Tax Penalties Georgia: The 5% Fine and 0.05% Daily Interest
A missed Georgian tax date costs you twice over. The Revenue Service fines you on the tax shown by the return you filed late, and it charges interest on the tax you have not paid, for every day it stays unpaid. They are separate charges on separate bases, and both can land on the same month. Below is every rate, what each one is charged on, and the cases where nothing is due at all.
- A return filed up to 2 months late is fined 5% of the tax due on it, and 10% once it is more than 2 months late.
- A return showing zero tax due carries no late filing fine, however late it is.
- Unpaid tax carries interest of 0.05% for each overdue day, and the day you pay counts as an overdue day.
- Understating tax on a return is fined 50% of the understatement, falling to 25% or 10% where the amount is small against the tax declared.
- Filing an amended return before an audit is announced removes the understatement fine, but not the tax or the interest.
- Breaching the taxpayer registration rules costs GEL 500, and each cash register offence costs GEL 200.
Late filing: 5% of the tax on the return, 10% after 2 months
The fine is measured from the day the return was due. For most Georgian returns that day is the 15th of the month following the one being reported.
A return filed up to 2 months after its deadline is fined 5% of the tax assessed as payable on that return. Once it is more than 2 months late, the fine is 10%.
Both percentages are charged on the tax the return shows, not on the turnover or the income behind it. A monthly 1% return declaring GEL 300 of tax is fined against that GEL 300, whatever the turnover that produced it was.
The same article reaches the annual income tax return due by 31 March, so filing that one in July is fined 10% of the tax it assesses.
Where the tax assessed as payable on a return is zero, there is no late filing fine at all. That holds however late the return is.
The English translation published on matsne prints an older wording of Article 274: 5% for each complete or incomplete overdue month, capped at 30%. The Georgian text of the same publication is the one that governs, and it charges a single 5% up to 2 months and 10% after.
The difference is real money. A return 6 months late is fined 10% of the tax on it. Under the English wording it would be 30%.
Late payment: 0.05% for every overdue day
Interest runs on tax you have not paid, and it is charged whether or not a return was late. The rate is 0.05% of the unpaid tax for each overdue day, and the day you actually pay counts as an overdue day.
Filing late and paying late are separate offences, so a late return with unpaid tax behind it attracts the fine and the interest together. Neither one absorbs the other.
Interest is charged on a net figure, the difference between the tax liabilities you have not performed and any tax you have overpaid. It is not charged on an unpaid fine and not on unpaid interest, so the 0.05% a day runs on tax alone.
A payment against an acknowledged tax debt is applied in a fixed order: first the tax, then the fine, then the interest. A part payment therefore cuts the base the daily interest runs on before it touches anything else.
Interest stops accruing 3 years after the day the obligation to charge it arose, so an old unpaid tax does not carry the 0.05% for ever.
Say you hold Small Business Status and invoice GEL 50,000 in a month. The tax is 1% of that, GEL 500, and both the return and the payment fall due on the 15th of the following month.
You file and pay on the 25th instead.
- Late filing fine: the return is under 2 months late, so 5% of GEL 500, which is GEL 25.
- Late payment interest: 0.05% of GEL 500 is GEL 0.25 a day, and 10 overdue days make GEL 2.50.
Total added to the GEL 500 of tax: GEL 27.50.
Understating tax on a return
A return that shows less tax than was due is its own offence, separate from filing late. The general fine is 50% of the amount understated.
Smaller understatements are fined less, and the measure is the understatement as a share of the tax the return itself declared.
| Understatement, measured against the tax shown on the return | Fine |
|---|---|
| Not more than 5% | 10% of the understatement |
| More than 5% and not more than 20% | 25% of the understatement |
| More than 20% | 50% of the understatement |
| Caused only by the tax authority changing the moment or period the liability falls in | 10% of the understatement |
An understatement of more than GEL 100,000 stops being only a tax matter. It is treated as tax evasion on a large scale and carries liability under Georgian criminal law.
The understatement fines have a ceiling. Their total for one audit cannot exceed the total tax that audit assesses as payable, however many returns it found wrong.
Correcting the return yourself removes the fine, if you get there before the Revenue Service does. Where an amended return is filed before a court or tax authority decision or notice on conducting an audit has been served, and before a tax offence report has been drawn up, the fine for the incorrect information is not imposed. The tax and the interest on it still stand, because neither of those is a fine.
Fines that are not about tax owed
These fines are fixed amounts charged for a breach of procedure, so they land the same way on a profitable year and a loss-making one.
| Offence | Fine |
|---|---|
| Breach of the taxpayer registration rules | GEL 500 |
| Taking cash from a customer without a cash register | GEL 200 |
| Not using the cash register | GEL 200 |
| A receipt showing less than the customer actually paid | GEL 200 |
| Small Business Status cancelled for a prohibited activity or for 3 cash register fines | GEL 500 |
Anyone on the 1% regime pays a second cost for the cash register fines. 3 of them in a calendar year cancel Small Business Status, and the cancellation runs from the start of that calendar year rather than from the date of the third fine.
A warning can replace the fine. The Code allows one in place of a monetary fine for each of those offences, except where the act was committed repeatedly.
A month with no income still has a return
A month in which you invoiced nothing still needs the monthly Small Business Status return filed, because an unfiled month does not count as a zero return.
