Taxes in Georgia: Rates, Exemptions and Who Pays What
Georgia taxes individuals at flat rates that depend on the type of income, not on how much you earn or which passport you hold. A salary and a dividend are taxed differently, and work done from a desk in Tbilisi is taxed differently again from money earned abroad. This guide sets out every rate that applies to an individual, the exemptions worth knowing, and the dates the returns fall due.
- The general personal income tax rate is 20%, and Georgia has no general tax free allowance.
- A resident pays nothing on income that is not Georgian-source, but services you perform for clients abroad are Georgian-source wherever the money is paid.
- Set rates replace the 20% in named cases: 1% under Small Business Status up to GEL 500,000 a year, 5% on dividends, interest and registered residential rent, 0% on bank deposit interest and on crypto disposals.
- A company pays 15% profit tax on profit it distributes and nothing on profit it retains, and VAT is charged at 18% once a business passes GEL 100,000 of taxable supplies in any 12 consecutive months.
- The annual return and the tax are due by 31 March; filing late costs 5% of the tax due, or 10% after 2 months.
Georgia tax rates at a glance
Georgia sets a separate rate for each type of income rather than a set of bands, so the first question is always what kind of income arrived, never how much of it. The general rate for an individual is 20%, set by Article 81 of the Tax Code, and every other rate below is an exception the Code names. Property tax works differently: it is a local tax, and the municipal council introduces it inside the ceilings the Code fixes.
| Income or tax | Rate | Main condition |
|---|---|---|
| Salary and other income of an individual | 20% | The general rate |
| Foreign-source income of a resident | 0% | Only where no Georgian source rule reaches it |
| Income under Small Business Status | 1% | Up to GEL 500,000 a calendar year, then 3% |
| Micro business income | 0% | Up to GEL 30,000 a year, no hired staff |
| Dividends from a Georgian company | 5% | Withheld at source, final for a resident |
| Interest | 5% | 0% from a licensed financial institution |
| Residential rent | 5% | Landlord entered in the Revenue Service register |
| Gain on a home or a car | 5% | Exempt after 2 years, or 6 months for a car |
| Crypto disposals by an individual | 0% | Not Georgian-source income |
| Company profit tax | 15% | On distributed profit, not on retained profit |
| VAT | 18% | Once supplies pass GEL 100,000 in 12 months |
| Property tax | 0% to 1% | Set by family income in the previous year |
| Funded pension | 2% plus 2% | Employee and employer; 4% self-employed |
Tax residency and foreign income
The 183-day residency test
Tax residency is decided by a day count. If you are actually present in Georgia for 183 days or more across any continuous 12 calendar months that end inside the tax year, you are resident for the whole of that year. Part days count in full, so the day you arrive and the day you leave are one day each.
Georgian tax residency under that test turns on days rather than citizenship, so a foreign citizen and a Georgian citizen with the same travel record are taxed the same way. Days are not the only route in: a high net worth individual with Georgian property worth USD 500,000 or more can apply for residency on an assets or income test instead.
Foreign-source income versus work done from Georgia
A resident pays no Georgian income tax on income that is not Georgian-source, and a non-resident is taxed on Georgian-source income only. The line between the two is drawn by the source rules in the Code, and income from foreign sources is a narrower category than the phrase suggests.
The Code treats a service as delivered in Georgia when it is actually rendered here, and also when a Georgian resident supplies it to a recipient in another state, unless it runs through a confirmed foreign permanent establishment. Working remotely from Georgia for clients abroad therefore produces Georgian-source income, taxed at 20% under the general rules or at 1% if you hold Small Business Status.
Dividends and interest from abroad are the clearest case of exempt foreign income: a dividend from a non-resident company, and interest from a foreign bank with no Georgian permanent establishment carrying the debt, fall outside every source clause and are exempt for a resident individual.
The Code decides the source of income by where the service was performed and by who performed it. The place the payment is received is expressly excluded from the test. Being paid into a bank account outside Georgia does not turn Georgian-source income into foreign income.
Double tax treaties
The Ministry of Finance treaty list carries 58 treaties on the avoidance of double taxation in force. The United Kingdom and Germany are on it; the United States and Russia are not. Treaty relief is claimed under Minister of Finance Order No 633, on a residency certificate the Revenue Service issues electronically.
