Georgia's tax system looks simple from the outside. Low rates, a 1% regime for small businesses, an online portal that does most of the arithmetic for you. Then the first filing month arrives, the portal is in Georgian, and the penalty clock ticks at 0.05% a day. So do you need an accountant in Georgia? Not always. Here is where the line actually sits, and what happens if you get it wrong.
The honest answer in two sentences
No Georgian law requires you to hire an accountant. It requires you to file on time, in Georgian, in the correct form, and to be able to prove your numbers if the Revenue Service asks.
Those are two different obligations, and the gap between them is where most foreign business owners come unstuck. An accountant is one way to close that gap. For a small enough operation, it is not the only way.
What Georgian law actually asks of you
The Tax Code of Georgia does not care who prepares your return. It cares when the return lands and whether the number on it is right.
The monthly layer
Three obligations cluster on the 15th of the following month, and between them they catch almost every active business.
VAT declarations come first. The VAT accounting period is a calendar month, and a registered taxpayer must submit the declaration and pay by the 15th of the next month under Article 168. VAT itself sits at 18%.
Payroll is second. Any company paying salaries files a monthly return on the amounts paid and the tax withheld, again by the 15th, under Article 153. Georgia withholds personal income tax at source at a flat 20%.
Third, and this one genuinely surprises people: an individual entrepreneur holding the 1% small business status files monthly, not annually. Article 93 sets the deadline at the 15th day of the month following the accounting month. Plenty of freelancers arrive believing they have one form a year to worry about.
Companies taxed on distributed profit under Georgia's Estonian-style regime are carved out of the annual return in Article 153(1)(b) and report on a monthly cycle instead. The profit tax rate is 15%, and dividends paid out to individuals or non-resident companies carry a further 5% at source.
The annual layer
Businesses that do file annually submit an income or profit tax return by 1 April of the following year. Individual entrepreneurs and companies with a calendar-year accounting period also make quarterly advance payments, due 15 May, 15 July, 15 September and 15 December, each at 25% of the prior year's tax.
Then there is the reporting most newcomers have never heard of. Under the Law on Accounting, Reporting and Auditing, enterprises submit financial statements through the state Reportal portal, and the deadline sits at 1 October of the following year. Our guide to annual reporting deadlines in Georgia walks through the submission itself.
Which category you fall into
The supervising body, SARAS, sorts enterprises into four size categories. The category decides your reporting standard and whether an audit is compulsory.
| Category | Total assets | Annual revenue | Average employees | Audit required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Over GEL 50m | Over GEL 100m | Over 250 | Yes |
| II | Up to GEL 50m | Up to GEL 100m | Up to 250 | Yes |
| III | Up to GEL 10m | Up to GEL 20m | Up to 50 | No |
| IV | Up to GEL 1m | Up to GEL 2m | Up to 10 | No |
Category I is triggered by exceeding any one of the three limits. Categories II to IV require all three to be met. Almost every expat-run company in Tbilisi lands in Category IV: no statutory audit, lightest reporting standard, but still a filing.
Being the smallest category removes the audit requirement, not the reporting requirement. A dormant Georgian LLC with zero revenue still submits financial statements by 1 October.
Where you can genuinely handle it yourself
Some setups are simple enough that a monthly retainer is money you do not need to spend. The variable is rarely revenue. It is the number of moving parts.
| Your setup | Filings you face | DIY realistic? | What usually goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual entrepreneur, 1% status, no staff | Monthly turnover return, annual filing | Yes, with discipline | Missing that the return is monthly |
| LLC, no employees, foreign clients only | Monthly profit reporting, annual statements | Borderline | Non-business expenses treated as distributed profit |
| LLC with Georgian employees | Payroll withholding, pension, monthly returns | No | Payroll classification and contribution errors |
| VAT-registered trading company | Monthly VAT, invoices, deductions | No | Late registration, broken input VAT chain |
| Property held in a company, or two entities | All of the above, plus intercompany | No | Transfers recharacterised as taxable |
If you are on the fence, our side-by-side on DIY bookkeeping versus hiring out runs the same comparison with hours and costs attached.
The three things that break DIY
The Revenue Service portal is Georgian. There is no full English interface, and machine translation of a tax form is a poor way to spend a Tuesday. That alone pushes most foreigners toward help.
Georgian bookkeeping expects a paper trail in a particular shape. Tax invoices, source documents and a records book are not optional extras. The bookkeeping requirements for a Georgian LLC are specific, and reconstructing them a year late is expensive.
VAT registration has a two-business-day window. Once your taxable supplies pass GEL 100,000 across any 12 consecutive calendar months, Article 165 gives you two business days to apply. Not two weeks. We cover the mechanics in our guide to VAT registration rules.
What getting it wrong actually costs
Georgia is relaxed about setting up a business and unsentimental about collecting from one. The Tax Code prices mistakes explicitly.
Late filing runs at 5% of the tax due for each overdue month while the delay is under two months, capped at 30%, and 10% once the delay passes two months. Unpaid tax accrues penalty interest at 0.05% for every overdue day, which is roughly 18% a year. Understating tax on a return carries a fine of 50% of the understated amount, with lighter treatment for small discrepancies.
Understating tax on a filed return can cost 50% of the shortfall, separate from the tax and the daily interest. A guessed number on a Georgian return is not a cheap placeholder, and the fine applies whether the error was deliberate or not.
