Accounting Services in Georgia: A Complete Guide for Foreign Business Owners
If you run a company in Georgia and your business language is English, you will eventually hit the same wall every foreign founder hits: the tax declarations are monthly, the deadlines are unforgiving, and the entire Revenue Service portal (rs.ge) is in Georgian. This is the single most common reason foreign-owned businesses look for accounting services in Georgia – not because the tax rates are complicated, but because the compliance is, and it happens in a language and a system you weren’t built to read.
The good news: Georgia’s tax framework is genuinely one of the simplest and most favourable in the region. The catch: “simple rules” and “easy to comply with from abroad” are not the same thing. This guide explains exactly what accounting services a foreign-owned business in Georgia needs, what the local tax system actually requires of you, the mistakes that cost foreigners money, and how to choose an accounting partner that works in your language.
Why foreign businesses set up in Georgia in the first place
Most foreigners arrive in Georgia for the tax environment, and it lives up to the reputation. A quick map of what you’re actually dealing with:
- Corporate Income Tax (CIT) – 15%, but only on distributed profit. Georgia uses the Estonian model: as long as profit stays inside the company and is reinvested, CIT is 0%. The 15% is triggered only when you pay out dividends. A company that earns 300,000 GEL and reinvests all of it pays no corporate tax that year.
- Personal Income Tax (PIT) – a flat 20%. No progressive brackets, no local surtax.
- VAT – 18%, with mandatory registration once turnover passes 100,000 GEL in any rolling 12 months. Exports of goods and services to clients outside Georgia are zero-rated.
- Small Business Status – 1%. A registered Individual Entrepreneur can pay just 1% of turnover (instead of 20% income tax) on revenue up to 500,000 GEL per year. This is what makes Georgia a magnet for freelancers, consultants and remote founders.
- Virtual Zone status for IT – 0%. Software and IT companies serving foreign clients can earn 0% corporate tax and 0% VAT on that foreign-sourced income.
We break each of these down in detail on our Taxes in Georgia page. For this guide, the point is simpler: the rates are friendly, the filing is not optional, and that’s where accounting comes in.
What accounting services a business in Georgia actually needs
“Accounting” means different things to different founders. For a foreign-owned company operating in Georgia, the real, recurring scope usually looks like this:
Monthly tax declarations on rs.ge. Georgia is a monthly-filing country, not an annual one. Income tax (on salaries), pension contributions, and once you cross the threshold VAT, are all declared and paid every single month. Miss a month and the Revenue Service applies penalties automatically. This is the backbone of any accounting engagement here.
Bookkeeping. Recording income and expenses, reconciling your bank statements (TBC, Bank of Georgia, or your business account), and keeping a clean ledger that survives a Revenue Service review. For a Small Business Status holder this is light; for an LLC with employees and VAT it is substantial.
VAT management. Tracking the 100,000 GEL threshold so you register on time (you have only 2 business days after crossing it), issuing compliant tax invoices, reclaiming input VAT, and correctly zero-rating your exports. Getting VAT wrong is the most expensive category of error for trading companies.
Payroll. Calculating salaries, withholding the 20% income tax, and handling pension contributions – 2% from the employee and 2% from the employer for Georgian residents and filing it all monthly.
Corporate income tax and dividend handling. Because CIT is event-driven (it fires on distribution), someone has to model when and how you take money out so you don’t trigger 15% unnecessarily. CIT on a distribution is due by the 15th of the following month.
Tax advisory and structure. The highest-value service and the one DIY can’t replicate: which structure fits you (Individual Entrepreneur vs. LLC vs. Virtual Zone vs. International Company Status), how to stay inside Small Business Status, and how Georgia’s territorial system treats your foreign income.
A good accounting company in Georgia delivers all of this as one retainer, in English, so you never open rs.ge yourself.
Georgia’s tax regimes and why the right one saves you the most
Choosing the wrong structure is more expensive than any bookkeeping mistake. The main options:
| Structure | Headline tax | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Entrepreneur + Small Business Status | 1% of turnover up to 500,000 GEL | Freelancers, consultants, solo service providers |
| Micro Business Status | 0% up to 30,000 GEL turnover | Very small / side-income activity |
| LLC (standard) | 15% CIT, only on distributed profit | Trading companies, businesses reinvesting profit |
| Virtual Zone (LLC) | 0% CIT + 0% VAT on foreign IT income; 5% on dividends | Software / IT exporters |
| International Company Status | Reduced CIT and reduced PIT on employees | Larger IT and maritime services firms |
| Free Industrial Zone company | 0% CIT, VAT and customs (within scope) | Manufacturing, re-export, logistics |
Two nuances foreigners routinely get wrong:
- Small Business Status is on turnover, not profit, and there are no deductible expenses. If your costs are high relative to revenue, 1% of gross can be worse than 15% of distributed profit in an LLC. The structure has to match your margin profile.
