Georgia's taxes at a glance
| Tax on $50,000 of revenue | Up to 5% |
|---|---|
| Tax on $100,000 of revenue | Up to 5% |
| Effective rate at $100,000On profit, after costs of 15% | 1.18% Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. 1% of GEL 260,800 turnover = GEL 2,608, on profit of GEL 221,680 (costs 15%), at GEL 2.6080 per USD |
| Tax on $250,000 of revenue | 15% to 25% |
| Tax system | Territorial |
| Foreign income, new residents | Untaxed Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026 |
| Social contributions, self-employed | 0% Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026. Law of Georgia on Funded Pensions, Article 3(3) and Article 21(3): joining the funded pension scheme is voluntary for self-employed persons. A self-employed person who opts in pays 4% of income |
Structure used: Individual entrepreneur with small business status in an eligible (non-consulting) activity: 1% of gross income up to GEL 500,000 a year, 3% from the month the limit is passed; status is lost after 2 years above GEL 500,000. Bands are the effective tax on profit for a remote worker using this structure, with clients abroad and costs of 15% of revenue.
Georgia tax residency: the 183-day test
Georgia has a single day test and no second test based on your home or family. Under Article 34 of the Tax Code, you are resident for the whole tax year if you were in Georgia for 183 days or more in any continuous 12-month period ending in that year. Any part of a day counts as a full day. The only other route is high net worth residency, which the Minister of Finance grants case by case.
One detail in the same article surprises people: time spent outside Georgia specifically for treatment, leisure, a business trip or education counts as time in Georgia. A Tbilisi-based freelancer who spends months traveling on vacation can still reach 183 days, because the vacation days can count.
Georgia's income tax rates in 2026
How Georgia taxes an individual's income, 2026
| Income | Rate | Tax Code rule |
|---|---|---|
| Fees and salary for work done in Georgia, no special status | 20% | Article 81 |
| Individual entrepreneur with small business status, gross income up to GEL 500,000 (about $192,000) a year | 1% of turnover | Article 90(1) |
| Small business status, from the month gross income passes GEL 500,000 | 3% until December 31 | Article 90(2) |
| Micro business: working alone, no staff, gross income up to GEL 30,000 (about $11,500) a year | 0% | Articles 84 and 86 |
| A resident's foreign dividends, interest, gains and other foreign-source income | 0% (exempt) | Article 82(1)(u) |
| Dividends from a Georgian company | 5% withheld at source | Article 130(1) |
Small business status is why Georgia is on most shortlists, and the arithmetic is short. At the National Bank of Georgia rate, $100,000 of fees is GEL 260,800, and 1% of that is GEL 2,608 (about $1,000), with no deduction for costs. There is no compulsory social contribution either: the funded pension is voluntary for the self-employed, at 4% of income for those who join.
The status has limits. From the month gross income passes GEL 500,000 (about $192,000), the rate is 3% until the end of the year under Article 90(2), and after 2 calendar years above that line the status is revoked from the next January 1. The Government can also bar activities from the status, and consulting is on its list.
An individual entrepreneur on the 1% status registers twice: first as an entrepreneur at the Public Registry, then with the Revenue Service, which issues the small business status certificate. Since March 1, 2026, a foreigner without permanent residence needs the right to work, applied for on the State Employment Support Agency's portal, before paid or entrepreneurial activity in Georgia, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since April 15, 2026, that step no longer applies to work for a non-resident client that is connected with the client's activity outside Georgia, under Article 1(4)(l) of the Law on Labour Migration, so an individual entrepreneur whose clients are all abroad needs no right to work; a single Georgian client brings it back for that work.
Holding the right to work, or working only for clients abroad, also opens the way to a work residence permit, issued for 6 months to 1 year at first and renewable. Article 5 of Government Ordinance No 520 sets the bar: annual turnover of at least GEL 50,000 (about $19,200) per foreign applicant at the business you work for or run, your own individual entrepreneur registration included, and monthly income of at least 5 times Georgia's subsistence minimum.
