Selling a Georgian flat: the two-year tax rule, now spelled out by the Revenue Service

According to Eurofast's summary of Public Decision No. 143, issued on 14 May 2026, an individual who sells a residential flat, or a house together with its land, within two years of acquiring it pays a reduced 5% tax on the gain. Other property — bare land, commercial premises, warehouses, hotel rooms and rights under preliminary purchase agreements — falls under the standard 20% rate. Gains on residential property held for more than two years are exempt. The gain is the sale price minus the purchase price and documented improvement costs; for inherited or gifted property, the starting value is the market value at the time it was received.

The point many owners will care about most: renting the property out temporarily, or using it as a registered business address, does not cost the seller the two-year exemption. The ruling also sets out when the clock starts. For a home you built yourself, it runs from the completion of ownership registration; after a swap, from the date you acquired title to the new flat. An heir can add the previous owner's holding period to their own, and when a property is split, the resulting parts keep the original acquisition date.

The exemption is meant for ordinary owners, not traders. Where selling property is systematic, or amounts to commercial development, the gain is taxed at the standard 20% and the two-year exemption does not apply. Anyone buying several off-plan units to sell on should take advice on how their activity is likely to be classified before assuming the lower rate or the exemption. Eurofast's summary does not cover the separate tax on rental income, which is a different regime.