Moving from Canada to Georgia: State Tax, Film Industry, and Cross-Border Planning

Georgia is transitioning from a graduated income tax to a flat rate, currently 5.39% for 2025 with a target of reaching 4.99% by 2029. Atlanta is a major business, logistics, and film production hub, and an increasing number of Canadians are relocating there for corporate roles, entertainment industry work, or the lower cost of living compared to Toronto and Vancouver. The federal cross-border obligations are the same as any Canada-to-US move. This page covers what makes the Georgia layer different.

How does Georgia’s tax compare to Canadian provincial rates?

Georgia’s flat 5.39% rate (2025, declining toward 4.99%) is lower than every Canadian province’s top marginal rate and competitive among US states with income taxes.

Jurisdiction	Top rate	Notes
Ontario	~20.5% (with surtax)	On income above $220,000
BC	20.5%	On income above $252,752
Alberta	15%	On income above $355,845
Quebec	25.75%	On income above $126,000
Georgia (2025)	5.39% flat	All taxable income, declining annually
Georgia (target, 2029)	4.99% flat	Contingent on revenue targets being met

For a household earning $200,000 USD, the Georgia state tax is approximately $10,780, which is roughly a quarter of what Ontario’s provincial layer would produce on the same income in CAD terms. Combined with no city income tax in Atlanta (unlike the 3.876% New York City tax), the state layer is modest.

How is Georgia transitioning to the flat tax?

Georgia passed HB 1015 in 2022, converting the state income tax from a graduated structure (with rates from 1% to 5.75%) to a flat rate. The transition started at 5.49% for 2024 and drops by 0.1% per year as long as revenue targets are met. The schedule:

• 2024: 5.49%
• 2025: 5.39%
• 2026 and beyond: declining toward 4.99%, 0.1% per year, contingent on revenue growth exceeding inflation plus population growth

The flat rate applies to all Georgia taxable income, including wages, self-employment income, capital gains, rental income, interest, and dividends. Georgia’s standard deduction ($12,000 single / $24,000 joint for 2025) is separate from the federal standard deduction and produces a somewhat larger zero-tax bracket at the bottom.

How does Georgia treat the RRSP?

Georgia starts its income calculation from federal adjusted gross income. Because the RRSP treaty deferral under Article XVIII excludes the plan’s annual growth from federal AGI (assuming the election is made or deemed made), Georgia doesn’t pick it up either. The state effectively respects the deferral.

When you withdraw from the RRSP, the distribution is included in federal AGI and flows through to Georgia taxable income at the flat rate. Compared to California’s approach (which ignores the treaty and taxes RRSP growth annually), Georgia is straightforward.

The TFSA is a foreign trust for US purposes, and its income is included in federal AGI, so it flows through to Georgia. The recommendation remains: close the TFSA before leaving Canada.

What about the film and entertainment industry?

Georgia’s film tax credit (up to 30% of qualified production expenditures) has made Atlanta one of the largest film and TV production centers in North America. For Canadian film workers, this creates two common cross-border patterns:

Permanent relocation. A Canadian who moves to Atlanta for ongoing production work becomes a Georgia resident and files a Georgia return on worldwide income. The Canadian departure tax applies on the move, and the ongoing US/Georgia filing is standard.

Short-term assignments. A Canadian who works on a Georgia production for a few months without abandoning Canadian residency is a non-resident of both the US and Georgia. Georgia taxes non-residents on Georgia-source income, and the worker may owe Georgia tax on the wages earned while physically working in the state. The federal filing would be a 1040-NR with Schedule OI, and the Georgia filing would be a non-resident return (Form 500, filing status “non-resident”). Whether the worker owes US federal tax depends on the substantial presence test, treaty tie-breaker, and whether the employer is a US or Canadian entity.

For short-term assignments, Article XV of the treaty may exempt the wages from US federal tax if the worker is present for fewer than 183 days in the calendar year and the remuneration is paid by a non-US employer. But the Georgia state filing obligation can still arise even when the federal treaty exemption applies, because states don’t always follow treaty provisions.

What happens on the Canadian side when I leave?

The same departure sequence as any province-to-US move:

• Deemed disposition at fair market value of worldwide assets (with the usual exclusions for Canadian real property, pension plans, and certain other properties)
• Final Canadian return from January 1 to the departure date
• Provincial tax at the rates of your province of residence on departure day
• T1161 and T1243 if applicable
• CRA non-resident notification
• RRSP left open (treaty deferral applies), TFSA closed

What other taxes does Georgia have?

Sales tax. Georgia’s state sales tax is 4%, but counties and cities add their own special-purpose local-option sales taxes (SPLOST, TSPLOST, HOST, ELOST). Combined rates in metro Atlanta typically run 7.75% to 8.9%. Georgia exempts most groceries from state sales tax (but not local portions in some jurisdictions). Compared to Ontario’s 13% HST (which applies to most goods and many services), Georgia’s sales tax base is narrower but the rate is lower.

Property tax. Georgia property taxes are assessed at 40% of fair market value, with the mill rate set by each county and municipality. The effective rate on a home in Fulton County (Atlanta) runs roughly 1.0% to 1.2% of market value. Georgia offers a homestead exemption that reduces the assessed value by a fixed amount (varies by county). This is higher than most Canadian municipalities but lower than states like Texas or New Jersey.

Estate and inheritance tax. Georgia has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. The only estate tax exposure for a Georgia resident is the federal estate tax ($13.61 million exemption for US citizens and residents). This is simpler than states like Washington or New York, which have their own estate taxes at much lower thresholds.

What should I do next?

The Canadian exit follows the standard departure checklist. On the Georgia side, the main planning items are the part-year residency filing, the flat-rate calculation, and (for film workers) whether the assignment is a permanent move or a short-term engagement with different treaty and filing implications.

• Departure tax checklist, the full Canadian exit sequence
• RRSP and TFSA on a US move, federal treatment and reporting
• First US tax return after moving from Canada, the arrival-year mechanics
• State income tax for cross-border filers, comparing Georgia to other states
• Toronto to New York taxes, the higher-tax alternative corridor
• Short-term business travelers and treaty exemptions, for film workers on temporary assignments
• Moving from Canada to Tennessee, the neighboring no-income-tax state for comparison
• Moving from Canada to South Carolina, the neighboring retiree-friendly corridor

This guide is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Which points apply, and how, depends on your facts.