Georgian VAT on Stripe Digital Services in QuickBooks

A software company in Austin sells a $25 monthly plan. A designer in Tbilisi signs up, then a translator in Batumi, and within a quarter the company has sixty Georgian subscribers. Georgia's Revenue Service treats that company as owing Georgian VAT from the first of them. It does not, however, make the company a Georgian VAT payer. Stripe's Georgia entry quotes the term the tax administration uses for a seller in this position: a "foreign taxable person that pays VAT without an obligation of registration."

That status is the whole story of Georgian VAT for foreign digital sellers. You don't register as a VAT payer and you don't get a Georgian VAT number. You fill in a form on a separate non-resident portal, report quarterly, pay 18 percent in dollars, euros or lari, and keep records for three years. The rules sit in one article of a Minister of Finance order, Article 47¹ of Order No. 996, which the Revenue Service publishes in English on its non-resident portal. This guide works through that article: what the status means, which sales it catches (Georgia uses a wider location test than Stripe does), the quarterly return and its two deadlines, paying from abroad, a worked quarter, and what reaches QuickBooks.

It is bookkeeping guidance, not tax advice. Quotations from Georgian sources are from the Revenue Service's own English versions.

Acodei brings Stripe Tax amounts into QuickBooks, so the Georgian VAT you collect is already in a liability account when the quarter closes. Start a free trial.

The status: VAT without registering as a VAT payer

The rule is Article 47¹ of Order No. 996 of the Minister of Finance of Georgia, "on Tax Administration." Its title describes the arrangement: "Rules governing VAT calculations, payments to the budget by a foreign taxable person without registration and notification thereof."

Paragraph 2 is the core sentence:

"The liability to calculate and pay VAT without an obligation of registration as a VAT-payer shall arise in respect of a foreign taxable person, who is engaged in the supply of the digital service if the place of the service supplied by him is Georgia and the transaction is not subject to reverse charge in accordance with Article 162 of tax code of Georgia."

Three terms in it are defined in paragraph 1:

• Foreign taxable person: a taxable person "who is not established or has no habitual residence in Georgia, or has no fixed establishment in Georgia, engaged in the supply of the digital service."
• Digital service: telecommunications, broadcasting, and "electronically supplied services," each defined in its own annex (more on that below).
• Service recipient: a natural person "who is not a taxable person," or one "who is a taxable person, but the service received by him is not connected to his economic activity."

So the regime is consumer-only, and it gives you a tax liability without a VAT-payer registration. What you do instead is "complete the registration form using the VAT portal on the website of the Revenue Service" (Annex III-034). The registration is for "VAT reporting and budget settlements" only. The portal is nr.rs.ge, the Revenue Service's non-resident site.

There is no money threshold anywhere in Article 47¹. Stripe lists the registration threshold for Georgia as "1 transaction in 12 months" and says sellers of digital products to individuals in Georgia "have no registration threshold." The first Georgian consumer sale starts the obligation. Our guide to the countries that register you from the first sale covers the pattern across the other jurisdictions that work this way.

Which sales count: any one of four signals

This is where Georgia departs from the way most sellers, and Stripe, decide where a customer is. Paragraph 3 of Article 47¹ says the service is supplied in Georgia "if one of the following conditions is fulfilled":

1. the financial institution holding the account used to pay, or "the operator of the electronic financial facilities (through which the payment is made)," is located in Georgia;
2. "the place at which the service recipient is located is Georgia";
3. "the IP address of the device used by the service recipient to receive the service is in Georgia";
4. "the country phone code used to purchase the service/to make the payment belongs to Georgia."

One condition is enough. The text doesn't ask the signals to agree, or say which wins when they don't. It asks only that one of the four points to Georgia.

Stripe uses a single address. Its customer location rules for invoices and subscriptions take the first viable item from a list: shipping address, billing address, the billing details of the payment method, then IP address. A customer with a billing address in Germany who pays with a card issued by a Georgian bank gets German treatment from Stripe. On Article 47¹'s face, that sale meets condition 1.

