HdL Eases the Burden of Tax and Licensing Compliance for Georgia Municipalities
Occupational tax and business licensing compliance can strain municipal resources. HdL Companies supports Georgia governments by streamlining administration, educating businesses, and recovering millions in lost revenue. See how Henry County and Peachtree Corners partnered with HdL to strengthen operations and boost fiscal performance.
STRATEGIC OCCUPATIONAL TAX & LICENSING
Occupational tax compliance is a critical but resource-intensive responsibility for local governments in Georgia. These taxes are levied on businesses for the privilege of conducting business within a jurisdiction and require careful administration, business education, and consistent enforcement. HdL Companies supports Georgia cities and counties by:
- Streamlining occupational tax and licensing workflows
- Educating businesses on local and state compliance requirements
- Identifying and recovering unreported revenue
- Providing taxpayer support and online remittance tools
- Reducing staff burden while increasing fiscal performance
Whether it is by reducing administration costs, or increasing revenue through improved compliance, Georgia agencies are discovering these powerful tools to modernize operations and optimize revenue. The following examples from Henry County and Peachtree Corners demonstrate how HdL’s tailored solutions have strengthened local compliance and fiscal outcomes.
HENRY COUNTY
While HdL is able to offer a full suite of services, sometimes an agency simply needs better software. Henry County fell into that category. During an HdL presentation at the Georgia Association of Business Tax Officials (GABTO), a representative from Henry County reached out to HdL for more information about the company’s software for revenue administration, including managing revenue collection and assisting with long-range fiscal planning.
HdL’s software has been specifically designed from the ground up to efficiently navigate the complexities of government revenue programs. Godfrey states, “We consider our clients to be our collaborators. They tell us exactly what they need for revenue administration and we constantly refine our software to match those needs and to efficiently integrate with their other systems. We develop software with the same attention to customer relationships, ease of use, and fiscal responsibility that is apparent in all our services.”
According to Lynn Carty, Deputy Tax Commissioner, “The HdL system is very user friendly. It has many unique features other systems don’t offer but should. HdL staff has always been supportive, and we continue to learn new ways to make our office more efficient with online processes.”
The ability to save time and use data more effectively coupled with superior customer service is why over 500 agencies have continued to use HdL software for decades.
PEACHTREE CORNERS
Peachtree Corners is a young, entrepreneurial city less than 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta. The term young applies in every way, from the average age of its citizens (36.5 years) to the date of its founding (2012). Even experienced cities find licensing issues daunting, but in this case the problem was compounded because businesses in Peachtree Corners had been used to dealing directly with the County. Although their noncompliance with city business regulations was understandable, it was also rampant, costing the city significant lost revenue.
Peachtree Corners turned to HdL to identify noncompliant businesses, get them into the city’s system, and track them. In addition, the city expected the work to be conducted in a way that strengthened relationships between the businesses and the city and incentivized compliance.
Finance Director Cory Sally explained, “When HdL employees are out in the field, they are representatives of the city. As such, it is paramount that they provide an extremely high level of customer service to the business. I have found that HdL does an excellent job of learning the city’s code and processes so they can explain those properly to businesses. I have worked with several different HdL employees on various projects, and I have found them all to be competent, courteous and easy to work with.”
HdL has brought 265 businesses into compliance which is a 12% increase and recovered over $1.3 million in revenue. HdL has seen similar results for municipalities throughout Georgia and in many other states. Godfrey states, “Most cities can’t go out to find noncompliance due to budget and staff constraints. We find noncompliant business and guide them to compliance, increasing the city’s reach.”
Sally summarized the benefits of working with the firm, “HdL exhibits outstanding customer service both with the city staff and the businesses. HdL makes the process of collecting and remitting revenue painless.”
Want more information?
HdL’s Tax and Fee Administration (TFA) solutions and best-of-breed technology (designed by and for municipal finance professionals to provide the highest levels of service to your constituents) allow your agency to offload some of that administrative burden and concentrate on doing what’s best for your community.
- Rethinking BusinessTax
- Business License Services
- Tax and Fee Administration Flyer
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