Georgia's One-Time Tag Tax Brings Changes March 1st | News

There are a few changes coming your way March 1st when the state's new title tax law rolls out.

If you own a car in Georgia right now, you pay an annual excise tax on your vehicle tags that comes due once a year on your birthday.

They call it the "birthday tax."

Come March 1st, that will start to change.

The new tag law allows car owners who bought or are buying a vehicle between Jan 1st 2012 and March 1st 2013 a choice to opt in to the one-time title tax.

"It's only if you're purchasing a vehicle you're going to be paying this fee," says Houston County Tax Commissioner Mark Kushinka.

People who bought a car after March 1st will now pay a one-time tax.

But this doesn't mean the birthday tax is disappearing altogether.

"If you have a vehicle that you've had for years and are paying a birthday tax, you will continue paying that birthday tax until you get rid of that vehicle," he says.

In 2013, car owners who choose the one-time tax will pay 6.5 percent of the vehicle's market value.

For example, that would be $650 on a $10,000 vehicle.

You might be saving money depending on the car you have and when you buy it.