Georgia dividend withholding tax: 5%, and when it is nil

Where it sits in the whole picture

Georgia taxes company profit on distribution rather than as it is earned. So a dividend has usually already carried corporate tax before the 5% is applied. Looking at the 5% alone understates what the money has been through, which is the mistake in most comparisons between Georgia and elsewhere.

When Georgia dividend withholding tax is not charged

• Distributions between Georgian companies are generally outside it.
• A double taxation treaty may cut the rate for a non-resident shareholder, claimed with a tax residency certificate.
• Certain regimes and statuses change the position, and those are worth checking against your own structure rather than a general rule.

Foreign dividends are a different question

A dividend from a company abroad, paid to someone resident in Georgia, is foreign-source. Georgia's territorial approach is what matters there, not this withholding rate. People conflate the two constantly and reach the wrong number in both directions.

What to do with this

If you are structuring around dividends, get the whole chain priced by a Georgian accountant: profit tax on distribution, the 5%, and whatever your home country does when the money arrives. The last of those is usually the largest and the one nobody quoted you.