You can't make Stripe apply a four-way test. What you can do is look for the gap once a quarter. Stripe records the issuing country of each card on the charge, and the itemized tax export shows the country Stripe taxed. Sales where the card country is Georgia and the taxed country isn't are the ones to review with an adviser before you file. For most SaaS sellers the list will be short, since a Georgian card usually comes with a Georgian billing address.

For the general concept behind the rule, our place of supply entry walks through it.

What counts as an electronically supplied service

Annex III-033 defines electronically supplied services as services "delivered over the Internet or an electronic network and the nature of which renders their supply essentially automated and involving minimal human intervention, and impossible to ensure in the absence of information technology." The list that follows will look familiar to anyone who knows the EU's version:

• "the supply of digitised products generally, including software and changes to or upgrades of software";
• website and webpage hosting, "remote systems administration," and "online data warehousing";
• "accessing or downloading software (including procurement/accountancy programmes and anti-virus software) plus updates";
• "the digitised content of books and other electronic publications" and "subscription to online newspapers and journals";
• music, films and games, including video on demand;
• "automated distance teaching dependent on the Internet," except where the internet is used "simply for communication between the teacher and student."

A SaaS subscription, a downloadable app, an online course with automated grading or a digital publication sits inside it. Live one-to-one tutoring over video does not, by the annex's own exception. Telecommunications (Annex III-031) and broadcasting (Annex III-032) are the other two digital service categories.

In Stripe, the matching step is the product tax code. Stripe says it "only supports collecting VAT for digital services" in Georgia, and that it "doesn't calculate tax for products that don't use a digital product tax code." A product left on a general services code calculates no Georgian tax at all.

Business customers sit outside the regime

Article 47¹ applies only where the transaction "is not subject to reverse charge in accordance with Article 162 of tax code of Georgia," and only to the service recipients it defines: natural persons who aren't taxable, or who are buying outside their economic activity. A Georgian company buying your software for its business is neither. It accounts for the VAT itself, under the reverse charge.

Stripe can only tell the two apart if you give it something to go on. Its tax ID table lists ge_vat ("Georgian VAT") with "Impact in Tax Calculation" marked Yes. Stripe's zero tax guide explains what that means: "Stripe Tax automatically applies the reverse charge based on the presence of a tax ID and the jurisdictions involved in the transaction," and the invoice "specifies that the transaction is subject to reverse charge and doesn't include tax in the total amount."

Without a stored Georgian VAT number, Stripe treats the buyer as a consumer and charges 18 percent. If you sell to Georgian businesses, turn on tax ID collection in Checkout or ask for the number before the first invoice. Our customer tax ID entry covers where Stripe stores it and how it appears on the invoice.

Reverse-charged sales don't belong on your Georgian return. Article 47¹ only covers the transactions it describes, so the quarterly figure is consumer sales only.

The rate and the base

Paragraph 4 sets out the rest of the mechanics in four lines:

• the taxable transaction is "the supply of the digital service against payment of compensation by a foreign taxable person";
• the taxable amount is the compensation received or to be received for the digital service, "exclusive of VAT";
• the reporting period is a quarter;
• "VAT rate shall be 18%."

The "exclusive of VAT" wording matters if your prices include tax. A 25 GEL tax-inclusive price holds 3.81 GEL of VAT (25 × 18 / 118), not 4.50. Stripe handles the arithmetic for you if the price is marked tax-inclusive. What you need to watch is the reverse: a price you meant as inclusive that is set as exclusive in Stripe will charge 18 percent on top.

The quarterly return: due on the 20th, paid by month end

Paragraph 5 lists three obligations for a foreign taxable person:

• "Ensure the accounting of the supply of digital services on the territory of Georgia."
• "Keep accounting records for 3 years from the end of the year in which the service was supplied."
• "Submit a tax return for each reporting period through the VAT portal ... no later than the 20th day of the month following the reporting period and to pay the tax no later than the last day of the same month."

