roughly $257 a year for a new employer.

What Georgia does have is a set of small procedural obligations that are easy to miss precisely because the tax side is so simple. The state runs its own withholding form alongside the federal one. New hires must be reported within ten days rather than the twenty most states allow. Every departing employee must receive a separation notice on their last day, a requirement with no equivalent in most states and one that no payroll system produces for you. And the income tax rate moved again this year, retroactively.

This guide covers what Georgia requires, what changed for 2026, and how 10 payroll providers price the work.

What Georgia requires from employers

A flat rate that moved again

Georgia replaced its six-bracket graduated system with a flat tax in 2024 and has been cutting the rate ahead of the original schedule since. House Bill 463, signed on May 11, 2026 and retroactive to January 1, took the rate from 5.19 percent to 4.99 percent.

Two things follow for an employer. First, the retroactive signing means withholding tables changed mid-year, so a platform that did not push the update produced over-withholding for the first part of 2026. Second, because future reductions depend on state revenue conditions rather than a fixed calendar, the rate is not predictable more than a year out and the tables need checking each January rather than assuming a schedule.

House Bill 463 also raised the retirement income exclusion to $70,000 beginning in 2027 and introduced temporary state exclusions for qualified overtime compensation and cash tips through 2028, which will matter for employers with tipped staff or significant overtime.

Unemployment insurance

The low wage base is the headline. Unemployment tax stops accruing once an employee crosses $9,500 in wages for the year, which for most full-time staff happens in the first quarter. At the new employer rate that caps liability at roughly $257 per person annually. Established employers with clean claims histories frequently pay well under one percent, making Georgia one of the least expensive states in the country for unemployment insurance.

The 0.06 percent administrative assessment was reinstated effective January 1, 2024 under House Bill 518 and applies on top of the assigned contribution rate.

Form G-4 and the two-form problem

Every Georgia employee completes two withholding forms: the federal W-4 and the state Form G-4, the Georgia Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate.

The reason is a timing mismatch rather than any deliberate state policy. The federal W-4 dropped withholding allowances in its 2020 redesign and moved to a dollar-amount approach. Georgia kept the allowance method its withholding tables are built around, so it needed a state form to collect the information the federal form no longer asks for. Form G-4 also handles Georgia-specific claims with no federal counterpart, including the exemption available to a nonresident military spouse.

New hire reporting in ten days

Georgia gives employers ten days from the date of hire to report a new employee to the Georgia New Hire Reporting Center, under O.C.G.A. 19-11-9.2 and the federal PRWORA statute. Most states allow twenty. Rehired employees must be reported again, and the penalty is up to $25 per unreported employee, rising to $500 where an employer and employee conspire to avoid reporting.

The part employers rarely know: Georgia state law requires reporting a broader set of employment events within ten days of occurrence, not just hires. Layoff, furlough, separation, leave without pay, and termination all fall inside the same window.

Wage rules and the separation notice

Minimum wage and pay frequency

Georgia has a statutory minimum wage of $5.15 per hour under O.C.G.A. 34-4-3, and it is very nearly irrelevant, because the statute excludes employers covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. For almost every business the operative figure is the federal $7.25, with a tipped cash wage of $2.13 where the tip credit conditions are met. Georgia preempts local wage ordinances, so no city or county sets a higher floor, and that preemption was extended in 2022 to cover scheduling mandates as well.

Pay frequency under O.C.G.A. 34-7-2 requires wages on regular paydays, with a twice-monthly minimum that applies to manual, mechanical, and clerical wage workers. Officials, superintendents, and department heads employed by the month or year at stipulated salaries are excluded, as are the farming, sawmill, and turpentine industries. Overtime follows federal rules with no state addition, which our guide to overtime pay covers.

Final pay and the DOL-800

Final pay in Georgia is undemanding compared with states like Connecticut or Hawaii: the next regular payday for every kind of separation, with no state waiting time penalty. Enforcement runs through the federal Fair Labor Standards Act rather than a state mechanism. Our guide to the final paycheck for a terminated employee covers how these rules differ across states.

