Georgia (Country) — 183-Day Tax Residency

Summary

Limit

183 days (183 or more)

Window

Any continuous 12 months ending in the tax year

Triggers on

The 183rd day

Effect

Resident for the whole tax year (worldwide income)

Basis

Tax Code of Georgia, Art. 34

Authority

Revenue Service of Georgia

First, the disambiguation: this is Georgia the country (Sakartvelo, on the Black Sea) — not the US state. Under Article 34(1) of the Tax Code of Georgia, you become a Georgian tax resident if you actually stay in Georgia for 183 or more days in any continuous 12-calendar-month period ending in the tax year. The threshold is inclusive, so day 183 — not 184 — is the one that tips you over. And it is retroactive: crossing 183 makes you resident for the entire tax year, back to 1 January.

Who it applies to

The 183-day day count matters most if you are:

• A remote worker or digital nomad spending long stretches in Georgia, drawn by its easy entry rules.
• A frequent traveller whose trips, added together, approach 183 days across a 12-month window.
• Someone relocating to Tbilisi or Batumi and wanting to know exactly when Georgian tax residency begins.

It applies to individuals regardless of nationality — the test is about physical presence, not citizenship. Georgians who were abroad in the state or public service of Georgia during the tax year are also treated as resident. There is a separate, non-day-count route to residency for high-net-worth individuals (see below), but the 183-day count is the ordinary path.

The rule — and why it exists

Article 34(1) of the Tax Code of Georgia (Law No. 3591 of 17 September 2010) sets a physical presence test:

• The 183-day threshold. A natural person who has actually stayed in Georgia for 183 or more days in any continuous 12-calendar-month period ending in that tax year is a Georgian tax resident. Because the statute reads "183 or more," exactly 183 days is enough — there is no need to reach a 184th day.
• The window rolls. The 12 months are any continuous 12-calendar-month span ending inside the tax year — not the fixed 1 January to 31 December calendar year. Trips on either side of a year-end are combined if they fall within the same 12-month window.
• The effect is whole-year. Once you cross 183 days, you are treated as resident for the entire current tax year, retroactively from 1 January — not merely from the day you hit the threshold.

Why it exists: like most countries, Georgia uses extended physical presence as a proxy for where your economic life sits. The rolling 12-month window closes the loophole of splitting a long stay across a calendar year-end to reset the count. Note that, at the domestic level, this day count is the sole trigger — the "centre of vital interests" idea only appears as a tax-treaty tie-breaker, not as a separate domestic residency test.

Counting the days

Georgia's counting convention is spelled out in the statute. Under Article 34(4), a day of actual stay is any day during which you were present in Georgia irrespective of how long the stay lasted — so partial days count as full days.

1. 1Count every day you were physically present in Georgia, including the arrival day and the departure day — hours in the day do not matter.
2. 2Measure across any continuous 12-calendar-month period ending in the tax year — not the 1 January to 31 December calendar year.
3. 3Add days spent abroad for treatment, leisure, a business trip, or education: under Article 34(2) these still count as days of stay in Georgia.
4. 4Do not count days present under an excluded special status (diplomatic, certain international-organisation, or mere transit — see below).
5. 5When your running total reaches 183, you are a Georgian tax resident for the whole tax year.

One subtlety a location tracker cannot see: because Article 34(2) counts certain days abroad as Georgian days, a strict "where was my phone" count can undercount for someone who left Georgia for treatment, a holiday, a business trip, or study. Under Article 34(7), days already used to establish residency in a previous tax period are not counted again for the following one.

Examples

Example 1 — clearly resident by days

Nino, a remote designer, arrives in Tbilisi on 1 March 2026 and stays continuously through the end of August — about 184 days. She passes 183 within that 12-month window, so she is a Georgian tax resident for the whole of the 2026 tax year, back to 1 January 2026.

Example 2 — a stay split across year-end

Marco spends 110 days in Batumi from September to December 2025, leaves, then returns for another 80 days from January to March 2026. A naive calendar-year count would treat these as two safe years (110, then 80). But the rolling 12-month window ending in early 2026 combines them to 190 days — over 183 — so he is resident for the 2026 tax year.

Example 3 — days abroad that still count

Ana is physically in Georgia for 170 days, then takes a 20-day medical trip abroad for treatment. Under Article 34(2), those 20 treatment days still count as days of stay in Georgia, pushing her to 190 — over the threshold — even though a phone-location count would have stopped at 170.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Whole-year, retroactive residency. Crossing 183 days does not make you resident only from that day — it makes you resident for the entire tax year, back to 1 January. Plan around that broader consequence, not just the crossing date.
• Days abroad can still count (Art. 34(2)). Time outside Georgia for treatment, leisure, a business trip, or education is counted as days of stay. A passive location tracker will miss these and can undercount.
• Excluded days (Art. 34(3)). Time in Georgia under diplomatic or consular status (or as such a person's family member), as an employee of an international organisation under an international agreement, or in the public service of a foreign country as a non-citizen, does not count — nor does mere transit between two other countries through Georgia, or treatment and leisure time for those special-status persons.
• No re-counting across periods (Art. 34(7)). Days already used to establish residency in the previous tax period are not counted again for the following tax period.
• High-net-worth route is separate. Georgia offers a non-day-count residency path for high-net-worth individuals (under Joint Order 991/250, tied to Georgian assets or income), which is outside this 183-day test entirely.
• Double-taxation treaties. If you are resident in two countries, the relevant treaty tie-breaker (permanent home → centre of vital interests → habitual abode → nationality) assigns a single treaty residence and divides taxing rights.

Common misconceptions

• "This is the US state of Georgia." No — this rule is the national tax law of Georgia the country (Sakartvelo). Search results about "Georgia tax changes" often mean the US state; those are unrelated.
• "You need 184 days." False — the threshold is inclusive. Article 34 says 183 or more, so exactly 183 days already makes you resident.
• "The count resets every January." False — the window is any continuous 12 months ending in the tax year, so a year-end does not reset it. Trips on either side of 31 December combine.
• "Only days my phone was in Georgia count." Not quite — certain days abroad (treatment, leisure, business, education) count as Georgian days, so the legal total can be higher than a location tracker shows.
• "I'm only resident from the day I passed 183." No — residency applies to the whole tax year, retroactively to 1 January.

The day count is the clear part, and it is what Bounded tracks. Where professional advice genuinely earns its keep is the consequences of residency — how worldwide income is taxed, how a double-taxation treaty reassigns rights, and whether the high-net-worth route or Art. 34(2)/(3) edge cases change your position. Confirm those with a Georgian tax adviser or the Revenue Service of Georgia.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Legislative Herald of Georgia (matsne.gov.ge) — Tax Code of Georgia, Article 34
• Revenue Service of Georgia — OECD/CRS tax-residency profile (Article 34 verbatim)