David's note
The activity you write on the registration has to match what your contracts and invoices say, and both have to sit outside the barred list. I would settle that before registering, never after: registration is quick, but a status revoked for a barred activity reaches back to January 1 and takes the whole year to 20%.
Foreign income vs work done in Georgia
Georgia is territorial, but the line runs through where work is done, not where clients are. Under Article 104 of the Tax Code, services actually rendered in Georgia are Georgian-source income, whoever pays for them. A Georgian resident's services to a client in another country are Georgian-source as well, unless a permanent establishment abroad delivers them. What residency adds is the exemption for everything else: a resident's income without a Georgian source, such as dividends from a foreign company or gains on foreign shares, is tax-free.
"I'll stay under 183 days and owe Georgia nothing": the version that holds and the one that fails
Holds
You register as an individual entrepreneur, get small business status for software development, spend 200 days a year in Georgia and pay 1% of what you invoice each month. Your foreign dividends are exempt, and the Revenue Service can certify you as resident when your old country asks.
Fails
You spend 170 days in Tbilisi designing websites for US clients, register nothing and assume a non-resident is outside the system. The fees are Georgian-source because the work was done in Georgia, there is no small business status to cap the rate, and the default rate is 20%.
VAT for freelancers in Georgia
Georgian VAT is 18%, and a taxable person must apply to register within 2 business days of passing GEL 100,000 (about $38,300) of taxable supplies in any 12 consecutive months, under Article 165. For most remote freelancers that line never matters, because a service to a business client is supplied where the client is established, so fees billed to companies abroad fall outside Georgian VAT.
Sales to private individuals work the other way. A service to a consumer is supplied where you are established, so an online course or coaching sold to individuals counts toward the threshold even when the buyers live abroad.
What an individual entrepreneur files in Georgia
Georgia filing checklist for an individual entrepreneur
- Register as an individual entrepreneur and get small business status before your first invoice, so the 1% applies from the first fee.
- File the small business return and pay the 1% by the 15th of the month after each accounting month, under Article 93 of the Tax Code.
- Keep the special book of records the Revenue Service requires and a copy of every invoice you issue or receive.
- Track gross income against GEL 500,000 (about $192,000) for the calendar year, and taxable supplies against GEL 100,000 (about $38,300) on a rolling 12 months for VAT.
- Count your days: 183 in any continuous 12-month window makes you resident for the whole year, and a residency certificate from the Revenue Service is what your old country will ask for.
- Check that every client is a non-resident buying for its activity outside Georgia; if any client is Georgian, apply for the right to work before you invoice that client.
Ways to move to Georgia
Special tax regimes in Georgia
Individual entrepreneur with small business status
A registered individual entrepreneur with small business status pays 1% of Georgian-source gross income. Once gross income in a calendar year passes GEL 500,000 (about $192,000), income from that month to year end is taxed at 3%, and the status is revoked from the next January after 2 calendar years above GEL 500,000.
Open to new applicants. Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026
Micro business status
A natural person working alone, with no hired staff and gross income up to GEL 30,000 (about $11,500) a year, pays no income tax on that activity.
Open to new applicants. Source: matsne.gov.ge, checked September 29, 2026
High net worth individual tax residency
Georgia can grant tax residency with no minimum days to wealthy individuals, decided each tax year by the Minister of Finance. Conditions were set by Joint Order 991-250 of December 31, 2010.
Open to new applicants. Lasts up to 1 year. Source: oecd.org, checked September 28, 2026. Primary but 2017; Andersen reports a USD 500,000 Georgian property condition added later
Running your own company while living in Georgia
Georgia has no controlled foreign company rules, so a resident who owns a foreign company is not taxed on its profits as they build up, and its dividends reach a resident tax-free as foreign-source income. The exception is management: a foreign company run from Georgia can become a Georgian enterprise for profit tax, and its dividends then lose the foreign-source exemption.