So each quarter has two dates:

Quarter	Return due	Payment due
I (1 January to 31 March)	20 April	30 April
II (1 April to 30 June)	20 July	31 July
III (1 July to 30 September)	20 October	31 October
IV (1 October to 31 December)	20 January	31 January

The return is the "VAT Return on Digital Services form №III-035," filed on the portal. The Revenue Service's payment instructions say "the payment process begins once the form №III-035 is submitted": the portal emails you the payment details for that return. After the payment deadline, "interest and penalties will be applied in accordance with the Georgian legislation."

The three-year record rule is the one to plan for now. Stripe keeps transaction data, but your obligation runs from the end of the calendar year, so Q1 2027 sales have to be retrievable until the end of 2030. Exporting each quarter's itemized tax data when you file is the simplest way to meet it.

Paying in dollars, euros or lari

Georgia lets you choose. Paragraph 4(e) says a foreign taxable person pays "in one of the following currencies, according to his/her choice": US dollars, euros or lari. The payment instructions add that "payment must be made in accordance with the information for the currency used in the VAT Return." Pick the currency when you file and pay in the same one.

Dollars or euros go by SWIFT. The portal sends the bank details for the currency you chose. Two details on the transfer matter more than usual:

• The reference. The instructions ask for a code in fields 70 and 71 of the SWIFT message, in the form nrs-User Number-Filing Number-Quarter-year-nre. "IF you do not insert this information on swift transfer, we will be unable to identify its payment and this tax period will be registered as unpaid." You can send proof of payment to evat@rs.ge.
• The date. The obligation is met on "the date of reflection of the paid amount in the relevant account of the Treasury Service," and SWIFT "can take several (3-5) days." A wire sent on the 30th is late. Send it around the 22nd.

Lari can only be paid "through Georgian resident banks." For most foreign sellers without a Georgian bank account, that rules it out.

For a US company with a dollar QuickBooks file, paying in dollars is the obvious choice. The liability Stripe collected in dollars is paid in dollars. There is no conversion to book and no exchange gain or loss, only the bank's wire fee. Compare Aruba, where the florin amount has to land in full.

Refunds: an open question

Article 47¹ says nothing about refunds or credit notes. The taxable amount is the compensation received or to be received, which suggests a refunded sale should come out of the quarter's base. But the order doesn't say whether a refund in a later quarter reduces that quarter's return or needs a correction to the earlier one. If you expect more than an occasional refund, ask the Revenue Service through the portal before your first return and keep the answer.

A worked quarter for a software company

The Austin company sells one plan at $25 a month, priced in USD and exclusive of tax. Its first full quarter with Georgian customers looks like this:

1. Consumers. 60 Georgian individuals subscribe for the whole quarter: 60 × $25 × 3 = $4,500 in sales. Stripe Tax adds 18 percent, $4.50 on each invoice, $810.00 in total.
2. A business customer. A Tbilisi agency buys 5 seats ($125 a month) and gives its Georgian VAT number at checkout. Stripe applies the reverse charge: $375 for the quarter, no tax, and nothing on the Georgian return.
3. A card mismatch. One customer has a billing address in Armenia and pays with a card issued in Georgia. Stripe taxes the sale under Armenian rules, if at all. On the quarterly review, this one goes to the adviser.
4. The return. Form III-035 shows $4,500 of taxable digital services and $810.00 of VAT, filed in USD by 20 April.
5. The payment. $810.00 by SWIFT, with the reference in fields 70 and 71, sent by 22 April to be credited by 30 April. The company's bank charges a $30 wire fee.

What reaches QuickBooks, and what you book yourself

Acodei syncs the tax Stripe Tax calculated, so Stripe Tax has to be active in your Stripe account and your Georgian registration has to be set up in Stripe first.

For a US QuickBooks company, Acodei's method is the Tax Product: a non-inventory "Sales Tax" product mapped to a liability account, with all Stripe Tax amounts on a sale rolled into one line on the QuickBooks invoice or sales receipt. QuickBooks' Sales Tax Center doesn't let third parties create official tax rates for US companies, which is why the product approach is the one that works there. It needs Stripe Tax used with Stripe Invoicing or Stripe Checkout. Each $25 subscription in item 1 arrives with one $4.50 tax line, and the $810.00 builds up in the liability account over the quarter. You then use Stripe's tax reports to file and pay from that account.