Set that against a monthly accounting retainer and the arithmetic usually resolves itself. We break the fees down in what accounting actually costs in Georgia, but for a small company the annual retainer is often less than a single avoidable penalty.
What a Georgian accountant is really buying you
Not data entry. You can do data entry. You are buying three things you cannot easily produce yourself.
The first is the Georgian-language interface to the state. Your accountant holds portal access, files in the right form and answers the Revenue Service when a query lands.
The second is classification judgement. Georgia's distributed-profit model taxes expenses not related to economic activity as though they were dividends. Whether your laptop, your co-working desk or your trip to Batumi counts is a judgement call, and it is the single most common place foreign-owned companies lose money.
The third is the calendar. Somebody whose job it is to remember the 15th, 1 April and 1 October, without you having to.
We research the accountants working in Tbilisi and rank the ones worth paying. Independently researched, re-checked quarterly, free to read.
See the ranked list
How to check an accountant is actually registered
This is the step almost nobody takes, and it takes four minutes.
Every firm providing accounting services in Georgia is required to register with SARAS, and the register is public. When we checked in July 2026 it listed 391 registered accounting firms, searchable by name, registration number and tax ID. If the firm quoting you is not in there, ask why.
There is a second register for individuals. The certified accountants register listed 971 people at the same date, with certificate numbers and current workplace. Certification is not compulsory to do bookkeeping, so its absence is not disqualifying, but its presence is a real signal.
Then ask two questions in writing: who actually submits the filings, and what happens to your data and portal access if you leave. Firms that answer both cleanly are the ones worth staying with. Our ranked list of vetted Tbilisi accountants applies the same tests.
Accountant, tax advisor or payroll provider
These are three different purchases and the market blurs them. A bookkeeper records and files. A tax advisor structures, which matters if you are weighing residency, dividends or a virtual zone application, and the tax advisors in Tbilisi list is the place to start. Payroll is its own discipline once you have Georgian staff, and dedicated payroll providers often beat a general accountant on cost per employee.
Confirm whether your quoted fee includes the annual financial statement submission to Reportal. It is frequently billed separately, and discovering that in September is not ideal.
Key takeaways
- Georgian law never requires you to hire an accountant. It requires accurate, on-time filings in Georgian.
- The 15th of the month is the deadline that matters most: VAT, payroll withholding and small business status returns all land there.
- The 1% small business status files monthly, not annually. This catches out more freelancers than any other rule.
- Nearly all expat-run companies are Category IV, so no audit, but financial statements are still due by 1 October.
- Late filing, daily interest and the understatement fine stack. The penalties usually exceed a year of retainer.
- One employee, VAT registration or a second entity each move you firmly into needing professional help.
- Check any firm against the public SARAS registers before you sign anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is hiring an accountant legally required in Georgia?
No. Georgian law imposes filing and record-keeping duties on the business, not a duty to engage a professional. You may prepare and submit everything yourself if you can do it in Georgian and on time. The obligation, and the penalty, stay with you either way.
Can I file Georgian tax returns in English?
Not through the standard route. The Revenue Service portal and the declaration forms operate in Georgian, with no full English equivalent. Most foreign owners either learn the specific screens they need or hand portal access to an accountant. This language barrier is the most common practical reason people hire help.
When is the monthly tax filing deadline in Georgia?
The 15th day of the month following the accounting month. VAT declarations sit there under Article 168 of the Tax Code, payroll withholding returns under Article 153, and small business status returns under Article 93. Payment is due in the same window as the filing.
Does an individual entrepreneur on 1% status need an accountant?
Often not, if there are no employees and the income is straightforward. The catch is that the small business return is monthly rather than annual, and a records book must be maintained. Many IEs manage it alone for a year and then hire someone once volume or client complexity rises.
What happens if I file a Georgian tax return late?
The Tax Code charges 5% of the tax due for each overdue month while the delay is under two months, capped at 30% of the amount. Past two months, the rate rises to 10%. Unpaid tax also accrues penalty interest at 0.05% per day. The two run alongside each other.
Does my Georgian LLC need an audit?
Almost certainly not. Statutory audit applies to Category I and Category II enterprises. Categories III and IV are exempt unless other legislation says otherwise, and a typical foreign-owned Tbilisi company with assets under GEL 1m falls into Category IV.
When are financial statements due in Georgia?
By 1 October of the year following the reporting period, submitted through the state Reportal system. Enterprises with a non-calendar reporting period get nine months from period end. The obligation applies to all four size categories, including dormant companies.
Do I still need an accountant if my company has no activity?
A dormant company still has filing obligations, including the annual financial statement submission. The work is small, so many owners handle it themselves or pay a reduced dormant-company fee. Skipping it entirely is what creates problems later, particularly when you try to close or sell the company.
How do I check if a Georgian accountant is qualified?
Search the two public SARAS registers. One covers accounting firms, which are required to register, and the other covers certified accountants with certificate numbers. Certification is not mandatory for bookkeeping work, so treat its absence as a question rather than a disqualification.
When must I register for VAT in Georgia?
Once your taxable supplies exceed GEL 100,000 over any 12 consecutive calendar months, Article 165 requires you to apply within two business days. The liability to charge VAT starts with the transaction that crosses the threshold, not from the registration date. Missing the window is a common and expensive error.
Are these figures still current?
The rates and deadlines here come from the Tax Code and SARAS guidance as published, and Georgian tax rules are amended regularly. Treat them as a starting point rather than advice for your situation, and confirm anything material with a practising accountant before you act on it.