The Core Criterion of Tax Residency
Article 34 of the Georgian Tax Code determines who is treated as a resident and who as a non-resident individual for tax purposes. Individuals are citizens of Georgia, citizens of foreign states and stateless persons. An individual is considered a resident of Georgia for the entire current tax year if he or she has actually stayed on the territory of Georgia for 183 days or more in any continuous 12-month calendar period ending in that tax year. The same status attaches to an individual who, during the tax year, stayed in a foreign country in the state service of Georgia. Residency is thus a tax-law concept and must not be confused with citizenship: a Georgian citizen may lose resident status, while a foreign citizen may acquire it.
A person who is not a resident under this article is regarded as a non-resident. The status is determined separately for each tax period, and the days that were counted towards residency in the previous period are not taken into account again when residency is determined for the following period. This makes careful multi-year planning of days spent in the country an essential part of managing one's tax position.