Your registration certificate arrived the same day you applied. That was the easy part. What you still do not have is a bank account, a tax portal login, a chosen tax regime or a single line of bookkeeping. Most of the expensive mistakes we clean up happen in the four weeks after registering a company in Georgia, not during registration itself. Here is the order we work through, and what each step costs if you skip it.
What registration actually gave you
The Public Service Hall gives you three things: an entry in the entrepreneurial register, an identification number that doubles as your tax number, and a registration extract.
That extract is your proof of existence. Banks, landlords, payment processors and clients will all ask for it, and the Public Registry reissues it on demand.
What you do not have yet: portal access, a bank account, a tax regime, a bookkeeper and a single filed declaration. Each carries a date or a cost. If you have not registered yet, our step-by-step registration walkthrough covers the part that comes before this one.
The first 30 days, in order
| Task | Where it happens | Typical timing | What skipping it costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activate the Revenue Service portal | Revenue Service office or rs.ge | Day 1 to day 3 | Missed declarations and automatic penalties |
| Open a business bank account | Bank branch, director present | Day 2 to week 3 | No clean way to invoice or get paid |
| Choose and apply for a tax regime | Revenue Service | Before your first invoice | Default rates apply to work already billed |
| Check the legal address paperwork | Public Registry | Week 1 | Registry problems and refused bank onboarding |
| Appoint a bookkeeper | Your choice | Week 1 to week 2 | Reconstruction work later, at a higher price |
| File the first monthly declaration | rs.ge portal | The following month | Penalties even on zero revenue |
That table is the whole article. Everything below is the detail behind each row.
Activate your Revenue Service account first
Registration puts you into the tax system automatically. It does not give you the ability to file anything. You need an authorisation for the Revenue Service e-services portal, issued against your company's identification number, and that is a separate request.
Do this before anything else. Tax regime applications, monthly declarations, VAT registration and employee registration all run through that login. Until it exists, your company is visible to the tax authority but silent.
The portal login belongs to the company, not to you personally. If you hand credentials to an accountant, have a separate user created for them rather than sharing the director's account. Changing accountants later is far less painful that way.
Open the bank account before you need it
Georgian banks do onboard foreign-owned companies, but compliance review is real and slower than registration was. Expect the director to attend in person, and expect questions about where revenue comes from and who ultimately owns the company.
Bring more than you think you need: passports for every owner, the registration extract, the charter, a lease or address confirmation, and a plain English description of what the business does. Vague answers about "consulting" are the single most common reason we see an application stall.
Open in GEL plus the currency you actually invoice in. Multi-currency accounts are standard here, and converting every incoming payment twice is a slow leak.
Choose your tax regime before you invoice
This is the decision with the most money attached and it is time-sensitive. Special regimes are granted on application and take effect from a forward date. They do not reach backwards to cover invoices you already issued.
| Regime | Who it fits | Headline treatment | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard LLC | Most trading and service companies | Corporate tax on distributed profit only, plus a withholding on dividends | Full bookkeeping and monthly declarations from day one |
| Small business status | Individual entrepreneurs under the turnover cap | 1% of turnover, rising above the cap | Not available to LLCs, and several activities are excluded |
| Virtual zone person | IT companies serving clients abroad | 0% corporate tax on qualifying IT profit | Substance and evidence tests, dividends still taxed |
| International company | Established IT and maritime services groups | Reduced corporate and payroll rates | Track record and activity tests before status is granted |
Georgia taxes distributed profit rather than accrued profit, so an LLC that reinvests everything pays no corporate tax until money leaves the company. That is genuinely useful, and it is also why owners are surprised the first time they pay themselves a dividend.
If you registered as an individual entrepreneur, the 1% small business status is probably why. Apply for it now, not after your first client pays. If you run an IT company, read how virtual zone status is assessed before assuming you qualify. Owners still weighing the two forms should start with our comparison of LLC versus individual entrepreneur.
Rates and thresholds live in the Tax Code of Georgia and they do change. Confirm the current numbers with one of the tax advisors we rank before you build a plan on them.
Fix the legal address on paper
The Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs requires an entrepreneur's legal address to be an actual address in Georgia, under Article 5. It is not a formality. Registry correspondence, tax notices and court service all go there.
If you used a service address to register, check what you actually bought. A mailbox nobody reads is how companies find out about a tax audit three months late.
The same law requires changes to registered data to be filed with the registry. New director, new address, new owner, new charter: each one is a registry filing, not an internal note. These are cheap to do correctly and tedious to unwind, which is why we keep a ranked list of company registration specialists who handle them as a fixed-fee task.
A Georgian company with no revenue still files. Monthly declarations are due whether or not anything happened, and penalties attach to the missed filing itself, not only to tax owed. We have untangled more than one dormant company that quietly built up a fine over six silent months.
Set up bookkeeping and learn the dates
Georgian tax filing runs on a monthly rhythm. Under the Tax Code, the core monthly returns fall due by the 15th of the month following the reporting month: personal income tax withheld from salaries, VAT once you are registered, and corporate income tax.
| Filing | Frequency | Applies to | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Withholding return on salaries | Monthly | Any company paying wages | Due by the 15th of the following month |
| VAT return | Monthly | VAT-registered companies | Registration is compulsory once turnover crosses the statutory threshold |
| Corporate income tax return | Monthly | LLCs on the standard regime | The return is monthly even when no tax arises |
| Annual financial statements | Annually | Most registered entities | Filed to the state reporting portal |
VAT catches people out because the obligation is triggered by turnover, not by choice, and the window to register once you cross the line is short. Our guide to VAT registration thresholds covers the number and the timing.
