Video · From Georgia
US LLC from Tbilisi, Georgia: Is Your Income Really Foreign? (2026)
Running a US company from Georgia? Georgia exempts foreign income, but pay for services rendered in Georgia is Georgian-source and taxed at 20%. 4:47 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can a resident of Georgia own a US LLC?
It's early evening in Tbilisi, and Nino has just shipped an update to her scheduling app. Customers abroad want to pay by card, and the big card processor doesn't take Georgian businesses. So she's wondering about a US company. On the American side, she can have one. No social security number, and no trip to the US. We're BaseAcross. We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you. Georgia doesn't tax a resident's income from abroad. The hard part is what counts as abroad.
Work Nino does in Tbilisi may not be foreign income at all.
0:36Do you need a US company for Stripe in Georgia?
Does she need a US company at all? It depends on the reason. Card payments from customers worldwide are the clearest one. A US company with an EIN and a US bank account can apply to the card processor. It reviews the business and the person behind it, and it can decline. Selling software to US customers can fit too, after advice, because where the work is done and where the company is managed decide what Georgia taxes. If you freelance under Georgia's small business status, check the sourcing first.
That status is for you, and pay routed through a US company may be taxed differently.
1:12Is income from a US company tax-free in Georgia?
The Georgian rule comes first. A resident is exempt on income that doesn't have a Georgian source. Income that does is taxed at a flat rate. And Georgia counts income from services rendered in Georgia as Georgian-source. So pay for work Nino does while living in Tbilisi may not be foreign income, even when a US company pays it into a US account. You're resident after a set number of days in Georgia, in any twelve months in a row that end in the tax year.
These rules come from PwC's tax summaries, so confirm them with a Georgian accountant before you act.
1:46Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
The American part is quicker. A Wyoming LLC suits an owner-run business taking card payments or selling to US customers. A Delaware C-Corp suits raising from US investors. The company needs a registered agent, an address in that state for legal papers, not where you work. Then the EIN, the company's US tax number. Without a social security number or an ITIN, the application goes on a separate IRS form instead of the online tool. You don't need a Georgian company to form a US company.
Prices are in US dollars, so check your card's exchange rate and fees.
2:22Which US accounts work from Georgia?
Where can the dollars land? Founders living in Georgia can apply to a US fintech bank, because Georgia isn't on its list of countries it doesn't serve. It decides each application. A multi-currency account provider can give a US company run from Georgia US dollar account details. Another US bank doesn't bar Georgia, but it asks every owner for a physical US address.
Each provider decides for itself, so use the same names, addresses and business description everywhere.
2:52Can Georgia tax your US company as Georgian?
Now the company itself. Georgia treats a company as resident if it's established under Georgian law, or effectively managed here. A resident company pays tax only on the profit it distributes, and nothing on the profit it keeps. The guide works one example through. Say Nino's Wyoming LLC is effectively managed from Tbilisi, so it's resident. It keeps its profit for a year, and Georgia taxes none of it. Then it pays out one hundred and seventy thousand lari. Grossed up and taxed, that comes to thirty thousand lari. That's an illustration, not a quote.
How Georgia classes the LLC is for your accountant.
3:30Is there a US–Georgia tax treaty?
On the American side, the IRS still applies the treaty the US signed with the Soviet Union in nineteen seventy-three. It exempts royalties from US withholding, and interest only on credit that finances trade. Dividends stay at the full rate. Pay for work you do in Georgia generally isn't US income, so a US company with no US office or staff often owes no US income tax on it. A single-owner LLC still files a report with the IRS when it has reportable transactions with you, and missing it is expensive.
For a calendar-year company, it's usually due in mid-April.
4:07What to do first, in order
Put together, the order runs like this. Start with the Georgian side and your accountant: where the work will be done, where the company will be managed, and how it fits any small business status. Then the name and registered agent, the state filing, and the operating documents. Check every name against your passport. Then the EIN, and after it the bank and payment applications. Keep the books, and a record of where work is done and decisions are made, with the IRS report and your Georgian return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your adviser, is linked below. And Nino?
Her first call tomorrow is to an accountant in Tbilisi.
The founder in the video is an example, not a customer. The rules in it were checked when it was made; the guide carries the current sources.
The guide
Costs, documents, timelines and the rules in Georgia, with sources.
Read the guide for GeorgiaWatch on YouTube