OK you have done some serious research on Georgia thanks for sharing.
Here are some other developments that shed light on what could happen from here onwards (in any country):
1. Slovenia formerly had tax-free crypto gains > Introduction of 10% tax - investment or professional trading (income tax) still on a case-by-case basis as before.
2. Denmark formerly had tax-free crypto gains > Introduction of tax 40%+ with retroactive effect from 2013 - court cases are still pending
3. Austria formerly had tax-free crypto gains if holding more than 1 year > introduction of 27.5% capital gains tax for any crypto purchased after February︀ 2021 (still draft at this stage).
4. UK - formerly, in theory non-doms could have︁ tax-free crypto gains - tax authorities recently made a ruling that any crypto held by︂ an individual resident in the UK is "located in the UK", i.e. income is taxable︃
5. Malta - heavily advertised as tax-free for crypto - a badges of trade test︄ has been introduced for differentiating between professional traders and investors. Possibly also different tax treatment︅ of crypto classified as securities (taxable) vs. assets (not-taxable).
6. Romania - possibly 1-3% revenue︆ tax for company reduced from 1M revenue to 500k - 100k was discussed.
7. UAE︇ - formerly completely tax-free as no income tax, from July 2023 onwards, continuous trading as︈ opposed to infrequent may be subject to 9% corporate tax.
In the light of the︉ above, I believe changes can happen anywhere.
I understand your constitutional argument but it's close︊ to fantasy that the Georgian courts would negate the written law or a legally binding︋ decision "just because". The risks are that the law could be changed or that a︌ new decision could further clarify the interpretation of law, expanding the tax base.
- the︍ way it works is that courts interpret an existing law - a law without judicial︎ decisions backing its validity is less strong than a law with judicial decisions. Courts can️ issue conflicting decisions in which case it goes to a higher court. Needless to say the absence of a law is even weaker.
The decision references " income (including benefits) received by a resident natural person is exempt from income tax, which does not belong to the income received from a source in Georgia" and "
cryptocurrency has no physical form, is not located in a specific location". This is a strong interpretation that Geogia doesn't consider crypto as being local to the owner, in the way that Thailand or UK do for example.
- yes but the whole operation could be interpreted as "running︀ a business while located in Georgia i.e. subject to Georgian tax". Your business can be︁ located in the North Pole but what is crucial is where you are managing it︂ from. As I mentioned in the UK it was not considered located in the UK︃ but now it is considered located in the UK. Surprise, surprise.
The second difference is︄ that Georgia doesn't distinguish capital gains vs income like in some EU countries, or have︅ "badges or trade" like in the UK. So this treatment of crypto is similar to︆ Fx or foreign stock trading which is generally exempt income for Georgian residents natural persons-︇ even for organised and frequent day traders unlike PT or UK or wherever.
- this︈ could be either because they declare their profits in their tax return and the tax︉ authorities say "forex? that's not located in Georgia, your tax obligation is zero" or because︊ they don't declare their profits assuming they don't need to be declared because they are︋ not located in Georgia - which may or may not be tax evasion. As a︌ rule, passive foreign income (interest, royalties, rent) is not taxable but day trading forex or︍ stocks is not passive income.