Bookkeeping is the one thing worth outsourcing on day one. Reconstructing nine months of records in month ten costs several times what monthly work would have. We rank English-speaking accountants in Tbilisi by what they actually publish about scope and price.
Payroll, if you are hiring
Employment contracts should be in writing, and employees are reported to the Revenue Service through the monthly payroll return. Personal income tax on salaries is withheld at source by the employer, not paid by the employee.
There is also a pension layer. Under the Law of Georgia on Funded Pension, the employer contributes 2% of taxable salary and the employee 2%, with a state contribution on top that tapers as income rises. Whether a particular foreign-national hire falls inside the scheme depends on their status, so confirm that with a payroll provider before your first run.
Directors are not automatically employees. If you are both owner and director, decide deliberately whether you take salary, dividends or both, because the tax treatment differs and retrofitting it is messy.
We research the company registration services working in Tbilisi and rank the ones worth paying. Independently researched, re-checked quarterly, free to read.
See the ranked list
The annual layer
Beyond the monthly cycle sits an annual set. Financial statements go to reportal.ge, the state reporting portal run under the accounting law, and which statements you file depends on the size category your company falls into.
Get that category confirmed in year one rather than discovering it in year three. Companies holding fixed assets also carry annual property tax obligations. Our walkthrough of annual reporting deadlines sets out the calendar.
Five things that quietly cost money in month one
Assuming the company makes you a tax resident
Registering a Georgian company says nothing about your own tax residency. Those are separate tests, and your home country may still treat you as resident.
Applying for a special regime after you invoice
Status applications are forward-looking. Invoices issued before the status is granted are taxed under the default rules, and arguing does not change that.
Running personal spending through the company account
Banks and the Revenue Service both notice. Untangling mixed spending during an audit costs far more than keeping a separate personal account ever would.
Ignoring the charter you never read
The standard charter issued at registration is fine for a single owner. With two or more partners, the default rules on decisions, share transfers and exits are rarely what anybody intended.
Hiring on price alone
Monthly filing is mechanical. Deciding whether a payment is a dividend, a salary, a loan repayment or a reimbursable expense is not, and that is where a cheap bookkeeper costs you money.
Key takeaways
- Registration gives you an identification number and an extract. It does not give you portal access, a bank account or a tax regime.
- Activate the Revenue Service e-services login first. Everything else depends on it.
- Apply for any special tax regime before you issue your first invoice, because status runs forward, not backward.
- Bank onboarding is slower than registration. Bring full documents and a clear explanation of the business.
- Monthly declarations are due even at zero revenue, and penalties attach to the missed filing itself.
- Keep the legal address real and file every change of director, owner or address with the registry.
- Confirm your reporting size category in year one so the annual filings are never a surprise.
FAQ
What is the first thing to do after registering a company in Georgia?
Activate your Revenue Service e-services account. Registration enters you into the tax system automatically but gives you no way to file, apply for a regime or register employees. The authorisation is issued against your company identification number and takes a day or two. Everything else in the checklist depends on having that login.
Do I need a Georgian bank account for my company?
In practice, yes. Georgian clients, tax payments and payroll all run more smoothly through a local account, and some counterparties will not pay a Georgian company into a foreign account. You can hold funds elsewhere as well, but the local account is the operational one. Open it early, because approval takes longer than registration did.
How long does it take to open a company bank account in Georgia?
Anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks, depending on ownership structure and how clearly you can explain your revenue. Single-owner service companies with complete documents move fastest, while complex ownership or high-risk jurisdictions trigger extra review. Bring passports, the extract, the charter and an address document to the first meeting.
Do I have to file tax declarations if my company has no income?
Yes. Monthly declarations are due whether or not the company traded, and the penalty attaches to the missed filing itself rather than only to unpaid tax. Dormant companies still accumulate fines. If you genuinely will not trade for a while, speak to an accountant about the cheapest compliant way to hold the company.
When do I need to register for VAT in Georgia?
Once your taxable turnover crosses the threshold set in the Tax Code, VAT registration becomes compulsory and the window to register is short. It is triggered by turnover, not by choice, and the count runs over a rolling period rather than a calendar year. Track turnover monthly so the crossing never surprises you, and confirm the current threshold with a tax adviser.
Can an LLC use the 1% small business status?
No. Small business status is available to individual entrepreneurs, not to limited liability companies. If the 1% regime is central to your plan, that choice needs to be made at the point you pick a legal form. Certain activities are also excluded from the regime regardless of legal form.
Do I have to pay myself a salary as the director?
Not necessarily. Directors are not automatically employees in Georgia, and many owner-directors take distributions instead of salary. The two are taxed differently, so the choice should be deliberate and documented rather than accidental. Decide it in month one, because changing it retroactively creates payroll corrections.
Does registering a Georgian company make me a Georgian tax resident?
No. Company residency and personal tax residency are separate questions decided by separate rules. Your own residency depends on day counts and other tests, and your home country may continue to treat you as resident. Get personal advice before assuming the company changes your position.
What happens if I change my company's address or director?
You file the change with the Public Registry. The Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs requires registered data to be kept current, so a new director, address, owner or charter is a registry filing rather than an internal decision. Banks also check the registry, so an out-of-date entry can freeze account changes.
Do I need a Georgian accountant, or can I do the filings myself?
You can file yourself, and some single-owner companies do. The portal is functional but largely in Georgian, and the judgement calls around payments, expenses and VAT are where errors get expensive. Most foreign owners we speak to outsource monthly filing and keep only invoicing in-house.
What documents should I keep on file from day one?
Keep the registration extract, the charter, bank details, every issued invoice, every supplier invoice and every bank statement. Georgian tax assessment reaches back several years, so records need to outlive your laptop. A shared folder organised by month is enough, provided somebody actually files into it.