VAT at 100,000 lari is a rolling test, not a calendar year
Georgia's VAT registration threshold is 100,000 lari of taxable supplies in any twelve consecutive months, so the clock does not reset on 1 January. The standard rate is 18%. A September guide notes the application is due within two business days of crossing the line, and that liability attaches to the very transaction that takes you over. It also flags a VAT invoice confirmation mechanism the Revenue Service announced for 1 October 2026.
Twelve consecutive months, counted backwards from today
The common mistake is to treat the 100,000 lari line as an annual allowance that starts fresh each January. It does not. The test looks at any twelve consecutive months, so a business that billed 60,000 lari in the second half of one year and 45,000 in the first half of the next has crossed the line even though neither calendar year on its own reached 100,000. For anyone running short-lets, a tour operation or a consultancy out of Georgia, that means the relevant figure is a rolling total you should be able to produce at any moment, not a year-end number.
Two business days, and the transaction itself counts
The guide puts the registration application within two business days of exceeding the threshold, and says VAT liability arises from the transaction that caused the crossing, that transaction included. The practical consequence is that the invoice which tips you over should already carry VAT thinking, because you cannot register retroactively and then pretend the deal happened before the line. If you are anywhere near the figure, the sensible move is to know your rolling total before you issue the next invoice rather than after.
Buying services from abroad can create a bill
The reverse charge is the part that surprises people. Where a non-resident supplier with no fixed establishment in Georgia provides services treated as supplied in Georgia, the Georgian recipient may have to calculate and report the VAT itself. A VAT-registered recipient using those services for taxable activity can often deduct it, but a recipient who is not registered can still owe the payment. If your Georgian company pays foreign software, marketing or professional fees, that is the rule to check with an accountant before the year closes rather than after.
An announced change worth watching
The Revenue Service announced an invoice confirmation mechanism from 1 October 2026, under which invoices left unconfirmed past the fifth day of the following month could temporarily limit access to portal services other than the invoice modules. The guide, written in September, says it had not located a published legal act setting out all the procedural detail, so the honest position is that the direction is clear and the fine print may not be. If you issue or receive Georgian VAT invoices, check the current procedure on the Revenue Service portal or with your accountant rather than relying on any summary, including this one.
Written by us from the source linked above, not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures and rules change — confirm anything that matters before acting on it.
