VAT in Georgia: The 18% Rate and When You Must Register

The VAT rate in Georgia is 18%

The VAT rate is 18%, set by Article 166 of the Tax Code. An individual entrepreneur or small company in Tbilisi meets it in two ways. One is registration, once sales pass the threshold or by choice. The other is the reverse charge on services that suppliers not established in Georgia provide in Georgia, which applies whether or not you are registered.

When you must register for VAT

Registration becomes mandatory once your VAT-taxable supplies of goods and services pass GEL 100,000 in any 12 consecutive calendar months. You then have 2 business days to apply to the Georgian Revenue Service, under Article 165(1) of the Tax Code.

The 12 months roll. Every month, the window is that month plus the 11 before it, so it runs straight across the turn of the year. VAT is owed from the transaction that takes the total over GEL 100,000, and that transaction is included, under Article 165(2). It starts with that sale, not with the day you apply.

Small business status does not change this, because an individual entrepreneur on the 1% small business regime who passes the threshold must register for VAT too, under Article 92(1).

Worked example: the month registration becomes due

Say your VAT-taxable sales start in November 2025 and grow each month.

Month	VAT-taxable sales	Running 12-month total
November 2025	GEL 6,000	GEL 6,000
December 2025	GEL 7,000	GEL 13,000
January 2026	GEL 7,500	GEL 20,500
February 2026	GEL 8,000	GEL 28,500
March 2026	GEL 8,000	GEL 36,500
April 2026	GEL 8,500	GEL 45,000
May 2026	GEL 9,000	GEL 54,000
June 2026	GEL 9,000	GEL 63,000
July 2026	GEL 9,500	GEL 72,500
August 2026	GEL 10,000	GEL 82,500
September 2026	GEL 10,500	GEL 93,000
October 2026	GEL 11,000	GEL 104,000

The total passes GEL 100,000 in October 2026. Suppose October’s sales are GEL 4,000 on 5 October, GEL 3,500 on 20 October and GEL 3,500 on 28 October. The running total reaches GEL 97,000 on the 5th and GEL 100,500 on the 20th, so VAT is owed on the 20 October sale and on the 28 October sale after it, and the application is due within 2 business days of the 20th.

Counted by calendar year, the same business had only GEL 91,000 of sales in 2026 by the end of October and would look clear. November and December 2025 are what put it over.

Sales that count towards GEL 100,000

VAT-exempt transactions are left out of the count, under Article 165(7). The exceptions stay in the total even though they are exempt: financial or real estate transactions that are your main activity, exports of goods, and the exemptions in Article 172(1) and (2).

Reverse charge VAT on services from abroad

When a supplier that is not established in Georgia provides a service in Georgia, the Georgian customer taxes it as a tax agent, under Article 161(1)(a). Under the general rule for services, the place of supply is where the customer is established when the customer is a taxable person, which means anyone other than a non-entrepreneur individual, under Article 162.1. So software or advertising bought from abroad by an individual entrepreneur in Tbilisi counts as supplied in Georgia, unless one of the Code’s special place-of-supply rules covers that service.

The tax agent is any person established in Georgia except a non-entrepreneur individual or a free industrial zone enterprise. That catches individual entrepreneurs and companies whether or not they are registered for VAT, and the VAT is charged on the amount paid for the service, under Article 161(2)(a) and (3)(a). If you are not registered, you pay it by the 15th of the month after the reporting period, under Article 168(4), and you cannot credit it back, because only a VAT-registered person can credit input VAT under Article 174(3).

Registering for VAT voluntarily

You can register before you reach the threshold, and under Article 165(6) you are a VAT payer from the day you apply. That brings the right to credit input VAT, at the price of a return every month and at least 1 year before you can ask to cancel, under Article 165.1(1).

Whether it pays depends on the VAT you pay on your own costs, set against the 18% VAT you then owe on your taxable sales. The individual entrepreneur above, paying GEL 243 of reverse charge VAT every month, carries GEL 2,916 a year of VAT they cannot credit while unregistered.

Filing the monthly VAT return by the 15th

The VAT period is the calendar month. Once registered, you file a VAT return and pay the tax by the 15th of the following month, under Articles 167 and 168(1). That is the same day as the other monthly returns in Georgia, including the return on salaries and tax withheld under Article 153(5), the profit tax return under Article 153(10) and the small business return under Article 93(1.1).

A late return is fined 5% of the tax due on it if it is up to 2 months late, under the Georgian text of Article 274(1), and 10% once it is more than 2 months late, under Article 274(2). There is no fine when the tax due is zero, under Article 274(3). Unpaid tax also carries interest of 0.05% for each overdue day, counting the payment day, under Article 272(4).

If you would rather hand the monthly filing to an accountant, several of the Tbilisi accounting firms compared side by side list it as a service. Register in Georgia files monthly VAT, income tax and salary declarations, SGA Accounting prepares income tax, property tax and VAT returns, and Tbilisi Expat files monthly declarations to rs.ge before the 15th and sends the client a confirmation.

Cancelling VAT registration

You can ask the Revenue Service to cancel your registration once your taxable transactions over the last 12 calendar months, excluding VAT, are no more than GEL 100,000 and at least 1 year has passed since you registered, under Article 165.1(1).

Both conditions apply together, so a business that registered in March 2026 can apply in March 2027 at the earliest, and only if the rolling 12-month total is then at or under GEL 100,000.