Personal income tax in Georgia
The 20% flat rate
20% is the rate for an individual's taxable income unless the Code names another. It covers salary, royalties paid to a resident who is not registered for VAT, rent on anything that is not residential space let for residential purposes, and gifts above the exempt limits.
Georgia has no general tax free allowance. Annual allowances of GEL 3,000 and GEL 6,000 exist, but they exempt the income of named categories only, among them war veterans, single parents and people with a severe disability or a disability from childhood, and where more than one applies only the highest is given.
An employer withholds the 20% from salary at the moment it pays, then reports the wages and the withheld tax on a monthly return, due on the 15th of the next month. An individual entrepreneur under the general rules pays 20% on the calendar year's gross income less the documented expenses of earning it, then makes 4 advance payments, on 15 May, 15 July, 15 September and 15 December, each 25% of last year's tax.
Income tax for foreigners and non-residents
The rate is the same 20% for a foreign citizen as for a Georgian one. Residency does not widen the net either: both a resident and a non-resident are taxed on Georgian-source income and nothing else, since a resident's income from outside those source rules is exempt. What changes is the mechanics, because a non-resident usually meets the tax through withholding rather than a return.
A non-resident without a Georgian permanent establishment is taxed at source at fixed rates: 20% on salary, 5% on dividends, 5% on interest, 5% on royalties and 10% on other Georgian-source payments. Interest, royalties and other payments to a person registered in a country with preferential taxation carry 15% instead.
Short visits have their own exemption: salary paid by a non-resident employer to a non-resident for work in Georgia is exempt where that work lasts no more than 30 calendar days in the tax year and no Georgian permanent establishment bears the cost. A non-resident whose Georgian-source income was not taxed at source files the annual return.
Pension contributions
The funded pension scheme covers Georgian citizens, and foreign citizens and stateless persons holding a permanent residence permit; a foreigner without one is outside it. Membership is mandatory for employees and voluntary for the self-employed.
An employee gives up 2% of taxable salary, the employer adds another 2%, and a self-employed member pays 4% of income. The state adds 2% on the first GEL 24,000 of annual salary or income, 1% on the part between GEL 24,000 and GEL 60,000, and nothing above that.
Special tax regimes for individuals
Small Business Status: 1% up to GEL 500,000
The 1% regime is open to individual entrepreneurs only, including those already registered for VAT, so registration as an individual entrepreneur comes first and the status runs from the day the application is filed. Nothing in the Code or the Minister's order attaches a citizenship, residence permit or tax residency condition to it: the test is being an entrepreneur natural person who is on tax registration.
Small Business Status taxes income received from a source in Georgia at 1%, leaving out salary and the income types the Government lists, with no deduction of expenses against that base. The limit is GEL 500,000 of gross income in a calendar year, or GEL 700,000 for a wine tourism or agro tourism operator. Cross it and 3% replaces the 1%, from the first day of the month in which the excess is recorded to the end of that calendar year. The status itself is lost only after the limit is exceeded in each of 2 consecutive calendar years.
Government Resolution No 415 excludes 7 categories of activity: activities needing a licence or permit, activities needing significant investment, currency operations, the professional group covering medical, architectural, advocacy or notary, audit and consulting work, gambling, provision of personnel, and production of excise goods. Rent, dividends, interest, royalties, gains on property and, since 1 February 2025, construction services supplied to businesses sit outside the 1% and outside the limit. The monthly return and the payment fall due by the 15th of the next month, and there are no advance payments.
Micro business status: 0% up to GEL 30,000
Micro business status exempts an individual's income from income tax altogether, up to gross income of GEL 30,000 from economic activity in a calendar year, with no hired staff. It needs no individual entrepreneur registration, and it is closed to anyone registered for VAT.
The prohibited list is a different one: it bars trade unless the purchased goods are processed before they are sold, alongside licensed activities and the same professional group the 1% regime excludes. The annual return is due by 31 March.
Fixed tax for set activities
A short list of activities pays a set monthly amount instead of income tax, open to an individual entrepreneur who is not a VAT payer. Current rates include GEL 50 a month per workplace for hairdressing, make-up and similar work, GEL 30 for manicure and pedicure, and GEL 100 per workplace for car maintenance and repair. The micro business and 1% regimes do not apply to these activities.
