Georgia Lifts Property Tax Threshold to GEL 100,000

Georgia will raise the annual household income threshold above which individuals pay property tax from GEL 40,000 (about $15,400) to GEL 100,000 (about $38,500), removing roughly 81,000 people from the tax, ruling-party majority leader Irakli Kirtskhalia announced at a 14 September briefing, according to Civil Georgia. The change is expected to take effect in October and apply to declarations due this year.

How the tax works

Since 2005, a natural person's taxable property, excluding land, has been assessed against household income. Households earning under GEL 40,000 were exempt; those between GEL 40,000 and GEL 100,000 paid 0.05-0.2% of the property's value annually; those above GEL 100,000 paid 0.8-1%. Under the new rule the middle band disappears and only households above GEL 100,000 remain liable, Georgia Today reported.

The GEL 40,000 test is applied to gross income before income tax and pension contributions, and it counts the earnings of spouses, children and co-resident relatives. In practice a monthly take-home salary of about GEL 2,600 pushed an individual over the line, Georgia Today noted, a level that Geostat's latest average monthly wage of GEL 2,389 has been approaching for a growing share of urban workers.

Why it was overdue

The threshold had not moved in 21 years, during which nominal incomes and Tbilisi property values rose substantially. What was designed as a tax on the affluent had drifted into a tax on dual-income households in ordinary apartments, and critics argued it could no longer fulfil its function of exempting lower-income families. Kirtskhalia said the amendments were prepared with the Finance Ministry and will go through parliament under an expedited procedure.

What it means for the market

For households, the effect is straightforward: a family earning GEL 70,000 with a GEL 300,000 flat was paying between GEL 150 and GEL 600 a year; from October it pays nothing. That is not large money per household, but it removes a filing obligation that required registering on the Revenue Service portal and self-declaring the market value of a home.

For the property market, the change removes a small disincentive to declared ownership and formal income at the margin where the tax bit hardest. It does nothing for the upper band, where the 0.8-1% rate on a self-reported valuation remains one of the few recurring taxes on wealth in Georgia.

The fiscal cost was not disclosed. With 81,000 payers at the lower band's modest rates, the revenue foregone is likely small, but the government has not published a figure, and the number of households that will remain liable above GEL 100,000 was not stated either.

The monetary backdrop

The relief arrives as the National Bank of Georgia holds its policy rate at 8.25% with inflation at 5.6% in August, above its 3% target and driven by energy and food prices, according to Civil Georgia. The NBG expects 5.2% average inflation this year and describes growth as strong, at 8% in July. A tax cut for middle-income households adds marginally to demand at a moment the central bank is trying to keep it in check: a small tension, but a real one.

Further Reading

• TBC Capital Sees Lari at GEL 2.60-2.65 by Year-End as Property Tax Reform Nears
• Georgia's Economy Grows 7.9% in First Half of 2026, Outpacing IMF Forecast
• China Now Supplies Nearly Half of Georgia's Foreign Investment as Total FDI Falls 23%