What Counts as Winnings and When Taxable Income Arises
For a player playing on a foreign platform, the tax question begins with two definitions. Article 8 of the Code determines: winnings received from a person engaged in the gambling business is income determined by the positive difference between the amount received and the amount staked by the natural person (the player) in gambling and promotional games on one ticket, token, coin or other means. In other words, a loss on another ticket does not offset a win — the calculation is made on each individual ticket.
The second axis is Article 80: the object of taxation with personal income tax for a resident natural person is taxable income, determined as the difference between the aggregate income received during a calendar year and the deductions provided for by the Code. A player’s winnings enter precisely into that aggregate income, and declaring them is part of the annual cycle.
Rates — For Whom and How Much
Article 81 describes the window. Under the general rule, the taxable income of a natural person is taxed at 20 percent. One of the parts of the same article deals with special cases: the taxable income received from organising a gaming machine hall and/or systematic-electronic gambling games — the organiser’s income, not the player’s — is taxed at 20 percent, while the part received through the participation of foreign citizens at 5 percent. Likewise, under the Code, the amount withdrawn from a systematic-electronic gaming account — the player’s tax object — is taxed at 5 percent.
A precise segregation matters: these rates are attached to different subjects — to the organiser’s income, to Georgian and foreign players, to the hall and to the online regime. A Georgian resident receiving winnings from a foreign platform must reason under the general regime: his income enters the aggregate income and its rate is determined by that regime, since a foreign organiser performs no function of a Georgian tax agent.