How to Form a Company in Georgia
Company formation in Georgia takes from a few hours to one day, needs no share capital and does not require the founder to travel. The hard parts come before and after it: choosing the legal form and tax regime, drafting the founding documents and, above all, opening the bank account. LTA lawyers have been forming companies in Georgia since 2018 and stay with you at every step — from the first consultation to a working bank account.
Choosing a legal form: LLC, JSC or Individual Entrepreneur
The Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs, in force in its new wording since 1 January 2022, provides six legal forms. Five of them are legal entities:
- limited liability company (LLC) — the usual choice for foreign founders;
- joint stock company (JSC);
- general partnership;
- limited partnership;
- cooperative.
The sixth is the individual entrepreneur (IE) — not a legal entity but a person registered to do business. An IE can obtain small business status and pay 1% of turnover up to GEL 500,000 a year; see our article on individual entrepreneur registration in Georgia.
How to register an LLC in Georgia, step by step
- We match the legal form and tax regime to your business.
- We check that the company name you want is available.
- We settle the activities, the director and the legal address.
- We draft the charter and, if you register remotely, the power of attorney.
- We file with the National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) and see the registration through.
- You receive the registry extract. State registration is also tax registration: the company's identification code is its tax number.
- We open the company's bank account.
Forming a company remotely
You do not have to come to Georgia. We register the company under a power of attorney that you sign before a notary at home and have apostilled, then send us the original. From the moment we hold the documents, registration takes one day.
Founders and directors of a Georgian company can be citizens of any country or foreign legal entities — there are no restrictions on nationality or on the number of directors.
Company taxes in Georgia
The standard profit tax rate is 15%, VAT is 18% and personal income tax on salaries is 20%. Profit tax is charged on distributed profit: while the company reinvests its earnings, no profit tax arises. Special regimes apply to certain activities, provided their conditions are met:
- free industrial zone entity — 0% profit tax and 0% dividend tax;
- virtual zone entity for IT — 0% profit tax and 5% dividend tax;
- international company — 5% profit tax, 0% dividend tax and 5% income tax on salaries;
- individual entrepreneur with small business status — 1% of turnover up to GEL 500,000 a year.
Which regime fits your business, and what presence in Georgia the Revenue Service will expect, is what we work out at the first consultation. For the detail, read our article on company registration and tax regimes in Georgia.
A bank account for the new company
Registering a company in Georgia is easy; the account is the hard part. Banks ask what the company does and how it is connected to Georgia — employees, an office, counterparties, clients. When the founder is not a Georgian resident, opening the account takes from a week to a month. We prepare the documents and pre-clear the application with the bank, which lowers the risk of refusal — see opening a bank account in Georgia.
What LTA's company formation service includes
- advice on the legal form and tax regime;
- company name check;
- the charter and all founding documents, including the power of attorney;
- filing and seeing the registration through;
- a legal address in Tbilisi;
- opening the company's bank account;
- accounting and tax reporting after registration.
