For what it's worth - I just bought the book "Everybody's Guide to Small Claims Court," a Nolo book. On page 81, it talks about voluntary payments after the statute of limitations period. It says that in most states, a voluntary payment does not start the statute of limitations period again. However, if the debtor signs a written agreement promising to make the payments, this does reinstate the contract, and create a new statute of limitations period - this is called "reaffirming the debt" in legalese. THIS IS A GENERAL STATEMENT - and does not appear to be applicable to Georgia.
that says "Written contract: 6 years from when it becomes due and payable and the six (6) year period runs from the date of last payment. (OCGA 9-3-24)" under Georgia.
While it doesn't say anything about being tolled because of being out of state, it does say that making a voluntary payment would start the statute running again.
However, in researching the cited statute for the statute of limitations, I found OCGA 9-3-94, Removal of defendant from state, which states "Unless otherwise provided by law, if a defendant removes from this state, the time of his absence from the state until he returns to reside shall not be counted or estimated in his favor." so it sounds like the statute of limitations would be tolled if you were out of state (i.e., the time you were out of state would not count towards the time period of the statute of limitations).
OCGA 9-3-24, "Actions on simple written contracts; exceptions" says "All actions upon simple contracts in writing shall be brought within six years after the same become due and payable. However, this Code section shall not apply to actions for the breach of contracts for the sale of goods under Article 2 of Title 11 or to negotiable instruments under Article 3 of Title 11."
OCGA 9-3-112, "Payment or written acknowledgment equivalent to new promise" says "A payment entered upon a written evidence of debt by the debtor or upon any other written acknowledgment of the existing liability shall be equivalent to a new promise to pay."
So, based on my non-lawyer research, it looks like:
1) If you make a payment on a debt incurred in Georgia, you are starting the statute of limitations again.
2) The statute of limitations was tolled for the time period you were out of Georgia, anyway, so it is probably not about to expire in a year or less.