Nobody quotes a number until you are already on the call. Georgian firms band their fees by transaction count, add 18% VAT at the end, and bill annual work separately, so the first figure you hear is rarely the figure you pay. We went through the rate cards of the firms that actually publish them. This is what accounting services cost in Georgia in 2026, and what moves the number.
What the monthly fee actually buys
Georgia runs a monthly filing calendar, not an annual one. Declarations go to the Revenue Service by the 15th of the following month, and a month with no income still needs a filing. That cadence is the product. Someone opens rs.ge on your behalf twelve times a year.
The scope underneath the price varies far more than the price itself. A package for an Individual Entrepreneur on 1% status covers a turnover declaration and little else. A package for a VAT-registered LLC covers VAT returns, pension contributions, withholding on salaries and a set of financial statements. Same market, different products.
If you have not settled the prior question yet, our honest answer on needing an accountant covers who can reasonably skip all of this.
Published monthly rates, July 2026
Most Georgian practices quote on request. A handful publish a full rate card, and those cards are the only hard numbers in this market. Two of them band by transaction volume.
| Package | Up to 10 transactions | 11 to 30 | 31 to 60 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tbilisi Expat, Lite | ₾180 | ₾315 | ₾495 |
| Tbilisi Expat, Business | ₾315 | ₾495 | ₾855 |
| Tbilisi Expat, Premium | ₾675 | ₾855 | ₾1,305 |
| ExpatHub, Lite | ₾250 | ₾350 | ₾550 |
| ExpatHub, Business | ₾350 | ₾550 | ₾950 |
| ExpatHub, Premium | ₾750 | ₾950 | ₾1,450 |
Both lists are monthly and both exclude VAT. Tbilisi Expat publishes its accounting tiers in full, and so does ExpatHub's accounting price list. Above 60 transactions a month, both stop publishing and quote individually.
A third approach ignores volume entirely and prices by entity type. Bookkeeping.ge posts flat monthly fees for four common situations.
| Entity and regime | Monthly fee | Core scope |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Entrepreneur, 1% status | ₾250 | Turnover declarations, rs.ge filing, annual tax summary |
| Individual Entrepreneur, standard | ₾350 | Monthly declarations, income tax and pension support |
| LLC, not VAT registered | ₾400 | Document processing, IFRS-compliant software, basic statements |
| LLC, VAT registered | ₾500 | The above plus VAT returns and input/output reconciliation |
Flat pricing is easier to budget and worse value if your volume is genuinely tiny. Banded pricing rewards a quiet month and punishes a busy one. Neither model is cheaper in the abstract, which is why comparing two headline numbers tells you almost nothing.
Every published rate card we checked quotes fees exclusive of VAT, and the bands are set by transaction count, not hours worked. A 315 GEL headline on 40 transactions a month is really 855 GEL plus VAT, which is 1,009 GEL. Get your band confirmed in writing before the first invoice, not after the third.
What moves the price
Transaction count
This is the main lever on both banded rate cards. Firms count movements and documents, not hours. Going from ten transactions a month to sixty roughly doubles or triples the fee on every tier we checked.
VAT registration
Registering for VAT adds a monthly return and input/output reconciliation. On flat entity-based pricing that step is worth 100 GEL a month. On banded pricing it usually moves you a whole tier, which is a bigger jump. Thresholds and timing are covered in our guide to VAT registration in Georgia.
Employees
Salaries pull withholding and pension filings into the monthly cycle. One or two staff are normally absorbed into a business tier. Past a handful of people, firms start pricing payroll as its own line, and at that point dedicated payroll providers are worth pricing against your accountant.
Structure and status
Virtual Zone, International Company and Free Industrial Zone entities carry compliance that entry tiers do not cover. Tbilisi Expat places them in its Business tier, which starts at 315 GEL rather than 180 GEL. If your Georgian company sits inside a foreign group, budget for the premium tiers.
Where you probably land
| Your situation | Monthly band, before VAT | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancer or IE on 1% status, under 10 transactions | ₾180 to ₾250 | One turnover declaration |
| IE on the standard regime, or 11 to 30 transactions | ₾315 to ₾400 | More reconciliation, pension filings |
| LLC, no VAT, no staff | ₾315 to ₾495 | Corporate declarations plus basic statements |
| LLC, VAT registered or with a small payroll | ₾495 to ₾950 | VAT returns, withholding, pension |
| Virtual Zone, ICS or FIZ entity | ₾315 to ₾950 | Status compliance sits in the business tier |
| Group structure or advisory relationship | ₾675 to ₾1,450 | Premium tiers with tax and legal support |
The costs that never appear in the monthly quote
| Extra | Published price | When it lands |
|---|---|---|
| VAT on the fee itself | Plus 18% | Every invoice |
| Standalone annual tax return | ₾180 | Once a year |
| Back-year filing | ₾270 per month of prior years | When you arrive late |
| VAT qualified status application | ₾315 to ₾350 | One-off |
| Ad hoc work, discounted hourly rate | ₾115 to ₾150 per hour | As needed |
| Ad hoc work, standard hourly rate | ₾225 to ₾300 per hour | As needed |
| Statutory financial statements | Quoted case by case | Once a year |
Annual work is what people miss. Statutory financial statements go to the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing through the Reportal submission portal, separately from your monthly tax declarations, and very few monthly retainers include them by default. Our guide to annual reporting deadlines in Georgia sets out what falls due and when. Companies large enough to face a statutory audit should price that with Tbilisi audit firms rather than assume their bookkeeper covers it.
If you registered a company and then ignored it for a year, the clean-up is priced per month filed, not as a flat catch-up. One firm publishes 270 GEL for each month of prior years. Twelve silent months is a four-figure bill before any penalties are added.
