Georgia Company Register: How to Search and Verify Business Information
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Georgia Company Register: How to Search and Verify Business Information
A georgia company register search is often the first step a foreign founder takes before committing to anything, a company name, a local partner, a supplier, or a lease. Georgia's company database is public, free to access, and more detailed than many investors expect. Knowing how to read it saves time and prevents costly mistakes.
The register sits within the National Agency of Public Registry, known by its Georgian abbreviation NAPR. Every legal entity registered in Georgia, an LLC, a joint-stock company, an individual entrepreneur, a branch, or a non-profit, appears in this database. The records include ownership structure, legal address, charter documents, and registration history.
This guide explains how the search tool works, what each record actually tells you, and what the results mean in practice for a foreign founder, remote worker, or investor making a real decision about company registration in Georgia.
What the Georgia Company Register Actually Contains
The NAPR database is not a summary index. Each record is a live legal file. When you pull up an entity, you see the data that governs its legal existence, not a simplified business-directory snapshot.
A typical LLC record shows the full legal name in both Georgian and Latin script, the registration number, the date of first registration, and the current status, whether active, liquidated, or suspended. It also shows the registered legal address, which matters if you are vetting a supplier or prospective partner.
Ownership data is where the register becomes genuinely useful. For most LLCs, the record lists the names of all partners, their ownership percentages, and whether any shares have been pledged as collateral. If a company has changed hands, the historical ownership chain is visible. A German tech founder once used this to discover that a prospective local partner had transferred majority control three months earlier, before any due diligence meeting had taken place.
The charter document, the equivalent of articles of association, is attached to the record as a scanned file. You can read the stated business purpose, the decision-making rules, and the authorised signatory limits. This tells you, for example, whether a director signing a contract with you has the formal authority to do so.
One important structural distinction: Individual Entrepreneurs registered in Georgia appear in NAPR as well, but under a separate category. Their records show the IE registration number and the owner's personal identification details. If you are considering registering as an IE yourself to access the 1% small business turnover tax, the register is where your own entry will appear once registration completes.
How to Run a Georgia Company Register Search Step by Step
The search interface is available at the NAPR portal. You do not need an account or login to run a basic search. Results appear in Georgian by default, but the key data fields map predictably to English once you know the structure.
You can search by three inputs: legal entity name, registration number, or identification number. Name searches work with partial strings, useful when you only have a trading name rather than the exact registered legal name. Registration number searches return an exact match instantly. The identification number, a nine-digit code assigned at registration, is the most reliable input because it never changes even if the company rebrands.
Here is the practical sequence for a due diligence check:
Enter the company name or number in the NAPR search bar.
Open the entity record and note the current status field.
Download the charter document to check authorised signatories.
Review the ownership tab for current partners and any pledged shares.
Note the registered legal address and cross-reference it with any address the company has given you independently.
Switch to rs.ge and search the same identification number to check tax registration status.
The full extract, a certified legal document showing the complete current record, can be ordered through the House of Justice for a small fee. Confirm the current fee on the NAPR portal directly, as it falls into Tier B figures that can change. The extract carries an official stamp and is accepted by banks, notaries, and foreign authorities. If you need it for use outside Georgia, an apostille can be added through the same channel.
For founders going through company registration in Georgia themselves, understanding the register also means knowing what your own record will look like to counterparties. Your LLC's charter, ownership structure, and registered address all become public the moment registration completes.
NAPR Extract vs Tax Registration Certificate: What Each One Proves
Foreign founders frequently confuse two documents that look similar but prove different things. An NAPR extract and a tax registration certificate from the Revenue Service both carry official stamps. They speak to completely different facts.
Dimension | NAPR Extract | Tax Registration Certificate |
Issuing authority | National Agency of Public Registry | Revenue Service (rs.ge) |
What it confirms | Legal existence, ownership, charter | Active taxpayer status, TIN assignment |
Ownership details | Yes, full partner list with percentages | No |
Director / signatory info | Yes | No |
Tax compliance history | No | Partial (TIN status only) |
Accepted by banks for account opening | Yes, usually required | Yes, usually required alongside |
Accepted for foreign apostille | Yes | Requires separate legalisation process |
Typical processing time | Same day (digital); 1-3 business days (certified paper) | Same day in most cases |
Both documents are required when opening a bank account in Georgia. Banks ask for the NAPR extract to verify legal structure and the tax certificate to confirm the entity has a live TIN. Presenting only one will stall the application.
The charter document attached to an NAPR record also serves a purpose that neither certificate covers: it proves internal governance. A bank's compliance team, a foreign counterparty, or a notary may ask specifically to see the charter to confirm that the signatory acting on behalf of the company is properly authorised. This is especially relevant for LLCs set up remotely via power of attorney, a common route for founders who complete their georgia llc registration without travelling to Tbilisi.