Residents usually compare 3 structures:
Individual entrepreneur, Georgian LLC or foreign company run from Georgia
| What matters | Individual entrepreneur, small business status | Georgian LLC | Foreign company run from Georgia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax on the business | 1% of turnover up to GEL 500,000 a year, 3% above | 0% on profit kept, 15% on profit distributed (grossed up) | Georgian profit tax if it counts as managed from Georgia |
| Tax when money reaches you | None, it is already yours | 5% dividend tax, about 19.25% in total with profit tax | 0% if genuinely foreign, 5% if it counts as Georgian |
| Costs deductible | No | Yes | Under the rules of the country of formation |
| Card payments through Stripe | Not available for Georgia | Not available for Georgia | Available if that country is supported |
A Georgian LLC formed by a non-resident needs no local director or shareholder, costs GEL 200 (about $77) to register at the Public Registry in 1 working day, and pays profit tax only when profit leaves the company. Paid out in full, profit tax of 15% on the grossed-up distribution plus the 5% dividend tax takes about 19.25% of profit, against about 1.18% of profit for an individual entrepreneur with costs of 15%, so a freelancer who spends what they earn is usually better off with the 1% status.
IT businesses have 1 more option. A Georgian LLC with Virtual Zone status pays no profit tax on profit from IT it develops and supplies outside Georgia, even when that profit is distributed; the owner still pays the 5% dividend tax.
US citizens living in Georgia
Georgia is on the IRS list of income tax treaty countries, but the US taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, so an American in Tbilisi still files a US return. The foreign earned income exclusion shelters up to $132,900 of 2026 earnings, or a credit can be claimed for Georgian tax paid on work done in Georgia.
Georgia is not among the 31 countries with a US totalization agreement, so a self-employed American owes 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit, about $14,130 on $100,000, and the IRS states that the exclusion does not reduce it. Next to that, the 1% Georgian tax is the small line on the bill.
The costliest Georgia mistake: using the 1% status for a barred activity
A barred activity costs you the 1% for the whole year
Consulting, legal, audit, medical and architectural work are on the Government's list of activities barred from small business status. If you run a barred activity under the status, it is revoked from the start of that calendar year under Article 89(4) of the Tax Code, so every fee since January 1 falls back to the 20% rate. On $100,000 of fees with costs of 15%, that is about $17,000 of tax instead of about $1,000.
Check the activity against the list before you register, describe it the same way on the registration, your contracts and your invoices, and keep the 2-year rule in view: a business above GEL 500,000 (about $192,000) for 2 calendar years in a row loses the status from the following January 1.
Who Georgia suits, and who it does not
Good fit
- Freelancers and small online businesses in eligible activities with turnover under GEL 500,000 (about $192,000) a year who live in Georgia: 1% of turnover as an individual entrepreneur.
- Investors living off foreign dividends and gains, which are exempt as foreign-source income.
- Nationals of the 94 visa-free countries, who can stay a full year without a permit.
Poor fit
- Consultants, lawyers, auditors and other excluded professions, who pay 20% instead of 1%.
- Businesses above GEL 500,000 (about $192,000) a year for 2 years running, which lose small business status.
- Anyone who needs Stripe for a Georgian entity, or an EU base.
Recent tax and visa changes in Georgia
The Law on Labour Migration stops applying to a foreigner who works or renders services for a non-resident person in connection with that person's activity outside Georgia, so an individual entrepreneur with only foreign clients needs no right to work (Law No. 1509 of April 15, 2026, in force on publication). matsne.gov.ge
Foreigners without permanent residence need the right to work before paid work, including remote work for a local employer, or entrepreneurial activity in Georgia (Government Resolution No. 70 of February 20, 2026 and amendments to the labour migration and aliens laws). norway.mfa.gov.ge
The property value that qualifies for the short-term residence permit rose from more than USD 100,000 to more than USD 150,000 (Law No 863 of June 26, 2025, in force March 1, 2026). matsne.gov.ge
Foreign visitors must hold health and accident insurance for their whole stay (press reports; residence permit holders exempt). georgiatoday.ge
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