Special to The Eatonton Messenger
May 24, 2024
The governor signed House Bill 769 on May 2. This bill is effective on July 1, and makes changes to the Qualified Rural Hospital Organization Expense Tax Credit. Along with other changes, this bill changes the amount of the credit from 90 percent of the donation to 100 percent of the donation.
On July 1, and provided the relevant caps have not been reached, any individual donor that made or makes a donation from January 1, 2025 until June 30, 2018, will be allowed 100 percent of the donation that was used to arrive at the amount of credit allowed during that period (up to $11,111 for a married filing joint taxpayer and $5,556 for all other individual taxpayers).
Also, corporations will be allowed the 100 percent credit as well, subject to the 75 percent of actual tax liability limit. The department is working on system changes and will notify each donor accordingly provided the relevant caps are not met. Also, on Sunday July 1, taxpayers will be able to request contributions using the new limits provided in House Bill 769.
Marsha Grimes, foundation director at Putnam General Hospital, remarked that with the new changes to the Tax Credit Program covered in House Bill 769, the expectation is the amount of contributors and contributions will rise substantially in 2018.
Last year, only $8 million was used from the $60 million allocated by the State of Georgia for 2017 with a 90 percent credit for contributions. Each qualified rural hospital, like Putnam General Hospital, is allowed to have up to $4 million in contributions per year from the $60 million available.
“This increased tax credit amount to 100 percent of your contribution should give the program another shot in the arm for 2018,” Grimes said. “We were very pleased with our contributions in 2017 and have already eclipsed last year’s total.”
For more information about how to put state tax dollars back into the Putnam County community, call Grimes at 706-923-2028.