Translation of tax returns and corporate bank statements

A tax return and a bank statement are the two documents with which a company confirms its financial discipline: taxes are paid, the turnover is real, the money comes from a legal source. They are requested by a foreign bank when an account is opened, by a tax authority when a double taxation treaty is applied, by an investor in due diligence and by a tender commission at the qualification stage. Their translation is a special task: the translator must know what each field of a Georgian return means and what the same concept is called in the tax system of the receiving country.

Georgian tax returns and their foreign equivalents

Georgia's tax system has several particularities that are not self-evident for a foreign reader and require exact terminology or a short explanation in the translation:

• Profit tax return: under the Estonian model in force in Georgia since 2017, profit is taxed only on distribution, and the return is monthly. For a foreign accountant who expects an annual return, pointing out this difference is essential
• Value added tax return: output and input VAT, VAT credit, refund of the overpaid amount (VAT refund)
• Income tax return: withholding tax on employees' salaries and on amounts paid to non-residents
• Property tax return and excise return
• Reconciliation statement with the Revenue Service: a document that has no direct analogue in many countries and is usually rendered in translation as a "tax account reconciliation statement"
• Certificate of no tax arrears (tax clearance certificate) and certificate of tax residence

In the opposite direction we translate foreign returns and tax authority documents into Georgian: the US Form 1120 and 1040, the British CT600 and SA100, the German Steuerbescheid, Turkish and other countries' returns that are needed in Georgia to confirm the tax status of a foreign partner, founder or employee.

Tax terminology where an error is serious

• Taxable base and taxable income
• Tax period / reporting period
• Tax arrears, penalty and late payment interest: these three concepts must be strictly distinguished from each other
• Overpayment and its crediting or refund
• Tax relief, exemption and credit: three different mechanisms that are often wrongly translated by one word
• Double taxation treaty (DTT)
• Permanent establishment
• Transfer pricing and the arm's length principle
• Corporate income tax and personal income tax: the Georgian language has two different terms for these, and the English "income tax" must be resolved by the context

Translation of corporate bank statements

A bank statement often runs to dozens or hundreds of pages, where every line is a separate transaction. The main challenge in translation is not the difficulty of an individual word but the full preservation of the structure and absolute consistency throughout the document.

What a statement contains and how it is translated

• Account details: the account number, IBAN, SWIFT/BIC code and the name of the bank stay unchanged
• Opening and closing balance, debit and credit turnover
• Purpose of payment: the field with the most abbreviations, invoice numbers and free text, and where the translator's knowledge really shows
• Names of counterparties: company names are not translated, they are carried over in the Latin form registered in the Register of Entrepreneurs or in standard transliteration, and written identically throughout the document
• Fees and charges, exchange rate
• Currency codes according to the ISO 4217 standard (GEL, USD, EUR, TRY, CNY)

Related bank documents

Together with the statement a translation is often needed of a bank reference letter, a loan agreement, credit line and overdraft terms, a bank guarantee, a letter of credit, which is often submitted to the bank together with customs and import documentation, and a certificate of deposit. In these documents banking terminology merges with legal terminology, and the translation requires knowledge of both fields.

Who requests the translation of these documents and why

• Foreign banks: for KYC and AML procedures, when a corporate account is opened or a large transaction is carried out, the bank requests confirmation of turnover and of the origin of funds
• Foreign tax authorities: to obtain relief under a double taxation treaty or to recover withholding tax, the Georgian certificate of residence and returns are translated
• Group parent companies: transfer pricing documentation and tax reconciliation for the group's tax department
• Investors and buyers: tax due diligence before a deal is closed, usually together with the audit report and the balance sheets
• Tender commissions: a certificate of no tax arrears and confirmation of financial turnover are a qualification requirement
• International arbitration and courts: in financial disputes a bank statement is evidence and its translation must be notarized

Confidentiality: bank and tax secrecy

A bank statement and a tax return contain a company's most sensitive information: with whom, how much and for what purpose settlements are made. Every contributor in the financial and business translation practice works under a signed confidentiality agreement, files are transferred over an encrypted channel, only the direct contributors have access to the project, and after completion the files are deleted within the agreed period. On request the client's own NDA form is signed before work starts.

Certification and deadlines

A translation to be submitted to a foreign bank, tax authority or court is notarized, and where needed we advise on the apostille procedure. One return or bank certificate is usually ready within 1 working day, while a voluminous statement is assessed by the number of pages. A request from a bank or a tax authority often has a short deadline, so express service is standard practice here.

Frequently asked questions