Georgia's VAT threshold is 100,000 lari over any rolling twelve months — not over the calendar year

Georgia's standard VAT rate is 18 percent. Registration becomes mandatory once taxable turnover exceeds 100,000 lari in any continuous twelve-month period. Two published summaries describe it the same way, and both stress that the period is not tied to the calendar year. Registration is also mandatory for a single supply of goods or services above that amount, regardless of what the preceding months looked like. Neither source gives a fixed number of days to register after crossing; both describe the obligation as arising promptly, within the statutory period, which is a question to put to the Revenue Service rather than to guess at.

Under a calendar rule, turnover resets on 1 January and the risk is concentrated in the autumn. Under a rolling rule there is no reset: every month you add the new month and drop the one twelve months back, so a strong summer stays in the count until the following summer. A seasonal business — short-stay accommodation, tours, a summer venue — can look safe in a January-to-December view and have crossed the line in, say, the window from last June to this May. The practical habit is a twelve-month running total updated monthly, not an annual check.

Where a Georgian VAT payer buys services from a non-resident supplier that is not VAT-registered in Georgia, the obligation to account for the 18 percent shifts to the Georgian recipient. The examples given are the everyday ones: digital advertising bought from foreign platforms, and similar cross-border services consumed in Georgia. A registered payer can usually credit this as input VAT, so the cash effect may be neutral, but the filing is not optional and the records have to show it. A landlord or operator running bookings through foreign platforms should know whether these invoices fall inside this rule before an audit asks.

Neither source states how residential letting or hotel-type short-stay accommodation is treated for VAT, and neither gives penalty amounts for late registration. One notes only that real estate transactions are exempt under specific conditions and that services to non-resident tourists may be exempt or zero-rated, without saying whether accommodation sits inside those rules. That is a significant gap for anyone letting property here, and it is not a gap to fill with an assumption. The threshold mechanic above is consistent across sources and safe to plan around; the treatment of your particular rental activity needs the Tax Code text or a Georgian adviser.