First, the disambiguation this topic always needs: this article is about Georgia the country, in the Caucasus, capital Tbilisi. Not the US state. If you searched for property taxes in Atlanta, this is the wrong tab, though you might stay for the numbers anyway, because they are hard to believe at first read.

Here they are, up front:

  • Tax on buying property: zero
  • Stamp duty: zero
  • Annual property tax: 0 to 1 percent, and most foreign owners pay at the bottom of that range or nothing
  • Tax on residential rental income: 5 percent flat for registered individuals
  • Capital gains tax if you sell after two years: zero

That is the entire landscape. Now the details, because the details decide what you actually pay.

Buying: the state charges you almost nothing

Georgia has no transfer tax, no stamp duty, and no VAT on secondary-market residential sales. The only mandatory state cost when you buy is the registration fee at the National Agency of Public Registry: roughly 50 GEL for standard processing within four business days, or about 200 GEL for same-day service. In dollars, that is a fast-food lunch versus a nice dinner.

Compare that with the 7 to 12 percent in taxes and fees that routinely disappears at closing in much of Western Europe, and you understand why transaction volume in Georgia is so high. Buying and selling here is nearly frictionless. The step-by-step mechanics are covered in our complete buyer guide.

Owning: the income-linked annual tax

Georgia's annual property tax works differently from most countries, and the difference favors ordinary owners. The tax applies to households, and it is switched on or off by your household's total income, counted worldwide.

  • Household income under 40,000 GEL a year (roughly 14,500 USD): exempt. No annual property tax at all.
  • Household income between 40,000 and 100,000 GEL: the municipality sets a rate between 0.05 and 0.2 percent of the property's market value.
  • Household income above 100,000 GEL: the rate ranges between 0.8 and 1 percent, again set by the municipality.

Two practical notes for foreign owners. First, if you are a non-resident with no Georgian-source income beyond the property itself, your filing picture is simple, but the income test still matters, so get one conversation with a Georgian accountant to confirm your bracket. Second, the tax is declared annually (the declaration deadline falls in November, with payment shortly after), and the amounts involved for a typical apartment are hundreds of dollars a year, not thousands.