Tax on dividends, interest and crypto
Dividends from a Georgian company are taxed at 5% withheld at source, and that 5% is final for a resident individual: the amount never enters gross income and never reaches the annual return. Distributions from the 2023-onward profits of banks, credit unions, microfinance organisations and loan providers carry no withholding at all.
Interest is taxed at 5% at source and is also final. The exception is the one most people hold: interest from a licensed financial institution, an ordinary bank deposit being the usual case, is not taxed and is not counted in gross income. Interest on debt securities issued by the State, the National Bank, the Deposit Insurance Agency or a listed international financial institution is exempt as well.
An individual selling crypto assets pays no income tax on the proceeds, because Public Ruling No 201 of the Minister of Finance treats that income as not Georgian-source, and the supply falls outside VAT as well. The ruling decides disposals and nothing else: crypto received as payment for work, staking rewards and trading as a business are not answered by it.
Tax on rental income, property sales and property ownership
Rental income: 5% or 20%
Renting residential space for residential purposes is taxed at 5%, provided you claim no deductions against that income. The 5% rate on residential rent also depends on paperwork: you have to be entered in the Revenue Service register of persons renting out residential space, and the entry is made within 2 business days.
A legal person tenant withholds 5% only if you are already in the register when the tax liability arises, and 20% if you are not. Rent from an individual tenant is not taxed at source at all, so you declare it on the annual return, at 5% if you were entered in the register before the deadline. Rent never qualifies for the 1% or micro business regimes.
Letting your own home short term has its own option until 1 January 2028, open while turnover from that letting stays within GEL 100,000 over any 12 continuous months: a fixed income tax of GEL 10 per m2 per room per calendar month, paid quarterly.
Selling a home or car
Own a residential flat or house for more than 2 years, its attached land included, and the gain on sale is exempt. A car is exempt after more than 6 months from registration of title, and other assets held more than 2 years outside economic activity are exempt too. Selling a flat or house before those 2 years are up puts the gain at 5%, where gain means the sale price less the purchase price.
The 2 years run from the date the title certificate was drawn up for registration, and a first-line heir adds the period the testator or donor owned it. First-line heirs are the spouse, child, adopted child, grandchild, great grandchild and that child's own child, parent and adoptive parent. A taxable sale outside business is reported by the 15th of the month after the sale.
Say you buy a flat for GEL 200,000 and sell it 18 months later for GEL 260,000. The gain is GEL 60,000 and the tax is GEL 3,000.
Annual property tax
Property tax reaches an individual's owned real estate including unfinished construction, yachts, helicopters, aeroplanes, cars under HS code 8703, property leased from a non-resident, and fixed assets used in business. The rate is driven by family income in the year before the current one, not by the value of the property alone.
| Family income in the previous year | Rate on property other than land |
|---|---|
| Up to GEL 40,000 | Exempt, although the exemption does not reach land |
| Below GEL 100,000 | 0.05% to 0.2% of market value at year end |
| GEL 100,000 or more | 0.8% to 1% of market value at year end |
Family income counts exempt income as well, but only 25% of income taxed under the 1% regime, and it leaves out the sale of a home owned more than 2 years, micro business income and fixed tax income. The tax is pro rata to the part of the year you owned the property. Filing falls on 1 November and payment on 15 November, and the Revenue Service can assess you from the previous year's data instead.
Tax exemptions for individuals
The exemptions for individuals sit in different articles of the Code rather than in one list. These are the ones an ordinary taxpayer meets.
| Income | Exempt when |
|---|---|
| Income of a resident that is not Georgian-source | Always, gains included |
| Gifts and inheritance from first and second line heirs | Always |
| A gift from any other individual | Up to GEL 1,000 |
| Gifts and inheritance from third and fourth line heirs | Up to GEL 150,000 |
| Gain on a home, or on other non-business assets | Owned more than 2 years |
| Gain on a car | Owned more than 6 months after title registration |
| Interest from a licensed financial institution | Always, and it stays out of gross income |
| Interest on State and National Bank debt securities | Always |
| Income from the supply of crypto assets | Always, for an individual |
| Micro business income | Within GEL 30,000 and no hired staff |
| Salary of a non-resident from a non-resident employer | Work in Georgia of up to 30 days in the year |
| Voluntary private pension contributions | Up to GEL 6,000 a year |
| Payments to blood donors | Until 1 April 2030 |
Above the gift and inheritance limits, the general 20% applies to the excess.
