Paying money out of Georgia: 5% on dividends, 10% on services, 15% to a blacklisted jurisdiction

For Georgian-source income paid to a non-resident enterprise that does not operate through a permanent establishment here, the summary lists 5 percent on dividends, interest and royalties; 10 percent on services rendered in Georgia, on international transport and communications, and on other Georgian-source income; 4 percent for oil and gas subcontractors; and zero on insurance and reinsurance. Payments of interest, royalties or other Georgian-source income to non-residents registered in jurisdictions the Ministry of Finance treats as blacklisted carry 15 percent instead.

The obligation to deduct and remit sits with the Georgian payer acting as tax agent — the company, or in some cases the individual, writing the cheque. That is the structural point most owners miss: if you engage a foreign design studio, a foreign marketing agency or an offshore lender and pay the invoice in full, the tax is still owed, and it is owed by you rather than by them. For individuals renting out property, the same framework explains why a non-resident landlord is taxed differently depending on whether the payer has a withholding obligation.

Georgia has a wide treaty network, and several treaties reduce the dividend rate to zero — the summary names Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Malta, Qatar, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates among them, with other rates varying by treaty and by ownership threshold. A reduced rate is not automatic: it has to be claimed, with residence documentation for the recipient, and the Georgian payer remains the party answering for it. Anyone structuring cross-border payments should check the specific treaty article against the specific payment with an adviser rather than relying on a rate they remember.