Moving to Georgia in 2026: 1% for entrepreneurs, territorial taxation and immediate settlement

Georgia taxes on a territorial basis: Article 82 of the Tax Code exempts the foreign-source income of individuals, residents included, so that only their Georgian-source income is taxed. This is the key to understanding everything else, and the reason the country attracts freelancers paid from abroad.

Tax residence is acquired after 183 days³ of presence over a twelve-month period. Personal income tax is proportional, at a rate of 20%⁴, and dividends bear a rate of 5%⁵.

A second route to tax residence exists for wealthy individuals who do not meet the presence condition: the "high-net-worth" tax resident status, provided for by Article 34 of the Tax Code and an order of the Minister of Finance of 1 March 2023. It requires high worldwide assets or annual income, assets located in Georgia and a local link (residence permit, nationality or Georgian-source income), and is confirmed each year. It grants residence and the corresponding certificate, without any additional exemption. We do not give figures for the thresholds: to date they appear only in private professional sources, not in the official text.

The small business status

This is the scheme on which the country's tax reputation rests. A sole proprietor registered under this status is taxed not on profit but on turnover, at a rate of 1%⁶, up to an annual ceiling of up to GEL 500,000⁷.

Above this ceiling, the rate rises to 3%⁸. The approximate equivalent value of the ceiling is about about €170,000⁹: this order of magnitude allows a well-paid freelancer to remain in the regime for several years.

The status is neither automatic nor universal: it requires registration, and certain activities are excluded. A regulated profession or a consulting activity of a particular nature may not qualify, and this should be checked before settling, not afterwards.

Companies

Georgian corporate tax is based on a so-called Estonian model: undistributed profit is not taxed, at a rate of 0%¹⁰, with taxation arising on distribution, at a rate of 15%¹¹.

This model mechanically favours reinvestment. It also changes the nature of the trade-off for a manager: the question is not how much he or she will pay on profit, but when he or she will choose to take it out.

One point deserves emphasis for a French freelancer: Georgian territoriality and the small business status combine poorly with clients who remain in France. If services are provided from Georgia to French clients, the question of the source of the income and that of a possible permanent establishment arise on both sides. The headline rate says nothing about this analysis, which is the real difficulty of the case.

Georgia has made an unusual choice: rather than creating a specific visa for remote workers, it has opened visa-free stays very widely.

Government Ordinance No. 255 of 5 June 2015 approves the list of countries whose nationals may enter without a visa. The note following this list specifies that they may enter and stay for 365 days¹² — a full year, with no prior formalities.

There is therefore no file to prepare before departure, no proof of income to provide, and no visa fee. Authorisation consists of an entry stamp, which explains the rapid settlement of a community of freelancers in Tbilisi and Batumi.

The downside lies in the nature of the text: a government ordinance can be amended without parliamentary procedure. The advantage is real, but it lacks the stability of a right attached to a residence permit issued for a fixed period.

For a lasting settlement, residence permits exist — work, investment, family reunification — and are subject to their own conditions.

The thresholds and conditions of long-term residence permits, notably by investment, do not appear in the official sources we were able to consult: we do not give figures for them.

Finally, it should be noted that the year of stay is assessed per entry: an exit followed by a new entry opens a new period. This flexibility is convenient, but it builds no right to permanent residence, and it does not constitute proof of settlement for a foreign tax authority.

The purchase of a built property by a foreigner is free, with no prior authorisation. The restriction applies to agricultural land, whose acquisition by non-nationals is regulated — an essential distinction for anyone considering a rural project.

The Tbilisi market has seen strong activity, driven by foreign demand and a very dynamic construction sector. The Batumi market, on the Black Sea, follows a different logic, largely seasonal and geared towards short-term rental investment.

Two points of caution, independent of prices. Build quality varies widely in recent developments, and delivery as a shell — without finishes — is a common practice that must be factored into the budget. In addition, the legal status of certain older complexes deserves careful checking.

We do not publish registration duties, Georgian property tax or the taxation of rental income: they do not appear in the Tax Code extracts we have.

The absence of prior authorisation is a real advantage, but it does not remove the need for due diligence. The Georgian public registry is accessible and fast, which makes it possible to verify the chain of title and the existence of encumbrances before committing. It is the most useful precaution, and it costs little.

For income received in euros, Georgia is one of the least expensive destinations in Europe. An official benchmark makes it possible to gauge the scale without relying on self-reported baskets: the average nominal monthly salary of employees, published by the national statistics office, stands at about GEL 2,389.3¹³ in the second quarter of 2026.

This figure does not measure the cost of living of an expatriate, but it situates the economy in which he or she comes to spend, and it explains the perceived gap in services and labour costs.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget or rent levels by neighbourhood: we have not found an official Georgian series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate, and the amounts in circulation come from self-reported databases.

Two items depart from this favourable scale. First, imported goods, whose prices are close to European levels. Second, healthcare: the public system is limited, and foreign residents rely largely on private care, in Georgia or abroad for major procedures.

1. Check that your nationality appears in the annex to Ordinance No. 255: the list is exhaustive, and it is what grants the year of stay;
2. distinguish the right to stay from the right to work: registering an activity is a separate step from entering the territory;
3. check the eligibility of your activity for the small business status before organising yourself around its rate;
4. open a Georgian bank account, a step that requires a more substantial compliance file than it appears;
5. treat the departure from France as a case in its own right — household, centre of economic interests, documentation — before counting on local taxation.

The order matters: the small business status is registered and takes effect for the future. A year of activity carried out before registration does not benefit retroactively from its rate.

We do not publish processing times for activity registration or for residence permits: we have no official, dated and quantified source.

• Staying a year without a visa does not confer tax residence, which requires 183 days³ of presence — and above all settles nothing on the French side.
• The small business status is capped at up to GEL 500,000⁷ of turnover: beyond that, the rate changes and the equation shifts.
• Certain activities are excluded from the status: the check is prior, not retroactive.
• Visa-free stay rests on a government ordinance, which can be revised without parliamentary debate.
• The Georgian passport gives visa-free access to about 122¹⁴: a possible naturalisation would not improve the mobility of a European national.

Finally, the regional geopolitical situation is a parameter of the project, just like a tax rate. It cannot be quantified, but it conditions banking stability, freedom of movement and the value of local real estate holdings. A favourable tax trade-off does not offset a risk of this nature, and it must be weighed for what it is.