In the third and final reading, Parliament adopted amendments to the Tax Code by 73 votes to 9, enabling the transfer of property and profits from offshore zones to Georgia without tax payment. The opposition criticizes the changes, alleging that they are tailored to the honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
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The draft law initiated by members of Georgian Dream - Paata Kvizhinadze, Anton Obolashvili, Irakli Kirtskhalia, Bezhan Tsakadze, Zaal Mikeladze, Irakli Zarkua, and Gogi Meshveliani - was considered by Parliament in an expedited manner on April 17 and 18. Today, it was approved in the final hearing.
"It is no longer attractive to conduct business in so-called offshore areas - monitoring has increased, transparency has increased, and taxes have increased. That is why many opt for offshore. It is very important for us to attract as many businesses as possible to move their operations to Georgia. We are referring to companies that already own property in Georgia but are registered in offshore areas."
"It concerns the situation where a company registered offshore, which owns a share in a Georgian entity, such as a factory or institution, wishes to transfer this offshore registration and become the direct owner of this share in a Georgian company. They will be allowed to do so with a discount. Under current legislation, they would be required to pay tax. The proposal is to forgive these taxes as a one-time measure at the moment of transfer, if they transfer and legalize their assets. Once the assets are in Georgia, they will be subject to greater transparency. If these same companies have other assets in addition to shares, such as aircraft, machinery, or vehicles, and they also wish to bring these assets to Georgia, they will be exempt from import taxes for a one-time transfer," explained Paata Kvizhinadze, chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee.
The opposition objected to the draft law and its accelerated adoption. Deputy Roman Gotsiridze stated that the adoption of such a regulation might turn Georgia into a "black money laundromat."
German MEP Viola von Cramon also responded to this issue and wrote on the social network X: “Bidzina Ivanishvili is taking precautions: in the event of sanctions, he must bring his money back to Georgia. There is now a legal basis for this. Many suspect that the Georgian government will massively falsify the upcoming elections, which in turn will trigger sanctions against Ivanishvili”.
The law will come into effect on the day it is signed by the President. As a result, the income received by the offshore-registered foreign enterprise and the partner natural person upon the transfer of the ownership right to all assets (including share/shares) of the foreign enterprise registered in the offshore country to the Georgian enterprise before January 1, 2028, is exempted from profit/income tax. The import of the asset/goods into Georgia is exempted from import duties, and the Georgian enterprise in respect of the asset received within the framework of this operation is exempted from property tax until January 1, 2030. The tax relief will only apply to the transfer of assets owned by a foreign enterprise registered in an offshore country on the day the law comes into effect. A necessary condition for the use of tax benefits is that the same individual (or group of persons) owns 100% of the share/shares in both the offshore-registered foreign enterprise and the Georgian enterprise.