The tax certificate, on its own, tells you only that an entity has a TIN and was registered with the Revenue Service. It says nothing about whether the company has filed returns, paid VAT, or resolved any outstanding liabilities. For a deeper tax compliance picture, you need a tax clearance letter, which is a separate document ordered from rs.ge and not the same as the standard certificate. Understanding the full tax deadlines and reporting cycle helps you gauge what a counterparty's compliance obligations should look like, and spot gaps in what they present to you.
Red Flags a Register Search Will Surface
A clean NAPR extract is a starting point, not a green light. Knowing what warning signs look like in raw register data saves you from costly assumptions.
The most obvious red flag is a registered agent address shared by dozens of unrelated companies. Georgia permits the use of address leasing services, so a shared address is not automatically suspicious. A company with ten employees and a shared address is normal. A company claiming significant local operations from the same address as two hundred others warrants a follow-up question.
Watch the director history. If a Georgian LLC has cycled through three directors in eighteen months, the extract will show each appointment and removal date. Frequent changes can signal ownership disputes, regulatory pressure, or a nominee arrangement that is no longer serving its purpose. None of these is automatically disqualifying, but each deserves an explanation before you sign anything.
Gaps in the charter history also matter. If the founding date is 2019 but the first charter amendment appears in 2023, ask what changed and why. A major restructuring, a new shareholder, or a change in activity scope will all leave traces. The extract shows the gap; your due diligence fills it.
One more pattern worth flagging: a company with a very recent registration date presenting itself as an established market player. The register shows the exact founding date. If a counterparty claims five years of Georgian operations but was registered eight months ago, something does not add up.
Reading Special Statuses: Virtual Zone, International Company, and Free Industrial Zone
These statuses matter enormously during a georgia company register search because they tell you which tax regime a company operates under, not just whether it exists.
A Virtual Zone LLC pays 0% corporate income tax on revenue earned from IT services delivered outside Georgia. The status is visible in the NAPR extract and must be actively maintained. If a tech supplier tells you they benefit from Virtual Zone treatment, verify it in the register before relying on their invoicing structure. You can read a full breakdown of Virtual Zone annual compliance requirements to understand what a compliant Virtual Zone entity should be doing each year.
The International Company status follows a different path. It requires Ministry of Finance approval and is designed for large companies with genuine substance in Georgia. Both statuses appear in official records, so a company claiming either one should be verifiable in under five minutes.
Free Industrial Zone entities operate under yet another framework and are typically located in Kutaisi or Poti. Their registration appears in a separate FIZ registry, not always cross-referenced in NAPR's main search. If you are dealing with an FIZ company, ask them to produce their zone registration certificate directly.
iGaming operators carry their own licensing layer on top of standard company registration. A company can be registered as an LLC and separately licensed under Georgia's iGaming framework. The register confirms the entity; the iGaming licensing details sit with the regulator. Always check both sources when vetting a gaming operator.
Verifying a Company Before Signing: A Step-by-Step Process
This sequence takes one to three business days if the counterparty is cooperative. It can stretch to a week if you need a certified paper extract or if the tax clearance letter involves any manual processing on their side.
Start with the name search on NAPR's public portal. Confirm the legal name matches exactly what appears on the contract draft, not a translated variant or a trading name. Georgian LLCs sometimes operate under a brand name that differs from their registered name, and the contract must use the registered name to be enforceable.
Download the full extract including all historical charter versions. Review the founding documents for the scope of business activities. If a company's charter limits it to retail trade and you are contracting for software services, there is a mismatch worth resolving in writing.
Cross-check the TIN on the Revenue Service portal at rs.ge. This confirms the entity is tax-registered and shows its VAT status. A company billing you VAT must be a registered VAT payer. If they are not listed as such, you have a compliance problem before the ink dries.
Ask the counterparty for a tax clearance letter, not the standard tax registration certificate covered earlier. The clearance letter confirms no outstanding tax debts as of the issuance date. It is their responsibility to obtain it; a reluctance to provide one is itself informative.
Finally, confirm that the person signing the contract matches the director named in the extract, or that a valid power of attorney exists in the record. Georgia's company law generally requires the director to execute contracts on behalf of an LLC unless the charter grants authority to others. An unsigned or incorrectly signed contract can be challenged later.
What Register Data Cannot Tell You, and Where to Look Instead
Information Gap | What the Register Shows | Where to Find the Full Picture |
Outstanding tax liabilities | TIN registration only | Tax clearance letter from rs.ge |
Bank account status | Not recorded | Direct bank confirmation or account statement |
Active litigation | Not recorded | Court records via court.ge |
Actual VAT filing history | Not recorded | Counterparty's own VAT reports |
Employee headcount | Not recorded | Social service agency records or payroll disclosure |
Beneficial owner (UBO) beyond nominees | Declared shareholders only | Supplementary UBO disclosure request |
Foreign parent company details | Georgian entity only | Foreign register search in parent's jurisdiction |
This table captures the most common assumption gap in due diligence: buyers and partners treat the register as comprehensive when it is actually limited to legal identity and structure.
