25/05/2026
Relocation Package in Georgia: How to Correctly Pay Taxes on Employee Moving Bonuses
Relocating top talent to Georgia is standard practice for the IT sector and international businesses. To simplify the move for employees, companies often cover the expenses—paying for plane tickets, initial housing rent, logistics services, or simply offering a fixed "lump-sum" allowance.
However, Georgian tax law does not have a specific legal concept for a "relocation package." The state views all such bonuses strictly through the lens of Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Corporate Income Tax (CIT). Let’s break down how relocation expenses affect both company and employee reporting, why you cannot just compensate receipts "under the table," and how to correctly structure these payments to avoid tax penalties.
How Does the Tax Authority View Relocation Expenses?
From the perspective of the Revenue Service of Georgia (RS), any benefits a company provides to an employee on top of their base salary fall into three categories:
Direct Cash Bonus (Lump-sum): The company pays a fixed cash amount, and the employee handles buying tickets and finding accommodation themselves.
Receipt Reimbursement: The employee spends their own money, submits receipts for flights and luggage, and the company reimburses that exact amount.
Benefit in Kind (Non-monetary income): The company directly buys the tickets, rents an apartment from a landlord, or hires a moving company to transport the employee’s belongings.
Tax Implications for the Employee
The golden rule of the Georgian Tax Code is that any reimbursement of an employee's personal expenses is recognized as their income and is subject to withholding tax at source.
Personal Income Tax (PIT): All three relocation package setups are subject to the standard 20% PIT rate. This means if you want your employee to receive a net amount of 3,000 GEL for their move, your accounting team will need to gross up this figure to correctly withhold and remit the tax to the state budget.
Pension Contributions: If your employee is a Georgian citizen or a foreign national with permanent residency (PR), an additional 2% is withheld for the pension fund (matched by another 2% from the company). If the employee holds a standard temporary residence permit (TRP) or works under a digital nomad/remote setup without a local work framework, pension contributions on the relocation package do not apply.
Tax Implications for the Company and the "Estonian Model"
Georgia operates under a system where a company pays a 15% Corporate Income Tax (CIT) only when distributing profits (to directors/shareholders) or when incurring expenses not related to economic activity.
If everything is structured officially: When a company properly declares the relocation package as employee income and withholds the 20% PIT, these expenditures are recognized as valid business-related expenses. In this scenario, the company's CIT on this amount is 0%.
If compensated "under the table": If a company simply pays for tickets or rent from its corporate account and logs it as standard operating expenses without taxing the employee, the Revenue Service will classify it during an audit either as a non-business expense (triggering 15% CIT) or as hidden salary. The company will be hit with the missing 20% PIT, late payment interest (0.03% per day of delay), and a penalty equal to 50% of the unpaid tax amount.
How to Do It Right?
To ensure your relocation packages do not turn into an audit nightmare, stick to these three rules:
Fix the terms in advance: The provision for a relocation bonus or expense reimbursement must be explicitly stated in the employment contract, official job offer, or a written addendum.
Budget for taxes early: Keep in mind that the cost of tickets and housing paid directly by the company increases the employee's taxable income base for that specific month.
Collect primary source documents: For every direct payment or reimbursement, your accounting team must maintain proper invoices, named boarding passes, and acts of acceptance/rendered services from vendors.
If you are moving a team to Georgia and want to build a transparent, legal compensation system without tax overpayments, reach out to PB Services. We will help you draft compliant contracts, calculate the actual financial impact, and take full charge of your business’s tax and accounting needs.
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