Do I have to file at home while living in Georgia?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and Georgia?
Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.
I own property in Georgia. Where is the rent taxed?
In Georgia, because that is where the property sits. The complication is the base: gross-rent withholding takes no account of mortgage interest, tax or repairs, so a leveraged property can face tax on turnover. An election onto net profit, where it exists, is what fixes that — and it has its own timing.
Do I still have to file at home after moving to Georgia?
Moving does not end a home-country filing obligation by itself. Residence is decided on the ties you keep — where your home is, where your family lives, where the ordinary business of your life is carried on — and a Georgian residence permit does not settle that on its own. Until residence actually ends there is a return covering worldwide income, and the year of the move is usually a part-year computation rather than a clean break. We look at the date the ties genuinely shifted, not the date stamped on the permit, and file the departure year on that basis.
Does a favourable Georgian small business regime mean I owe nothing at home?
No. A favourable local regime changes what Georgia collects; it does not change whether your former country still counts you as resident. If it does, the income is reported there in full, and the credit you get is limited to the tax Georgia actually took — which, under a small-business regime, may be very little. A low local rate then moves the tax rather than removing it. The question worth asking before registering is whether home-country residence has ended, because the regime is only worth what your other filing position allows it to be worth.
I am a US citizen in Georgia — do I still file?
Yes. American filing follows citizenship rather than where you live, so a return continues for as long as you hold the passport, whatever your Georgian status. What changes is the relief available. Foreign earned income treatment and credit for Georgian tax both rest on facts you must be able to evidence: where you were physically, what you were paid, and what Georgia actually assessed. Where a small-business regime means little Georgian tax was paid, credit relief is thin and the presence-based route usually carries more of the weight. Keep the records as you go; reconstructing them later is the expensive part.
How does Georgia decide whether I am tax resident there?
Georgia looks principally at how much of the year you are physically present, and there are separate routes to residence that follow status rather than presence. Presence is a question of evidence, so keep entry and exit stamps, boarding passes and a tenancy agreement. The harder half is usually the other side of the move: your former country may still regard you as resident on ties alone. Where both countries claim you and a treaty applies, its tie-breaker decides which one gives way. Where no treaty applies, both claims stand and relief depends on each country's own credit rules.
Will my Indian residency end if I move to Georgia?
Not automatically. Indian residence is worked out on physical presence within the year and, for people who have been in the country regularly, on a further test that looks back over earlier years. A person can therefore leave and still be resident for the whole year of departure. There is also an intermediate status that narrows which foreign income is caught. None of this is settled by a Georgian permit. Work the Indian position out year by year from the travel record, and only then decide what the Georgian income means for it.
Can the same Georgian income end up taxed twice?
It can, and the usual reason is characterisation rather than bad luck. Home countries tax residents on worldwide income and relieve foreign tax on the same income by credit, but only where both sides agree what the income is and when it arose. A payment treated as business turnover under a Georgian regime and as employment income at home does not line up, and the credit claim then fails on the mismatch rather than on the rate. The fix is to document the source, the contract and the local assessment before filing, so that both returns describe one transaction.
How do I file US taxes when I am married to a foreign spouse?
Three routes. File separately, listing your spouse as a non-resident alien — which needs either an identification number for them or the accepted notation where none exists. Elect to treat them as a resident and file jointly, gaining the joint brackets and accepting their worldwide income. Or file as head of household if you have a qualifying dependant, which some Americans abroad can do while married. The right answer turns on their income and their assets. See a US person with a non-resident spouse.
Can I claim the child tax credit if I live abroad?
Partly, and the split matters. The non-refundable part can reduce US tax if the child meets the identification requirement in time. The refundable part is calculated on earned income, so excluding your salary with the foreign earned income exclusion removes the very figure it is built on — which is one of the clearest cases where the exclusion costs more than the credit route. Modelling both is the only way to know. See exclusion against credit.