The GEL 1,000 exemption for a gift from another individual expressly excludes a gift received from your employer. An employer's gift is taxed at the general 20%, and its size makes no difference.
Taxes on companies: profit tax and VAT
Profit tax on distributed profit
A Georgian company pays Georgian profit tax at 15%, and only when it distributes profit, incurs expenses or payments unrelated to economic activity, makes a free supply, or spends above the entertainment limit. Retained profit is not taxed. The taxable amount is the payment divided by 0.85, so a distribution of GEL 170,000 is taxed on GEL 200,000, and the dividend itself then carries 5% at source. Banks, credit unions, microfinance organisations and loan providers pay 20% profit tax instead.
VAT at 18%
VAT is 18%. You must register for VAT within 2 business days once taxable supplies pass GEL 100,000 in any 12 consecutive calendar months, a rolling window rather than a calendar year, and VAT is due from the transaction that takes you over. Most services supplied to business customers abroad fall outside Georgian VAT and do not count toward the threshold.
Buying services from a supplier not established in Georgia triggers the reverse charge at 18%, payable by any person established in Georgia except an individual who is not an entrepreneur. The VAT return and the payment are both due by the 15th of the following month.
Worked example: one person, several income types
Say a single resident had all of the following in one tax year. The rates do not interact: each type of income carries its own.
| Income | Amount | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary from a Georgian employer | GEL 36,000 | 20% | GEL 7,200 |
| Income under Small Business Status | GEL 120,000 | 1% | GEL 1,200 |
| Rent of a flat to an individual tenant, registered landlord | GEL 12,000 | 5% | GEL 600 |
| Dividends from a Georgian company | GEL 10,000 | 5% | GEL 500 |
| Interest on a Georgian bank deposit | GEL 2,000 | 0% | GEL 0 |
| Gain on a flat owned for 3 years | GEL 40,000 | exempt | GEL 0 |
| Total income tax | GEL 9,500 |
The rent and the dividends never count toward the GEL 500,000 limit and never qualify for the 1%, and the rent goes on the annual return by 31 March because nobody withheld on it. If this person is in the pension scheme, the salary also carries a 2% employee contribution of GEL 720.
Where your own income mixes types like this, you can send your figures through our question form and David Sisvadze will answer with a written opinion he signs.
For property tax, the same person's family income is GEL 90,000: the salary, a quarter of the GEL 120,000 taxed at 1%, the rent, the dividends and the deposit interest, with the exempt home sale left out. That sits above GEL 40,000 and below GEL 100,000, so property other than land is taxed at 0.05% to 0.2% of its year-end market value.
Tax deadlines and penalties for individuals
Georgian tax deadlines for individuals fall on a handful of fixed dates, and a missed one costs a percentage of the tax due rather than a flat fine.
| Obligation | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Annual income tax return and payment | 31 March of the following year |
| Small Business Status monthly return and payment | 15th of the following month |
| Employer monthly withholding return | 15th of the following month |
| Advance payments under the general rules | 15 May, 15 July, 15 September, 15 December |
| Return after a taxable sale of property | 15th of the month after the sale |
| VAT return and payment | 15th of the following month |
| Property tax return | 1 November |
| Property tax payment | 15 November |
| Short-term letting fixed tax | 15 April, 15 July, 5 October, 15 January |
The annual return is for residents with income not taxed at source, individual entrepreneurs, micro and small business holders on income taxed under the general rules, landlords whose rent was not withheld on, anyone with a non-exempt gift or inheritance, and non-residents with no permanent establishment here whose Georgian earnings escaped withholding.
The English translation of the Tax Code says the annual return is due "by 1 April", which reads as though 1 April is still in time. The Georgian text reads "up to 1 April", and the Revenue Service deadline brochure puts the last day at 31 March. File on 1 April and the return is late.
File late and the fine is 5% of the tax the return itself shows, rising to 10% once you are more than 2 months past the deadline. A return with no tax due under it carries no late filing fine at all. Unpaid tax then runs interest of 0.05% a day, counting the day of payment itself.
