Georgia's company rules: quick facts
- Entity
- Limited liability company (LLC), taxed only when profit is distributed
- Tax model
- Tax on distributed profit, 15% Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. Tax Code of Georgia Article 98(1): profit tax rate 15%. Article 97(1): the object of taxation is distributed profit, non-business expenses, free supplies and excess entertainment costs. Article 97(10): the taxable amount is the payment divided by 0.85. Consolidated English text generated August 24, 2026 (last listed amendment Law No 134 of December 13, 2024 for Article 98). Banks and lenders pay 20% (Article 98(4))Headline corporate tax rate
- Tax on $100,000 of profit kept in the company
- 0% Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. Tax Code Article 97(1): profit kept in the company is not an object of profit tax. $100,000 profit = GEL 260,800 at GEL 2.608 per USD; tax GEL 0 while nothing is distributed or spent outside the business
- Tax on $100,000 of profit paid out to a non-resident owner
- 19.25% Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. GEL 260,800 profit fully distributed: dividend GEL 221,680, profit tax GEL 221,680 / 0.85 x 15% = GEL 39,120 (Articles 97(10) and 98(1)), dividend tax at source 5% x GEL 221,680 = GEL 11,084 (Article 130(1)). Total GEL 50,204 = 19.25% of profit; the owner receives GEL 210,596 (about $80,800) before any tax in their own country
- Dividend withholding for a non-resident owner
- 5% Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. Tax Code Article 130(1): dividends paid by a resident enterprise to a natural person or a non-resident enterprise are taxed at source at 5% of the amount paid. Tax treaties can reduce it
- Formed without visiting
- Yes
- Stripe available
- No Source: stripe.com, checked September 29, 2026. Georgia is not on Stripe's list of supported countries
- Bank or EMI account
- Workable
- Audit required
- No
- EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions
- Not listed Source: data.consilium.europa.eu, checked October 12, 2026
- FATF grey list
- Not listed Source: data.consilium.europa.eu, checked October 12, 2026
- Economic substance rules
- No
Which Georgian company a non-resident forms: the LLC
Non-residents form a limited liability company (LLC). A foreigner can be the sole partner and director, and no resident director or shareholder is needed. The one local requirement is the legal address, which must be an actual address in Georgia under Article 5(10) of the Law on Entrepreneurs, so founders abroad rent one from a provider.
An ordinary LLC can also take a special status. An IT company with Virtual Zone status pays no profit tax on profit from IT it develops and supplies outside Georgia, even when that profit is paid out, though the 5% dividend tax still applies. International Company status, which the Government grants for activities it lists by ordinance, cuts profit tax to 5% and takes dividends out of tax at source (Tax Code Article 23).
The 1% rate Georgia is known for is not a company rate. It belongs to an individual entrepreneur living and working in Georgia with small business status, on gross income up to GEL 500,000 (about $192,000) a year, and consulting is among the activities that cannot use it. A company owned from abroad pays the LLC rates.
How a Georgian LLC is taxed: 0% kept, 15% plus 5% paid out
Georgia taxes company profit only when it leaves the company. Profit kept in the company is not an object of profit tax (Article 97(1)). When profit is distributed, the company pays 15% on the payout grossed up by 0.85 (Articles 97(10) and 98(1)) and withholds 5% dividend tax (Article 130(1)).
At $100,000 of profit, GEL 260,800, paying it all out costs GEL 39,120 (about $15,000) of profit tax and GEL 11,084 (about $4,250) of dividend tax, and GEL 210,596 (about $80,800) reaches you before any tax at home.
Distribution is not only dividends. Spending unrelated to the business, and free supplies of goods, services or money, are taxed the same way, grossed up at 15/85, so rent or a holiday paid from the company account costs about 17.65% on top.
VAT is 18%, and registration is due within 2 business days of passing GEL 100,000 (about $38,300) of taxable supplies in any 12 consecutive months (Articles 165 and 166). Services to business clients established abroad are supplied where the client is, so they fall outside Georgian VAT.
David's note
I treat the LLC's 0% as a deferral, not an exemption: the 15% and the 5% are waiting the day the money comes out. For a founder who will live in Tbilisi and whose work is not on the excluded list, the individual entrepreneur at 1% usually beats any company. The LLC earns its place when profit stays in the business, or the work cannot use the 1% status.
Cost and timeline to set up in Georgia
| LLC registration at the National Agency of Public Registry, 1 working dayOfficial fee | GEL 200 (about $77) Source: napr.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. Registration of an entrepreneur (LLC) or non-entrepreneurial legal entity: GEL 200 for 1 working day. About $77 at GEL 2.608 per USD |
|---|---|
| LLC registration, same dayOfficial fee | GEL 400 (about $153) Source: napr.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026 |
| English-language registry extract, added to any serviceOfficial fee | GEL 26 (about $10) Source: napr.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026 |
| Registration of changes to registered data, 1 working dayOfficial fee | GEL 26 (about $10) Source: napr.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026 |
| Setup, all inMarket range, checked Sep 2026 | $460 to $800 |
| Running cost per year, all inMarket range, checked Sep 2026 | $1,130 to $2,840 |
Official fees come from the government or registry schedule. Market ranges cover formation and yearly upkeep through a provider, including a registered agent and filings. Timeline: 1 working day at the registry once the documents are ready (GEL 200, about $77), or the same day for GEL 400 (about $153). Allow 1 to 3 weeks extra when a power of attorney has to be notarized and apostilled abroad.
