2023 offers a new tax break for Georgia residents, a $3,000 deduction for a fetus.
2023 offers a new tax break for Georgia residents. (Photo: The Guardian)
Fetus Tax Deduction for Georgia Residents
Georgia came up with ways to counter the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn women’s federal right to obtain an abortion. The state indicated clarity on claiming dependent exemptions to unborn children with a detectable heartbeat on or after July 20, 2022.
According to a published post by Yahoo Finance, the guidelines gave Georgia taxpayers a series of unanswered questions on pregnancy loss, medical documentation, and privacy and eligibility issues. This could well inform how other states recognize fetal personhood when it comes to taxes.
Fred Smith Jr., a law professor at Emory University’s School of Law expressed that the legislators who voted for it did not think that this would become the law. They may be the ones to answer why there are so many unknowns, not just with respect to taxes, but across the tax code.
2023 offers a new tax break for Georgia residents. (Photo: Fortune)
Georgia Residents to Implement Unborn Children Tax Benefits
House Bill 481, known as the “heartbeat” personhood measure, bans abortions around six weeks into pregnancy in Georgia. This also made it possible for residents to claim tax deductions for fetuses. The bill redefined the inclusion of fetuses for child support, population count, and dependent exemption deductions. It is believed that a fetus is generally a developing human from eight weeks after conception to birth.
This clarified the personhood question for exemption which says that a child with a detectable heartbeat is eligible as long as relevant medical records are provided. The new code also gained clarity on Georgia’s individual tax returns. Deductions for unborn dependents are to be claimed as “other adjustments,” rather than on its usual dependent section where Social Security numbers are required to qualify for the exemption.
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