A small business holder who does not file the monthly return is not treated as having filed a zero return. The Revenue Service can assess tax and serve a demand for 3 years, and the clock starts at the close of the calendar year in which the liability arose.
Tax changes in 2025, 2026 and 2027
- 1 January 2025: the small business limit rose to GEL 700,000 for wine tourism and agro tourism operators, and stayed at GEL 500,000 for everyone else.
- 1 January 2025: an individual's income from slot machine halls and online games of chance is taxed at 20%.
- 1 January 2025: voluntary private pension contributions of up to GEL 6,000 a year became exempt.
- 1 February 2025: construction services supplied to an enterprise, organisation or entrepreneur left the 1% regime.
- 1 January 2026: the 3% tax on market traders was repealed, and reliefs due to end were extended to 1 January 2028, among them the fixed tax on short-term letting of your own home.
- Order No 38 of 5 February 2026: an unfiled small business monthly return no longer counts as a zero return, and small business status runs from the day the application is filed.
- 1 April 2026: payments to blood donors are exempt until 1 April 2030.
- 2 April 2026: excise on passenger cars became GEL 1.50 per cm3 up to 6 years old and GEL 4.50 per cm3 above that.
- 1 January 2027: the advance tax ruling fee becomes GEL 20,000, or GEL 10,000 for a resident individual, with the ruling issued within 90 calendar days.
- 1 January 2027: people entitled to the GEL 3,000 or GEL 6,000 annual allowance have the withheld tax refunded monthly, paid on the 20th.
- 1 January 2027: the tax authority may request data from factoring companies and platforms.
Frequently asked questions
Is Georgia tax free for foreigners?
No. The general rate is 20% and it applies to a foreign citizen exactly as it applies to a Georgian one. What a resident gets is an exemption on income that is not Georgian-source, and Georgian-source income includes work you perform from Georgia for clients abroad.
What is the income tax rate in Georgia?
20% is the general rate for an individual. Named types of income carry their own rate instead: 1% under Small Business Status, 0% under micro business status, and 5% on dividends, interest and registered residential rent.
Do I pay tax in Georgia on income from abroad?
As a resident, not on income that is genuinely not Georgian-source, such as a dividend from a foreign company. The catch is the source test: a service is Georgian-source when it is rendered here, and also when a Georgian resident supplies it to a recipient abroad, whatever bank account receives the payment.
How many days does it take to become a tax resident of Georgia?
183 days or more inside any continuous stretch of 12 calendar months that ends in the tax year, and residency then applies to that whole year. Any part of a day spent in the country counts as a full day.
Can a foreigner get the 1% tax in Georgia?
Yes. Small Business Status is granted to an entrepreneur natural person who is on tax registration, and neither the Tax Code nor the Minister's order adds a citizenship, residence permit or tax residency condition. The activity still has to fall outside the 7 excluded categories, and gross income has to stay within GEL 500,000 a calendar year.
Is there inheritance tax in Georgia?
Inheritance is taxed as income rather than under a tax of its own. It is exempt from first and second line heirs, and exempt up to GEL 150,000 from third and fourth line heirs, with the general 20% applying above that.
Do you pay tax when you sell an apartment in Georgia?
Not if you owned it for more than 2 years. Sell sooner and the gain, meaning sale price less purchase price, is taxed at 5%, and the return is due by the 15th of the month after the sale.
Is crypto taxed in Georgia?
An individual's income from the supply of crypto assets is exempt from income tax, and the supply sits outside VAT. The Ministry of Finance ruling behind that exemption covers disposals only, so crypto received as payment for work, staking rewards and trading as a business are not settled by it.
Do I need to file a tax return in Georgia?
You file an annual return by 31 March if you had income that nobody withheld tax on, including rent from an individual tenant and a non-exempt gift. Small Business Status holders file monthly by the 15th instead, and an employee whose only income is a salary already taxed at source is not on the list of filers.
How much is property tax in Georgia?
Property other than land is exempt if your family's income in the previous year was up to GEL 40,000. Below GEL 100,000 the rate is 0.05% to 0.2% of year-end market value, and from GEL 100,000 it is 0.8% to 1%. File the return by 1 November and pay by 15 November.