I live in Georgia and all you need to set up sole proprietor ship is an apostilled copy of your passport and a power of attorney for your representative. Besides some LLCs I use this status as well for some of my business activity. I know some people as well who use it without living in Georgia.
Something is not so clear for me. What I understood is this :
1) you can create a virtual IT zone company - this is basically an LLC with a special name (and the 0 % tax for income generated abroad)
2) you can combine a virtual IT zone (5 % dividend tax) and sole proprietorship eg for a non-IT activity (1 % up to +/- 166.000 euro)
3) an accountant wrote to me that, if you have residency in Georgia, the 1 % does not count : it is 20 % income tax that is applied - correct ?
4) if you become a resident, your LLC must have a minimum annual turnover of 18.000 euro per year and you are obliged to take out a salary - correct ?
What I don't understand is this scenario : what if you set up the virtual IT zone company first - and later on you move and actually become (tax) resident of Georgia. Does the 5 % dividend tax still apply ? As I read somewhere that no dividend tax is withheld for georgian residents. Perhaps Offshorenerd would know ?
By the way (totally off the tax topic but still ... relevant if you consider moving there) : I read somewhere that sometimes, there is no water, or only very low debit, barely enough for washing machine / showers / etc. - correct or exagerated ? Also, Georgia ranks "bad" for internet speed - correct or exagerated ? Finally : in winter, how cold does it get and how many months is it usually freezing ?
Also, what seems lacking, is a decent offer of accounting offices. (and think of it : monthly average salary in georgia for a bookkeeper is about 400 euro per month ; but big firms sell their packages for 150 euro per month even if you have less than 20 invoices). Should be available then for less)
