Business Accounting in Georgia: Deadlines, Returns, and Where to Go

Once your business in Georgia is registered, the practical questions begin: which returns to file, how often, and where to go in person when your rs.ge account gives no answer. The set of returns depends on your status, and most of them are due every month, even in a month with no revenue.

Who Actually Needs to Keep Books

The requirements scale with the size of the business. A micro business (income up to 30,000 lari a year, no employees) has no duty to keep accounting records, but it must store the primary tax documents it issues or receives. An LLC keeps its books under a standard set by company size: the smallest companies (category IV) follow the simplified SARAS rules, and the rest apply IFRS for SMEs or full IFRS.

The accounting law reaches an individual entrepreneur only once the business outgrows the smallest size category. An ordinary individual entrepreneur, including one with small business status, simply records income and expenses for the tax return and files no financial statements.

The law never requires you to put an accountant on the payroll. In practice, almost everyone who stays in business longer than a few months ends up hiring a local accountant or an outsourcing firm, because working out the filing rules on your own is genuinely hard.

VAT: Every Month, Whatever Your Turnover

Once you are registered as a VAT payer, you file a return every month by the 15th of the following month, even if there was no turnover that month. Filing happens in your rs.ge account, and no separate paper form is needed.

If the 15th falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. A late return of any kind, VAT included, costs 5% of the tax shown in it when the delay is up to 2 months and 10% when it is longer; if the return shows zero tax, this fine is not charged.

Tax paid after the deadline accrues interest at 0.05% a day. Understating tax in a return brings a fine of 10% to 50% of the understated amount, depending on how large the shortfall is.

Small Business Status: Monthly Returns as Well

Small business status (1% of turnover up to 500,000 lari a year) comes with a monthly turnover return, also due by the 15th of the following month. From the month in which turnover passes 500,000 lari until the end of that year, the rate is 3%.

This rule stands apart from VAT: even an individual entrepreneur who is not registered as a VAT payer files the turnover return every month, and the return is still required in a month when not a single client payment came in.

Small business status is not part of registering as an individual entrepreneur in Georgia; you apply for it separately on rs.ge.

LLCs: Tax Arises When Profit Is Distributed, Not by the Calendar

An LLC works differently. Under Georgia's Estonian model, corporate income tax arises not from the mere existence of the company but from an actual distribution of profit. The rate is 15%, and the same tax applies to expenses unrelated to the business, goods and services given away for free, and entertainment expenses above the limit.

The Tax Code requires a monthly corporate income tax return by the 15th of the following month, and in a month without a distribution there is no tax to pay. On dividends paid to an individual, the LLC also withholds 5% tax at source and remits it by the same date.

If the company is registered as a VAT payer, the VAT return is still filed separately every month. This rhythm starts from the moment of LLC registration in Georgia, regardless of how much capital was paid in at that stage.

Payroll: Tax Withholding and Pension Contributions Every Month

Any business with employees becomes a tax agent: it withholds income tax at the flat rate of 20% from every salary in Georgia, remits it on the day the salary is paid, and files the return by the same 15th of the following month as the rest of the monthly reporting.

On top of that sits the mandatory pension scheme: the employee pays 2% of gross salary, which is withheld from their pay, and the employer separately adds another 2% on top of the gross amount. This is a real cost to the employer, not a deduction from anyone's pay, and it is easy to leave out of the budget. From October 15, 2026, an employer who fails to pay the pension contribution faces a fine of 300 lari.

The state adds its own tiered contribution: 2% for a salary up to 24,000 lari a year, 1% from 24,000 to 60,000 lari, and nothing above that. Foreign employees without a permanent residence permit in Georgia are fully excluded from the pension scheme, so only the 20% income tax withholding applies to their salary, and tax residency plays no role here.

The Annual Return for Those Who Report Once a Year

Individual entrepreneurs without small business status, who pay 20% on profit, and micro businesses, which pay no tax (the rate is 0%) but still file, submit one annual income tax return by March 31 of the following year through the rs.ge account. Newcomers often confuse it with the monthly VAT or small business returns, yet these are different regimes with different reporting frequencies.

An individual entrepreneur on the 20% rate also makes advance payments during the year: 25% of last year's tax by May 15, July 15, September 15, and December 15. If there was no taxable income last year, no advances are due.

Financial Statements: A Separate Duty That Is Not About Tax

Besides tax returns, an LLC must file annual financial statements by October 1 of the year after the reporting year. They go to SARAS (the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision) through the reportal.ge portal, not to the tax authority. The required format (simplified, IFRS for SMEs, or full IFRS) depends on company size.

These statements do not go through rs.ge, and they are easy to forget if you track only the tax deadlines.

Where to Go in Person

Nearly everything is handled in the rs.ge account, but for unusual situations the Revenue Service has a service center in Tbilisi, a phone line, and an email address:

• Tbilisi service center: 1 D. Sarajishvili Street, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Hotline: 2 299 299, or +995 32 2 299 299 from a foreign SIM card
• Email: info@rs.ge
• Head office: 16 V. Gorgasali Street