Court records are a separate system in Georgia. The court.ge portal allows searches by company name and TIN. Active litigation, judgment debts, and enforcement proceedings do not appear in NAPR and will not surface in a standard register search. For any contract above a meaningful threshold, a court record check takes under an hour and adds real depth.
Beneficial ownership is the other major blind spot. Georgian law requires disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners, but the publicly searchable extract may only show nominee shareholders or intermediary holding companies. For higher-risk transactions, a formal UBO disclosure request backed by a contractual representation is the more reliable route.
If you are hiring staff through the entity or inheriting its employment relationships, the register tells you nothing about payroll compliance. Georgia's payroll management rules require withholding and reporting through the Revenue Service, and gaps there are not visible in NAPR at all.
For counterparties with foreign parent companies, conduct a parallel register search in the parent's jurisdiction. The Georgian entity is only part of the picture. A Dutch BV or a UK Ltd as the parent company should be verifiable through their respective national registries, most of which offer free public searches.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a certified NAPR extract remain valid for bank or contract purposes?
There is no universal statutory validity period for a standard NAPR extract in Georgia. Banks and counterparties typically treat an extract as current if it was issued within 30 days. For property transactions or notarised agreements, some parties require an extract issued within 10 business days. Always confirm the counterparty's specific requirement before ordering, because re-ordering an extract that is deemed "too old" wastes both time and fees.
Can I search the Georgia company register in English?
NAPR's main online portal operates primarily in Georgian. The search fields accept Georgian-script names and TINs. Numeric TIN searches work regardless of language. If you know a company's TIN, use that as your primary search term to avoid transliteration errors. Certified English-language extracts can be ordered as an apostilled document, which is useful for international due diligence purposes. The apostille and notary legalization process explains how to obtain one efficiently.
What happens if two companies have very similar names?
Georgia does not prohibit names that are phonetically similar to existing registrations, only exact duplicates. You can encounter an LLC named "TBC Solutions" and another named "TBC Solution" as genuinely separate entities. Always verify by TIN, not name alone. This is a common source of confusion in payment routing and contract drafting, particularly for foreign parties who may not notice a one-character difference in transliterated Georgian.
Does a dissolved company stay permanently searchable in the register?
Yes. Dissolved, liquidated, and struck-off companies remain in the NAPR database and are searchable by name and TIN. Their status will show as liquidated or deregistered. This is useful when tracing historical business relationships or checking whether a revived entity shares its name or TIN with a previously dissolved one. A new company cannot reuse an exact TIN, so a match between an active and a dissolved entity on TIN is not possible.
Can a sole trader (Individual Entrepreneur) be verified through the same register?
Individual Entrepreneurs registered in Georgia appear in a separate section of the NAPR records and are also registered with the Revenue Service for tax purposes. The same TIN-based search on rs.ge applies. An IE does not have a charter or share structure, so the extract is simpler, covering identity, registration date, and activity type. If you are contracting with a freelancer or consultant operating as an IE under small business status, confirm their Revenue Service registration to ensure their invoices carry a valid TIN.
What is the penalty for a Georgian company that provides false register information to a counterparty?
Georgian civil law allows the injured party to pursue damages if a counterparty misrepresented its legal status. Deliberate misrepresentation in a commercial contract can also trigger fraud provisions under the criminal code. The register itself is not the enforcement mechanism; the liability arises in litigation or arbitration. This is why a contractual representation and warranty clause tied to the register data, director authority, and tax clearance letter provides cleaner protection than relying on the register alone.
If a company was recently registered, is that itself a red flag?
Not automatically. Georgia processes most standard LLC registrations within one to three business days, as explained in more detail on how long company registration takes. Many legitimate businesses begin operating immediately after registration. The question is whether the company's claims about its history and track record match the registration date. A recently registered entity presenting multi-year contracts, legacy client lists, or an established banking relationship inherited from a dissolved predecessor deserves closer scrutiny of the transition documents.
What to Watch Next
NAPR is updating its public portal infrastructure on an ongoing basis. Watch for expanded English-language search functionality and broader UBO disclosure requirements, both of which have been discussed at the regulatory level. Georgia's corporate income tax framework and reporting obligations for resident companies are also subject to periodic revision, and changes there will affect what a tax clearance letter needs to reflect. If you are registering a new entity rather than vetting an existing one, the practical next step is understanding your own registration timeline and structure options, including whether an LLC or an Individual Entrepreneur registration fits your situation. Once your entity is live in the register, maintaining clean records from day one, accurate director data, updated charters, and timely tax filings, is what ensures your own company passes the same scrutiny you are applying to others.