An amendment in force since March 2026 put that rule into the Ministry of Finance instruction on special tax regimes, the consolidated text of Order No 999.
The late filing fine for that month is still nothing, because the tax due on it is zero and the 5% has nothing to attach to. What is left is the Code's residual fine, a flat GEL 100 for failing to meet an obligation for which no separate amount is set, and the return itself, which is still owed.
Can a fine be reduced or cancelled
The Code carries no general amnesty and no automatic discount for a first offence. What it has is a short set of routes, each with a condition that has to be met before the fine moves at all.
| Route | What it removes | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Amended return | The fine for information shown incorrectly on a return | Filed before a decision or notice on conducting an audit is served, and before a tax offence report is drawn up |
| Release of a conscientious taxpayer | Any sanction under the Code | The offence was caused by the taxpayer's mistake or lack of knowledge. The tax authority, the dispute body or the court may release, and none of them is obliged to |
| Force majeure | All liability for the offence | An extraordinary circumstance outside the person's will: natural disaster, a state of emergency or another state decision, mass disorder or a strike |
| Half the fines from an audit | 50% of the fines that audit assessed | Within 30 days of service of the tax demand, the tax in it is paid in full plus an amount equal to 50% of the fines, and the amount is acknowledged |
| Warning | The monetary fine on the fixed-amount offences | Only the offences the Code names, and not where the act was repeated |
Which of these is open depends on what was actually assessed and on the document that assessed it. If a fine has already landed and you are not sure which article produced it, you can send us the notice and the return behind it, and David Sisvadze sets out what was charged, on what basis and what is still open, in a written opinion he signs.
Outside that list, the Code has a route aimed at the debt rather than at the fine. A tax agreement between the Revenue Service and the taxpayer can reduce a tax debt, including the fine and the interest on it, but the decision is taken by the Government of Georgia. Once it is concluded you cannot file an amended return for that period, and failing to perform it in the fixed period cancels it and adds a fine of 10% of the unpaid amount.
Deferral is not relief. Collection of an acknowledged tax debt can be deferred for up to 3 years where it is secured by a suretyship, a bank guarantee, an insurance policy or a tax pledge or mortgage, and deferring collection does not suspend the 0.05% a day.
How long a fine can still be imposed
The Revenue Service has 3 years to impose a sanction other than late payment interest. A tax audit has its own 3 years, counted from the end of the calendar year of the period being audited, and the interest clock stops 3 years after the obligation to charge it arose.
Filing extends those periods. Where less than 1 year is left before one of them expires and you file a return, an amended return or a claim for that period, the period runs on for another 1 year.
Your own clock runs just as long. You can reclaim overpaid tax and overpaid sanctions for 3 years, counted from the end of the year in which the right to the refund arose.
A fine you believe is wrong is appealed within 30 days of it being served, and filing that appeal does not suspend the decision you are appealing. Complaints are normally filed electronically and in Georgian.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I miss a tax filing deadline in Georgia?
The return is fined 5% of the tax it assesses as payable when it is up to 2 months late, and 10% once it is more than 2 months late. If the tax behind it was also paid late, interest of 0.05% a day runs on the unpaid amount on top of that fine. A return showing no tax due carries no filing fine at all.
How much is late payment interest in Georgia?
It is 0.05% of the unpaid tax for each overdue day, which comes to 18.25% of the unpaid amount over 365 days. The day you pay counts as an overdue day. Interest runs on unpaid tax only, never on an unpaid fine, and it stops 3 years after the obligation to charge it arose.
Is the Georgian late filing fine charged per month?
No. The Georgian text of Article 274 sets one flat 5% for a return up to 2 months late and 10% for anything later, with no multiplication by the number of months. The English translation on matsne prints an older per-month wording capped at 30%, and the Georgian text is the one that governs.
Do I have to file if I had no income that month?
Yes, where the return is one you are registered to file. Since March 2026 an unfiled monthly Small Business Status return does not count as a zero return, so the month stays outstanding until the return goes in. The fine for it is nil because the tax on it is zero, but the obligation itself does not lapse.
What is the fine for understating tax on a return?
50% of the amount understated as the general rule. It falls to 10% where the understatement is not more than 5% of the tax the return declared, and to 25% where it is more than 5% and not more than 20%. Understating by more than GEL 100,000 is treated as tax evasion on a large scale under criminal law.
Can a penalty be cancelled if I correct the return myself?
The understatement fine can be, if you get there first. An amended return filed before a decision or notice on conducting an audit is served on you, and before a tax offence report is drawn up, means the fine for the incorrect information is not imposed. The tax and the 0.05% a day interest on it still stand.
Can a fine be larger than the tax an audit finds?
No. The total of the understatement fines imposed as the result of one audit cannot exceed the total tax that audit assesses as payable. That cap is written for those fines, and late payment interest is charged separately under Article 272.
How long can the Revenue Service still impose a fine?
3 years. That is the period for imposing a sanction other than late payment interest, and a tax audit has its own 3 years counted from the end of the calendar year of the period being audited. Filing a return or a claim for a period when less than 1 year of that time remains extends the period by 1 year.
Can I get back a fine I should not have paid?
A fine you overpaid can be reclaimed, and the claim window is 3 years, counted from the end of the year your right to the refund arose. Overpaid tax works the same way. Where you dispute the fine itself rather than an overpayment, the route is an appeal within 30 days of the decision being served.