Permanent commercial mortgage debt on stabilized Georgia property.
Long-term, permanent financing for stabilized commercial real estate. We place it in house through agency multifamily channels (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), insurance funds, and other wholesale sources. In Georgia the permanent note is the one that pays the intangible recording tax, so the structure question comes early. Business-purpose only, and every structure is set in underwriting.
Typical figures, subject to underwriting and market conditions. Not a commitment to lend.
How it works
For a stabilized asset ready for permanent debt, we shop your file across agency multifamily programs, insurance companies, and wholesale lenders, then place the structure that fits your hold. When a deal needs to stabilize first, we can bridge it and refinance into permanent debt later.
How much is the Georgia intangible recording tax on a permanent loan?
About 0.30 percent of the note, capped at $25,000. O.C.G.A. 48-6-61 charges $1.50 for each $500 or fraction of the face amount of a note secured by Georgia real property, which is $3.00 per $1,000. A permanent note is exactly what the tax is aimed at: under 48-6-60(3), as amended by HB 586 effective July 1, 2025, a note is long-term when any part of principal falls due more than 62 months from the date of the note or the security instrument. On a $5,000,000 permanent note the tax is $15,000 (5,000,000 / 500 = 10,000 units x $1.50 = $15,000). The statutory maximum is $25,000 on a single note, reached near $8.33M, so the effective rate falls above that size. The county collects from the holder, who may pass the amount to the borrower but may not treat it as part of the finance charge. Have the closing attorney show the line before you lock.
Do I pay the intangible tax again when I refinance in Georgia?
Only partly, and only if you stay with the same lender. O.C.G.A. 48-6-65(b) exempts the portion of a new long-term instrument that refinances unpaid principal held by the original lender, where the new instrument or an accompanying affidavit states that portion. That is same-lender relief, full stop: a refinance to a new lender is taxed on the full face amount of the new note. On an $8,000,000 refinance that is a $24,000 swing (8,000,000 / 500 = 16,000 units x $1.50 = $24,000), which is worth modeling before you shop the takeout. It is also a reason to ask what the incumbent will do before assuming a new lender is cheaper. Your closing attorney prepares the affidavit; get the arithmetic from them on the actual balances.
What happens if the intangible tax on a Georgia loan does not get paid?
The lender loses its remedy until it is cured, and the cure costs 50 percent. O.C.G.A. 48-6-77(a) says failure to pay the tax bars collection by any action, foreclosure, the exercise of any power of sale, or otherwise of the indebtedness secured by the instrument, and the bar lifts only on payment of the tax, interest, and a penalty of 50 percent of the amount of the tax. A foreclosure completed under an untaxed instrument yields an imperfected deed. That is a diligence item on any Georgia asset you buy subject to existing debt, and on any note you acquire: confirm the intangible tax was paid and the instrument was presented to the county collecting officer, which 48-6-61 requires within 90 days of execution. Your Georgia counsel should run the record before closing.
Who closes a Georgia commercial permanent loan?
A Georgia attorney, physically present, holding and disbursing the funds. In re UPL Advisory Opinion 2003-2 approved the State Bar committee's position that preparation and facilitation of the execution of a deed of conveyance by a non-attorney is the unauthorized practice of law, that it cannot be delegated to a non-lawyer, and that telephonic supervision of a non-lawyer closer is insufficient. Georgia also has no remote online notarization for its own notaries, pandemic-era authority having lapsed in 2022, which makes this the least remote-friendly closing state in our footprint. On an agency or insurance-company document set that is a scheduling constraint worth naming in the term sheet. Georgia is a security deed state under 44-14-60, so your instrument is a deed to secure debt that passes title to the lender until the debt is paid. Confirm the current position with your closing attorney.
How does Georgia value income-producing property for tax purposes?
At 40 percent of fair market value, with a statutory hook for the income approach. O.C.G.A. 48-5-7(a) assesses all taxable tangible property at 40 percent of fair market value on the local millage, so the effective rate is millage x 0.40: ten mills on a $5,000,000 asset is $20,000 (5,000,000 x 0.40 x 0.010 = 20,000). Under 48-5-2(3) the most recent arm's length sale amount is the maximum allowable fair market value for the next taxable year, and the same paragraph requires that the income approach, if data is available, shall be considered for income-producing property, which is a real argument against a comps-only value. For non-homestead property valued above $750,000, 48-5-311 opens a hearing officer route with appeal to superior court, and an appraisal performed within nine months of the assessment date may be submitted. The notice mails no later than July 1 and the written appeal deadline is 45 days from the notice date.
What Georgia entity taxes apply to the ownership structure on a long hold?
A flat income tax, and a net worth tax that most investor vehicles do not pay. HB 111 cut Georgia's flat individual rate to 5.19 percent effective January 1, 2025, and HB 463, signed May 11, 2026, cut it to 4.99 percent effective January 1, 2026, with provision for further annual reductions. The same flat rate applies to corporate income. The corporate net worth tax under Title 48 Chapter 13 Article 4 is imposed on corporations doing business or owning property in Georgia; a partnership pays none, and a single-member LLC pays none unless its owner is a corporation, and corporations with net worth of $100,000 or less have been exempt since net worth years beginning January 1, 2018, though they still file. We publish no Georgia rate for any year after 2026. If the plan is a bridge first and permanent later, see Atlanta CRE bridge. Confirm your structure with a Georgia CPA.
More CRE Permanent questions, answered on the program page
Local rules move. Every tax rate, fee, ordinance and market figure here comes from a primary source and carries the date we read it, and we correct them as the rules change. Where a number is mid-change or we could not verify it, we say so rather than guess. Before you commit a budget, confirm anything that drives it with the city or county, and talk to your attorney or CPA on questions of law or tax.
Published by USA Mortgage Funding, LLC, NMLS #152588. Researched from primary sources by our team, drafted with AI assistance, and every figure checked against its source before publishing. Where an answer rests on a public record, that record is linked under it. Figures read on 2026-08-23.
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