Does Georgia tax foreign income?

No. Georgia operates a territorial system, so income arising outside the country is outside the tax net for a resident individual, whether or not it is brought in.

Does Georgia have a tax treaty with the United States?

Not according to the IRS in-force treaty table. There is no treaty tie-breaker if both countries claim you as resident, and no reduced withholding on US-source income.

Can I keep my US LLC if I move to Georgia?

Yes — owning it is not the issue. The issues are how Georgia classifies it, whether managing it from Georgia makes it tax resident there, and whether your activity creates a taxable presence for it. Resolve those with a local adviser before you become resident.

All destinations

Relocation guide

Moving to Georgia: residence, tax and your company

Georgia is on most shortlists for the tax treatment. The parts that decide whether it works are the presence conditions, the entity question and the exit from where you are now.

The short answer

Tax residence in Georgia is determined by more than 183 days in any rolling twelve-month period. A separate high-net-worth route grants tax residence without the day count, subject to asset or income thresholds and a Georgian-source income condition. Georgia operates a territorial system, so foreign-source income of a resident is outside the tax net. The residence permit and the tax residence are separate things, granted by different authorities on different tests.

Two separate questions get collapsed into one whenever people write about moving to Georgia. The first is whether you are allowed to be there, which is immigration. The second is whether the tax authority counts you as resident, which is tax. They are decided by different bodies on different tests, and having the first does not give you the second.

This page keeps them apart, and states the facts that are specific to Georgia rather than the ones that are true everywhere.

The facts specific to Georgia


Usual route in	Visa-free entry of up to one year for many nationalities, with residence permits available for work, investment or high-net-worth applicants
Indicative cost	Minimal for the visa-free year; the residence permits carry ordinary application fees
Time to obtain	Immediate for visa-free entry; weeks for a permit
Presence needed to keep the permit	Nothing for the visa-free year beyond leaving and returning. Permits carry their own conditions
Domestic tax residence test	More than 183 days in any rolling twelve-month period. A separate high-net-worth route grants tax residence without the day count, subject to asset or income thresholds and a Georgian-source income condition
Basis of taxation	Territorial
US income tax treaty	No treaty listed as in force
CFC rules affecting resident individuals	None applying to individuals
Treatment of a US LLC	No settled published position
Route to citizenship	Ten years, and genuinely difficult. Dual citizenship requires a presidential exception rather than being available as of right
Dual nationality	Not permitted

Immigration and tax positions for Georgia, last checked August 2026, taken from the sources listed at the foot of this page. Immigration thresholds in particular change every few years and several routes in this set have been rewritten recently. Verify before acting, and take advice on your own facts.

Getting the residence

The route most founders use is visa-free entry of up to one year for many nationalities, with residence permits available for work, investment or high-net-worth applicants. Timeline: immediate for visa-free entry; weeks for a permit. Cost: minimal for the visa-free year; the residence permits carry ordinary application fees.

Keeping it is a separate condition from getting it. Here: nothing for the visa-free year beyond leaving and returning. Permits carry their own conditions. That number is the one to plan travel around, and it is frequently different from the number that decides your tax position.

When you become tax resident

The domestic test is this: more than 183 days in any rolling twelve-month period. A separate high-net-worth route grants tax residence without the day count, subject to asset or income thresholds and a Georgian-source income condition.

What being resident here costs

Georgia taxes Georgian-source income for individuals. Foreign-source income of a resident individual is exempt, and a separate small-business regime taxes local turnover at a low flat rate.

This is the cleanest arrangement available and the reason most founders look at Georgia. Income arising outside the country is outside the tax net, with no remittance question attached — so what you bring in, and when, does not change the answer.

What happens to your company

There is no clearly settled published position on how Georgia classifies a US LLC. That is the honest answer for most of the world, and it means the question has to be resolved with a local adviser on your facts rather than assumed from how the IRS treats it.

There are no controlled-foreign-company rules applying to resident individuals here, which removes one of the three doctrines that usually catch founders. The other two still apply: your company can become tax resident where it is managed from, and it can create a taxable presence through what you do there. The distinction between them is worth being precise about.

The treaty position

The IRS in-force treaty table does not list a treaty with Georgia. There is therefore no treaty tie-breaker available if the United States and Georgia both claim you, and no reduced withholding on US-source payments. For a founder with US income or a US entity, that is a material fact and it is routinely assumed away.

Banking

Historically the most accessible in this set, and materially tighter since 2022. Accounts are still openable in person, but onboarding takes longer and declines are more common than the older guides suggest.

Whatever you open locally, the account-opening form will ask which countries you are tax resident in and will report accordingly — see what your bank reports. The general picture across jurisdictions is here.

Where the route ends

Citizenship: ten years, and genuinely difficult. Dual citizenship requires a presidential exception rather than being available as of right. Dual nationality is not permitted, which for most readers makes the citizenship route academic rather than real.

The years only count if the permit you hold is a reckonable one and you are actually present for the required part of it — the two clocks run separately, and only one of them appears in most marketing.

What goes wrong in Georgia

The order to do this in

Settle the exit first. What it takes to stop being resident where you are now, and whether leaving triggers an exit charge. This is the half that decides the bill.
Resolve the company question before you land, not in your first filing season — classification, management and any local registration obligation.
Get the permit, and diarise the presence condition that keeps it alive.
Register with the tax authority and meet the domestic residence test deliberately rather than incidentally.
Request the certificate of tax residence for the first full year, and every year after. It is the document every other party in this story will ask you for.
Record presence contemporaneously — entry and exit dates, per country. Both the permit and the tax position depend on it, and neither can be reconstructed convincingly from memory.

The move, tracked rather than remembered

Presence by country, residence status, permit conditions and the filings each one creates — recorded from the day you land so the position you rely on is evidenced.

See how residency works

Frequently asked questions

When do you become tax resident in Georgia?: More than 183 days in any rolling twelve-month period. A separate high-net-worth route grants tax residence without the day count, subject to asset or income thresholds and a Georgian-source income condition. This is decided by the tax authority under domestic law and is separate from holding a residence permit, which is an immigration matter.
Does Georgia tax foreign income?: No. Georgia operates a territorial system, so income arising outside the country is outside the tax net for a resident individual, whether or not it is brought in.
Does Georgia have a tax treaty with the United States?: Not according to the IRS in-force treaty table. There is no treaty tie-breaker if both countries claim you as resident, and no reduced withholding on US-source income.
Can I keep my US LLC if I move to Georgia?: Yes — owning it is not the issue. The issues are how Georgia classifies it, whether managing it from Georgia makes it tax resident there, and whether your activity creates a taxable presence for it. Resolve those with a local adviser before you become resident.

Sources

Immigration routes, presence conditions, residence tests and tax treatment were taken from the authorities above and last checked in August 2026. Immigration thresholds in this area change every few years and several of these routes have been rewritten recently — verify before acting, and take advice on your own position.

Residency information is general and for orientation only. Eligibility, timelines and outcomes are determined by the relevant authorities, and applications are handled by licensed local partners.