On 2 March 2021, the Georgian Ministry of Finance published Decree No.45 amending the Georgian transfer pricing rules regarding the Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreement (APA). The decree amends the APA clauses, most importantly reducing the filing thresholds and providing samples of the documents required for the APA application process. The new decree provides that taxpayers will be entitled to request a pre-application meeting with the transfer pricing department of the Georgian tax office to discuss the case. Based on the impressions / conclusions from this meeting, the taxpayer can then decide whether to continue with the APA application or to withdraw. The meeting also helps the tax authority analyze whether the application should be accepted if it is submitted.

The decree removed the criteria of the value of future expected controlled transactions that were provided in previous TP rules, which stipulated that companies could only apply for an APA if the value of future expected controlled transactions was at least Gel 50 million. Thus, Georgian companies are entitled to apply for a unilateral APA in Georgia regardless of the value of the expected controlled transactions.

The decree states that the APA requirements must be submitted in Georgian language. If the related documents are prepared in another language, a Georgian translation is required upon request of the authority. The APA application process should be completed within four months of completing an APA (if not rejected) with a possible extension of two months. The decree contains the annual requirements for the APA compliance report, which is due by April 1 following each year the APA applies.