- Restricted activities. Some professions (parts of consulting, legal and medical work) face limits on the 1% regime. Registering under the wrong activity code quietly disqualifies you, and you find out at the worst possible time.
The compliance traps that catch foreign founders
This is the section nobody tells you about until it costs you. The most frequent and most expensive mistakes we see:
- Treating Georgia like an annual-filing country. It isn’t. Declarations are monthly. A founder who “files at year-end like back home” can rack up a full year of automatic penalties.
- Missing the VAT threshold by accident. You don’t get a warning when you cross 100,000 GEL. You’re expected to know, register within 2 business days, and start charging VAT. Crossing it unnoticed means back-paying VAT you never collected from customers.
- Distributing dividends without modelling the 15% hit. Pulling money out the wrong way, in the wrong month, triggers corporate tax that careful planning would have deferred or avoided.
- Mixing local and foreign income inside a Virtual Zone company. Only foreign-sourced IT income is exempt. Local income is taxed at 15%, and if your records don’t separate the two cleanly, you can lose the status entirely.
- Ignoring the 2026 work and residence rules. As of 2026, foreigners performing paid activity in Georgia generally need the appropriate work and residence authorisation (or a D1 visa). This now interacts with how and when you can register and operate – another reason to have a local professional in the loop before you start.
None of these are exotic. They’re the ordinary friction of running a business in a system that was not designed in your language and they are exactly what an accounting partner exists to absorb.
DIY vs hiring an accounting company in Georgia
Plenty of founders try to self-file through rs.ge or a translation plugin. It can work for a single-person Individual Entrepreneur with a handful of invoices a month. It stops working the moment you add an employee, cross the VAT line, take a dividend, or get a Revenue Service query you can’t read.
The honest decision rule:
- Solo, low volume, Small Business Status, no employees, no VAT > you can DIY, but a low-cost monthly bookkeeping retainer still buys you peace of mind and protects the 1% status.
- An LLC, any employees, VAT-registered, or any cross-border complexity > outsource. The cost of an accounting service is a fraction of one penalty cycle or one mis-structured dividend.
For most foreign-owned companies in Georgia, outsourced accounting isn’t an expense it’s cheaper than the mistakes it prevents.
What to look for in an accounting partner in Georgia
Not every Georgian accounting firm is built to serve foreigners. Use this as your checklist:
- Works in English (and your reality). You should be able to ask questions, get reports, and receive deadline reminders in English – not be handed a Georgian rs.ge screenshot.
- Files directly on rs.ge for you. The firm should own the portal so you never touch it.
- Knows your structure. Experience with Individual Entrepreneurs, LLCs, Virtual Zone and the Estonian-model CIT – not just generic bookkeeping.
- Transparent, fixed monthly pricing. You want a predictable retainer, not surprise hourly bills.
- Remote-friendly. Document exchange, e-signatures and reporting should work whether you’re in Tbilisi or abroad.
- Proactive on deadlines. A real partner warns you before the VAT threshold, before a dividend, before a filing date – not after.
How Countman handles accounting services for foreign-owned businesses
Countman is a Georgian accounting firm built specifically for the way foreign founders operate. We take the entire compliance layer off your desk:
- Monthly bookkeeping and rs.ge declarations – filed for you, on time, every month.
- VAT registration, monitoring and filing – including correct zero-rating of your exports.
- Payroll – salaries, the 20% withholding, and pension contributions, fully handled.
- CIT and dividend planning – so distributions are timed and structured, not improvised.
- Structure and tax advice – Individual Entrepreneur, LLC, Virtual Zone or International Company Status, mapped to your actual margins and goals.
- All of it in English, with clear monthly reporting and a human you can ask.
If you’re setting up, switching accountants, or just tired of guessing at rs.ge, book a free consultation and we’ll tell you exactly what your business needs – and what it doesn’t.
Ready to stop worrying about Georgian tax compliance? Get in touch with Countman for a free, no-obligation review of your setup.