For a QuickBooks company outside the US, Acodei can map individual Stripe tax rates to QuickBooks tax codes you set up. Georgia has one rate for these services, so one code at 18 percent is enough, and the Georgian VAT sits in its own line of QuickBooks' tax reporting.

The business sale, item 2. Stripe charged no tax on it, so there is no Georgian VAT on it to reach the liability account.

Refunds. Acodei's documentation says a refund issued through a credit note carries the line-level tax breakdown. A refund made on the payment alone may not show how much was tax, and that case can need a manual adjustment in QuickBooks. Given the open question above, the credit note is also the record you'll want for the Revenue Service.

The payment, item 5. Debit the tax liability $810.00, credit the bank $840.00 and post the $30.00 to bank charges. Because both the liability and the payment are in dollars, the liability account clears to zero for Georgia with no exchange line. The same liability account holds US sales tax and any other foreign tax from Stripe Tax, so note the Georgian slice each quarter. Our guide to reconciling the Stripe Tax report in QuickBooks covers the liability side, and the itemized export lets you filter on country_code GE.

Common mistakes with Georgian VAT on Stripe sales

• Applying for a Georgian VAT number. The regime is built so you don't need one. Use the non-resident portal.
• Filing monthly. The period is a quarter, return by the 20th, payment by the last day of the month.
• Wiring on the due date. The payment counts when it reaches the Treasury account, and SWIFT takes 3 to 5 days.
• Leaving out the SWIFT reference. Without it the payment can't be matched and the quarter shows as unpaid.
• Charging Georgian businesses. Store their ge_vat number and Stripe applies the reverse charge.
• Trusting the billing address alone. Georgia's test is any one of four signals, and a Georgian card is one of them.
• Using a general tax code. Stripe only calculates Georgian VAT on digital product tax codes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do foreign SaaS companies have to register for VAT in Georgia?

Not as VAT payers. Under Article 47¹ of Order No. 996, a foreign seller of digital services to Georgian consumers owes VAT "without an obligation of registration as a VAT-payer." It completes a registration form on the Revenue Service's VAT portal for reporting and payment only. There is no threshold: the first consumer sale starts the obligation.

What is the VAT rate on digital services in Georgia?

18 percent, charged on the price exclusive of VAT. Article 47¹ sets the rate for digital services supplied by foreign taxable persons, which covers telecommunications, broadcasting and electronically supplied services such as software, SaaS, digital publications and automated online courses.

How often do foreign sellers file Georgian VAT returns?

Quarterly. Form III-035 is due on the VAT portal by the 20th day of the month after the quarter, and the tax must be paid by the last day of that month. A payment by SWIFT counts on the day it reaches the Treasury account, which can take 3 to 5 days.

Can I pay Georgian VAT in US dollars?

Yes. Article 47¹ lets a foreign taxable person choose US dollars, euros or Georgian lari, and the payment must be in the currency used on the return. Dollars and euros go by SWIFT with a reference code in fields 70 and 71. Lari can only be paid through a Georgian resident bank.

Does Stripe Tax charge Georgian business customers?

No, if you store their Georgian VAT number. Stripe marks ge_vat as affecting the tax calculation and applies the reverse charge when it is present. Georgia's foreign-seller regime only covers sales to individuals, so business sales stay off your Georgian return.

The short version

Eighteen percent, quarterly, in dollars. Georgia taxes foreign digital sales to consumers from the first one, through a portal account rather than a VAT registration, with returns due on the 20th and payment by month end. The two places it differs from its neighbors are the location test, where any one of four signals puts a sale in Georgia, and the payment, which you can make in the currency your QuickBooks file already uses. Our guides to registration thresholds, Aruba's levies, Bahamian VAT and Egyptian VAT cover the pattern elsewhere.

Acodei syncs Stripe Tax into QuickBooks, so each Georgian quarter starts from the liability account instead of a spreadsheet. Start a free trial.