10 payroll providers for Georgia employers compared

Every provider below files Georgia state withholding and unemployment insurance. Because there is no local tax layer, no disability program, and no paid leave contribution, the differentiators in Georgia are unusually narrow: quarterly DOL-4 filing, whether the platform pushed the mid-year rate change from HB 463, and what happens when you hire outside the state.

OnPay

One plan at $49 per month plus $6 per employee, everything included, no tiers to climb. Tax filing covers all 50 states with no multi-state surcharge, and year-end W-2 and 1099 filing sits in the base price. OnPay maintains a Georgia-specific tax rates resource, which is a reasonable proxy for whether a vendor keeps state tables current in a year when the rate moved retroactively.

Gusto

The most common first payroll purchase for US small businesses, with automatic tax filing, published pricing, and the strongest onboarding experience among payroll-first platforms. Simple runs $49 per month plus $6 per employee after a base increase in early 2026.

The constraint is the single-state limit on Simple. Georgia borders five states and the Atlanta metro draws commuters from Alabama and Tennessee, so one hire across a line moves you to Plus at $80 plus $12 per employee.

Patriot Software

The cheapest legitimate full-service payroll on the market. Full Service is $37 per month plus $5 per employee and includes federal and state tax filing plus new hire reporting. Basic is $17 plus $4 if you file taxes yourself, which in Georgia means handling the quarterly DOL-4 and the withholding returns by hand.

Square Payroll

At $35 per month plus $6 per person, Square is the cheapest full-service option with published pricing, and the full-service plan covers state tax filing and new hire reports. For an Atlanta restaurant or a retail operation already running Square point of sale, timecard data flows straight into payroll with no integration work.

SurePayroll

Owned by Paychex and built for very small employers and household employers. Full Service is $29 per month plus $7 per employee, with a flat $9.99 monthly multi-state fee rather than a per-state charge, which is the most economical multi-state structure among the budget providers.

QuickBooks Workforce Payroll

Core is $50 per month plus $6.50 per employee, and the argument for it is unchanged: if your books live in QuickBooks Online, payroll reaches the general ledger without an export.

ADP RUN

ADP has the deepest tax compliance engine in the category. In Georgia that depth converts into value mainly around handling statutory changes without customer intervention, which mattered in a year when the income tax rate changed retroactively in May.

The cost is opacity. ADP does not publish RUN pricing; third-party estimates put Essential near $79 per month plus $4 per employee, but every quote is individual. Contracts typically run a year with automatic renewal and a 30 to 60 day cancellation window.

Paychex Flex

Paychex competes on service rather than software, with a named representative at higher tiers. Pricing is quote-only and quarterly administrative charges appear regularly in customer reports. In Georgia the case is narrower than in complex states, since there is little state-specific complexity to need help with, but the service model still suits employers who want a person rather than a help center.

Paylocity

Paylocity sits between small-business payroll and full HCM, aimed at companies that have outgrown basic payroll. It publishes detailed per-state tax facts including Georgia, and the HR module covers performance, learning, and engagement alongside payroll. Pricing is quote-based and implementation is a project rather than a signup.

Rippling

Rippling unifies payroll, HR, and IT provisioning on one employee record. The core platform is $35 per month plus $8 per employee, with payroll as a separate module. Real-world all-in costs land between $25 and $45 per employee per month once you assemble a working configuration.

What each provider actually costs a Georgia employer

The table below models published rates at three headcounts. Georgia is one of the states where these numbers are close to the whole software cost, because there is no separate disability carrier, no paid leave remittance, and no local filings to add.

Square is the cheapest published option at every headcount and Patriot runs close behind, though Patriot charges $12 per month per additional state. The pattern that reorders everything is Gusto Simple: competitive until one hire across a state line forces the Plus tier, taking a 25-person payroll from $199 to $380 per month. Georgia borders five states and the Atlanta metro pulls commuters from Alabama and Tennessee, so that is a live scenario rather than a hypothetical.