How to register a company in Georgia from abroad
You do not have to travel. Founders' signatures on the instrument of incorporation must be notarized, certified by the Public Registry or made with a qualified electronic signature, and a power of representation needs the same (Law on Entrepreneurs, Article 4). A representative in Georgia can therefore file on a power of attorney signed before a notary in your country and apostilled there, which adds 1 to 3 weeks.
Opening a Georgian LLC as a non-resident
- Choose the company name and the legal address: an actual address in Georgia, rented from a provider if you have none.
- Sign a power of attorney for your representative before a notary at home, and have it apostilled.
- Have the instrument of incorporation drafted: the charter plus the name, legal address, partners and director.
- File at the National Agency of Public Registry, decided in 1 working day, or the same day for the higher fee.
- Set up access to the Revenue Service portal (rs.ge), where every return is filed.
- Open the business account with a Georgian bank, in person or through your representative.
- Book the accounting before month 1 ends, because the first monthly profit tax return is due by the 15th of the next month.
Georgia sets no nationality or residence rule for partners or directors, and partners and directors are recorded in the public Registry of Entrepreneurs, so your name as owner is visible to anyone who looks the company up.
Georgian company annual filings and deadlines
A Georgian LLC files every month whether or not it pays anything out, and once a year with the accounting regulator. A small company with no staff usually counts as a category IV enterprise: at least 2 of assets up to GEL 1 million (about $383,000), revenue up to GEL 2 million (about $767,000) and no more than 10 employees.
Yearly filings for a Georgian LLC
| Filing | Filed with | Deadline | Cost of missing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit tax return, every month, including months with no distribution | Revenue Service (rs.ge) | The 15th of the following month | 5% of the tax due if the return is up to 2 months late, 10% if it is later; no fine when the tax due is 0 |
| 5% dividend tax withheld on a payout, and the notice of it | Revenue Service (rs.ge) | Tax paid when the dividend is paid; notice by the 15th of the following month | Penalty interest for each day the tax is late, plus the late-return fine |
| Annual financial statements under the category IV standard | Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision (SARAS) | October 1 of the following year | GEL 500 (about $192), or a written warning first |
| VAT return, once registered for VAT | Revenue Service (rs.ge) | The 15th of the month after each period | The same late-return fine |
| Your own tax return, with the dividends | The tax authority where you live | Your country's deadline | Your country's penalties and the tax itself |
Opening a bank account for a Georgian company as a non-resident
Georgia's 2 largest banks, TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia, open business accounts for foreign-owned LLCs, usually after a visit to a branch or through a representative holding a power of attorney. Their know-your-customer checks have tightened, so expect questions about where you live, who your clients are and where the money comes from.
Stripe does not serve Georgian companies, so card payments go through another processor that accepts a Georgian entity. Georgia has committed to automatic exchange of account information under the OECD Common Reporting Standard, so accounts there are reported to your country of residence.
Where a Georgian company's profit is really taxed
The 0% and the 19.25% hold only while Georgia is the country taxing the company. The Tax Code treats an enterprise as Georgian when its place of business or management is in Georgia (Article 22), and your own country applies the same logic in reverse: a company you manage from home abroad can be taxed there through management and control or a permanent establishment. At $100,000 of profit, GEL 260,800, the owner situations look like this.
Tax on $100,000 of Georgian LLC profit (GEL 260,800) by owner situation
| Owner situation | Georgian tax | What your country adds |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in Georgia and runs it there | 0% kept; 19.25%, GEL 50,204 (about $19,300), when paid out | Nothing: Georgia is your country |
| Lives in a high-tax country and runs it from home | 0% kept, 15% plus 5% when paid out | Corporate tax on the profit every year through management and control or a permanent establishment, paid out or not |
| Lives abroad and keeps the profit in the company | 0% until paid out | Controlled foreign company rules can tax the kept profit in your hands, because 0% counts as low tax |
| Lives abroad and pays the profit out | 19.25%, GEL 50,204 (about $19,300) | Tax on the dividend, usually with a credit for the 5% withheld at most and none for the 15% profit tax |
| Has no tax residence anywhere | 0% kept, 19.25% paid out | Nothing on paper, but banks will ask where you are tax resident |
The first row is the case the LLC was built for, and living in Tbilisi also brings Georgia's territorial tax on residents, which leaves a resident's foreign dividends and gains untaxed. In every other row, the tax that decides the result is your own country's.
Running the LLC from a home office in a high-tax country
Manage the company from your apartment abroad and that country will usually treat it as managed there or as having a permanent establishment, taxing its profit at the local corporate rate every year. The 0% on kept profit then protects nothing, and Georgia still charges 15% plus 5% when you pay out, often with no credit at home for the 15%.
A non-resident's Georgian LLC, set up right and wrong
Works
You live in Georgia, or you budget for your home country taxing the LLC's profit. The profit tax return goes in by the 15th every month, payouts are formal dividends with the 5% withheld, personal spending stays off the company account, and the financial statements are filed by October 1.
Fails
You live in a high-tax country, run the LLC from home, keep the profit inside because it is taxed at 0%, pay your rent from the company card as if it were free, and declare nothing where you live.
.jpg){kind=link}