Outsourcing against hiring in-house
An in-house accountant is a salary, plus employer pension contributions, plus the risk that one person's holiday becomes your late filing. Georgia's National Statistics Office puts average monthly nominal earnings at 2,363.8 GEL in the first quarter of 2026, measured across the whole economy. A qualified bilingual accountant costs meaningfully more than that average, not less.
Set it against 400 GEL a month for a non-VAT LLC. Outsourcing wins until you have enough internal volume to keep one person genuinely busy, which for most foreign-owned companies here never arrives. The realistic middle path is doing your own data entry and paying a firm to file, which we compare in DIY bookkeeping versus hiring out.
We research the accountants working in Tbilisi and rank the ones worth paying. Independently researched, re-checked quarterly, free to read.
See the ranked list
How to compare two quotes properly
We keep a shortlist of ranked Tbilisi accounting firms that publish their fees. Whoever ends up on your own shortlist, the comparison comes down to the same four questions.
Get the transaction definition in writing
Ask what counts. Some firms count every line on your bank statement, including transfers between your own accounts and card payments for coffee. Others count source documents. The same business can land two bands apart depending on which definition applies.
Separate the monthly fee from the annual fee
Ask for both numbers on the same page. A cheap monthly retainer with an expensive annual report is a normal and legitimate structure. It is also how a cheap headline quietly stops being cheap.
Confirm who holds your rs.ge credentials
Your access to the Revenue Service portal is your access to your own filing history. Agree in writing that the credentials are yours and that a ledger export comes with you if you leave.
Sanity-check the tax advice bundled into the quote
A firm promising you 1% status without asking what you sell is guessing. The conditions and excluded activities are set out in our explainer on Georgia's 1% small business status. Anything structural deserves a separate conversation with tax advisors in Tbilisi rather than your bookkeeper.
Key takeaways
- Published monthly fees run from 180 GEL for a light Individual Entrepreneur to 1,450 GEL for high-volume premium work, all before 18% VAT.
- Two pricing models exist in Tbilisi: banded by transaction count, or flat by entity type. Neither is cheaper in the abstract.
- VAT registration, employees and special tax status are the three things that push you out of an entry tier.
- Annual reporting, back-year clean-ups and hourly ad hoc work are billed separately from the monthly retainer.
- Hiring in-house is rarely cheaper at the volumes most foreign-owned Georgian companies run.
- Settle the transaction definition, the annual fee and the rs.ge credential arrangement in writing before month one.
Frequently asked questions
How much do accounting services cost in Georgia per month?
Published rates run from 180 GEL to 1,450 GEL a month before 18% VAT. A freelancer or Individual Entrepreneur with under ten transactions sits at the bottom of that range. A VAT-registered LLC with staff and steady volume sits around 500 to 950 GEL. Firms that quote on request generally land inside the same spread.
Is VAT included in accounting quotes in Georgia?
No. Every published rate card we checked in July 2026 quotes fees exclusive of VAT, and Georgian VAT is 18%. A 500 GEL package is 590 GEL on the invoice. Always confirm whether a verbal quote is gross or net before you compare two firms.
What counts as a transaction for pricing purposes?
It depends on the firm, which is exactly why it belongs in writing. Some count every line on your bank statement, including internal transfers and small card spending. Others count source documents such as invoices and receipts. The same business can fall into two different price bands depending on which definition applies.
How much does accounting cost for an Individual Entrepreneur on 1% status?
Between 180 and 350 GEL a month at published rates, before VAT. The work is a monthly turnover declaration plus basic record keeping, so it is the cheapest product on any Georgian rate card. Volume still matters: one entry tier covers ten transactions a month and rises to 315 GEL above that.
Does registering for VAT increase the accounting fee?
Yes, consistently. On flat entity-based pricing, moving from a non-VAT LLC to a VAT-registered one is worth 100 GEL a month. On banded pricing it usually moves you a whole tier, which is a larger jump. There is also a one-off VAT qualified status application, published at 315 to 350 GEL.
What does annual reporting cost on top of the monthly fee?
It is normally quoted separately and rarely included by default. One firm publishes a standalone annual tax return at 180 GEL. Statutory financial statements submitted through Reportal are a different job again, priced by your size category. Ask for the annual number at the same time as the monthly one.
How much does it cost to fix missed filings from previous years?
Back-year work is priced per month filed rather than as a flat catch-up. One published rate is 270 GEL for each month of prior years, so a year of neglect is a four-figure bill before any Revenue Service penalties. It is the most expensive possible way to save money on accounting in Georgia.
Is hiring an accountant in-house cheaper?
Rarely, at the volumes most foreign-owned Georgian companies run. Average monthly earnings across Georgia's economy were 2,363.8 GEL in the first quarter of 2026, and a qualified bilingual accountant costs more than the average. Outsourced packages for a small LLC start around 400 GEL a month, and the firm carries the cover when someone is away.
Do Georgian firms charge foreigners more?
The published rate cards price by transaction volume and entity type, not by owner nationality. What you pay extra for is English-language service and the complexity foreign ownership tends to bring: multi-currency income, foreign platform payouts and cross-border structures. Practices without English-speaking staff are cheaper and unusable if you cannot read Georgian correspondence.
Can I reduce the fee by doing part of the work myself?
Yes. Clean, categorised bank exports and consistent invoice numbering keep you in a lower transaction band and cut the ad hoc hours. Published hourly rates for extra work run from 115 to 300 GEL, so anything handed over messy gets expensive quickly. The filing itself is the part worth paying for.
How often do these prices change?
Rate cards in Tbilisi move roughly once a year, and tax thresholds move more often than that. The figures here reflect what three firms published in July 2026. Confirm the tax rules behind them with a Georgian accountant before you act, and treat every number as a band rather than a promise.