Choosing a payroll provider for Georgia

Before you choose

FirstHR does not process payroll, file payroll taxes, or administer benefits. Every provider above does something we do not, and if running payroll is the problem in front of you, one of them is the answer.

What we handle is the document layer around payroll: onboarding workflows, e-signature on Form G-4, I-9s, and offer letters, employee records, and document management for 5 to 50 employee US teams at a flat $98 to $198 per month. Three of the Georgia requirements above are document and workflow problems rather than payroll problems, namely getting G-4 signed before day one, filing the new hire report within ten days of the hire date, and issuing the DOL-800 separation notice on an employee's last day. Our Georgia HR compliance guide covers the wider set of state obligations beyond payroll.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Georgia payroll tax rate for employers?

A flat 4.99 percent for state income tax withholding in 2026, cut from 5.19 percent by House Bill 463 and retroactive to January 1, with further annual steps of 0.125 points toward a 3.99 percent floor subject to revenue triggers. Employers separately pay unemployment insurance on the first $9,500 of wages at 2.7 percent for new employers plus a 0.06 percent assessment. See our overview of payroll taxes by state for how this compares elsewhere.

What is Form G-4 and do Georgia employees need it?

G-4 is the Georgia Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, required alongside the federal W-4. The federal form dropped allowances in its 2020 redesign and Georgia kept them, so the state needed its own form to collect the information its tables use. G-4 also carries Georgia-specific claims with no federal equivalent, including the nonresident military spouse exemption.

What is the Georgia unemployment insurance wage base and rate?

$9,500 per employee per year, among the lowest in the country. New employers pay 2.7 percent, experienced employers range from 0.04 to 8.1 percent, and a 0.06 percent administrative assessment applies on top. At the new employer rate the maximum annual liability is roughly $257 per person. Returns are quarterly on Form DOL-4. Our guide to state unemployment tax covers how experience rating works.

How do Georgia employers find out their unemployment tax rate?

Through Form DOL-626, published on the Employer Portal in late December for the following year. The notices are not mailed; an email goes to the addresses on record. An employer with a stale contact email or an incomplete portal registration can go a full year without seeing the assigned rate, so register and check every January.

What is the minimum wage in Georgia?

The federal $7.25 applies to most employers. Georgia has a statutory $5.15 under O.C.G.A. 34-4-3, but the statute excludes employers covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers the substantial majority. The tipped cash wage is $2.13 where tip credit conditions are met, and Georgia preempts local wage ordinances so no city sets a higher floor.

How long do Georgia employers have to report a new hire?

Ten days from the date of hire, shorter than the twenty most states allow, filed with the Georgia New Hire Reporting Center under O.C.G.A. 19-11-9.2. Rehires count again. The penalty is up to $25 per unreported employee and $500 where employer and employee conspire to avoid reporting. Georgia applies the same ten-day window to layoffs, furloughs, separations, and terminations.

When is a final paycheck due in Georgia?

By the next regularly scheduled payday for every kind of separation, voluntary or involuntary. Georgia imposes no state waiting time penalty, and enforcement runs through the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Accrued paid time off is payable only where a written policy or contract promises it.

What is Form DOL-800 and when is it required?

The Georgia Separation Notice, given to every separated employee on their last day of work regardless of reason, including voluntary resignation. It has no equivalent in most states and no payroll system produces it. Where 25 or more employees at one establishment are permanently separated on the same day for the same reason, a Mass Separation Notice goes to the nearest Department of Labor office within 48 hours.

Does Georgia have local payroll taxes or a state disability program?

No to both. No Georgia city or county levies a local income tax, so there is no address-level tax resolution problem. Georgia also has no state disability insurance and no paid family and medical leave contribution. Combined with the flat rate and the low unemployment wage base, that makes Georgia one of the simplest states in the country for payroll mechanics.