Destinations · Georgia
Georgia
One-year visa-free, 1% small-business tax, maximum reward, no treaty safety net.
Tax regime
Australia treaty
Flight from Sydney
Timezone
How Georgia taxes youindicative
Georgia taxes individuals territorially: Georgian-source income at a flat 20%, while foreign-source income of residents is simply exempt, salaries from foreign employers, foreign dividends, interest and most foreign capital gains fall outside the net. The celebrated 1% Small Business Status taxes registered individual-entrepreneur turnover up to GEL 500k (~A$280k) at 1% of revenue. The catch for Australians: work physically performed in Georgia is Georgian-source (so the laptop income is 20% or the 1% regime, not 0%), and there is no Australia treaty, no tie-breaker if the ATO contests your exit.
- Salary
- Flat 20% on Georgian-source income, which includes remote work physically done in Georgia. Register for Small Business Status and qualifying service turnover is taxed at 1% instead.
- Capital gains
- Foreign share gains are exempt as foreign-source. Georgian property held 2+ years sells tax-free; under 2 years, 20% on the gain.
- Dividends & interest
- Foreign dividends and interest: exempt. Georgian-source: 5% final withholding.
- Crypto
- The tax authority has ruled that individuals' gains from selling crypto are exempt (treated as foreign-source). Mining and business-like activity can be taxable. A written advance ruling is cheap and worth getting.
- Social security
- A 2%+2% pension contribution applies to Georgian citizens and permanent residents on local employment; most foreign remote workers are outside it.
No Australia, Georgia tax treaty
This is the blunt version: with no treaty, there is no tie-breaker. If your departure is contested and the ATO decides you remained an Australian resident, you can be fully taxed in both countries on the same income, with no treaty article to rescue you. Your protection is not a document. It is making your non-residency so clear on the facts that the question never gets asked.
It also means Australian-source income you keep (unfranked dividends at 30%, interest at 10% withholding) gets no treaty reduction. Check where you stand with the Residency Risk Quiz before relying on a no-treaty destination.
Visa pathways
Every pathway carries a tax-residency consequence, the row most visa guides leave out. A visa gets you in; it doesn’t decide who taxes you.
One-year visa-free entry
nomadindicativeAustralians can enter visa-free and stay a full 365 days, resetting with a border run. No application, no fee, no income test.
- Family can come
Timeline: ~0 months from application to arrival
Tax residency: Doesn’t change tax residency either way on its own, your facts on the ground (home, family, time) decide.
The most generous entry regime on this list. But a stamp is not status: for the ATO you will want the further step of Georgian tax residency (183+ days, then obtain the residency certificate from the Revenue Service).
Individual entrepreneur + 1% Small Business Status
businessindicativeRegister as an individual entrepreneur in a day, obtain Small Business Status, and pay 1% on service turnover up to GEL 500k/year.
- No family inclusion
Timeline: ~1 month from application to arrival
Tax residency: Establishes treaty residence you can use in the tie-breaker if Australia argues you never left.
The consultant's favourite. Excluded activities exist (consulting classifications matter) and turnover above GEL 500k triggers 3% then loss of status. Pair it with 183+ days for tax residency, noting "enables-tiebreaker" is moot against Australia since there is no treaty.
HNWI tax residency programme
goldenindicativeGeorgian tax residency WITHOUT day-count: prove GEL 3m+ (~A$1.7m) worldwide assets or high income, plus a Georgian income/asset link.
- Assets $1,700,000+
- No family inclusion
Timeline: ~3 months from application to arrival
Tax residency: Gives you the right to live there without automatically making you tax resident locally, holding the visa proves little to the ATO; actually settling does.
A paper tax residency with no physical presence requirement, which is exactly why it impresses the ATO not at all. Useful as a supplement to genuine relocation, dangerous as a substitute.
Work/entrepreneur residence permit
workindicativeRenewable residence permit off the back of Georgian employment or entrepreneurial activity (modest turnover thresholds ~GEL 50k).
- Family can come
Timeline: ~2 months from application to arrival
Tax residency: Doesn’t change tax residency either way on its own, your facts on the ground (home, family, time) decide.
Worth getting once settled: a residence permit plus lease plus local tax filings is the documentary trail that shows a genuine departure from Australia.
What Tbilisi costsindicative
Typical expat defaults in AUD, the same figures the Break-Even Calculator pre-fills for Georgia. Treat them as comparison-grade, not budget-grade.
| Rent, family home in Tbilisi (per month) | est. $1,800indicative |
| Rent, 1, 2br couple/single (per month) | est. $1,100indicative |
| International school (per child, per year) | est. $12,000indicative |
| Private health, family (per year) | est. $3,000indicative |
| Private health, single (per year) | est. $1,000indicative |
| One-off relocation (movers, flights, deposits) | est. $10,000indicative |
| Return flight home (per person) | est. $2,400indicative |
| Day-to-day cost index vs Sydney (ex-rent) | 40%indicative |
Honest downsides
- No Australia treaty: if the ATO decides you never ceased residency, Georgia's 1% receipts do not save you. There is no tie-breaker, and you will owe full Australian tax with tiny credits.
- Political volatility is real, mass protests, EU-accession whiplash and Russia next door; the risk premium is not theoretical.
- Healthcare and international schooling are the weakest on this list; families with medical needs should look elsewhere.
- English penetration is low outside the expat bubble; Georgian is a language you will not learn quickly, and bureaucracy runs in it.
- Banking access has become jumpier, enhanced compliance checks on foreigners' accounts can freeze your setup at the worst moment.
What most people miss about Georgia
- The 1% regime taxes turnover, not profit, and only qualifying activities, misclassify consulting income and the Revenue Service can reassess at 20% with penalties.
- Territorial exemption plus no treaty means Australian-kept income (rent, unfranked dividends at 30% WHT) gets zero Georgian relief. Nothing to credit, no tie-breaker to argue.
- A year of "residence" spent mostly outside Georgia fails the 183-day test, no Georgian tax residency certificate, and your ATO exit case rests on nothing.
- Paying 1% total tax is a red-rag fact pattern in an ATO residency review: the lower your worldwide tax, the harder they look at whether you really left.
Run your numbers for Georgia
These open with Georgia already set as your destination, your answers stay in this browser.