How the excise duty is calculated
The excise is engine displacement multiplied by an age coefficient, and the result is in lari. A 650cc machine with a coefficient of 0.7 carries 455 GEL of excise; the same bike at a coefficient of 2.4 carries 1,560 GEL.
Displacement is taken from the registration document, not from the model name. A bike marketed as a 650 may be declared at 649cc or 655cc, and the declared figure is the one that counts.
Age counts from the model year to the current calendar year, not from the date of first registration. A bike that sat unsold in a showroom for two years still counts from the year it was built, so it reaches the next coefficient band sooner than its owner expects.
Which model years cost the least to clear
The coefficient is not a straight line. It sits at 1.5 for a machine under a year old, drops to 1.3 at one year, then falls to 0.7 for anything two to five years old — the cheapest band on the table. Six to nine years costs 0.8, and a ten-year-old bike returns to 1.0.
After that it climbs steeply: 1.3 at eleven years, 1.5 at twelve, 1.8 at thirteen, 2.1 at fourteen and 2.4 beyond that. An older motorcycle is cheaper to buy and more expensive to clear, and past about twelve years the clearance cost can outweigh what you saved on the purchase.
If you are choosing between candidates abroad, the two-to-nine-year window is where the arithmetic works out best. It is worth running two or three model years through the calculator before you travel.
The fixed fees
On top of the excise sit charges that do not vary with the bike: a service fee of 150 GEL, processing of 145 GEL, an expert examination at 30 GEL, the declaration itself at 50 GEL and transit at 50 GEL. Together they add 425 GEL to every clearance regardless of displacement or age.
These are the reason a small, cheap machine can still cost more to clear than owners expect. On a 125cc bike two to five years old the excise is under 100 GEL, so the fixed fees are the larger part of the bill.
Documents and where clearance happens
You will need the foreign registration document, the purchase contract or invoice, your identity document and the transport paperwork covering the journey to the border. Clearance is handled through the Revenue Service, and the declaration can be filed at a customs clearance zone or electronically through rs.ge.
Registration in Georgia follows clearance and is handled separately, at a Public Service Hall or a Service Agency branch. Budget time for both — they are not a single appointment.
What the estimate does not cover
The figure produced here is the clearance cost. It does not include transport to the Georgian border, insurance during the journey, any repairs needed to pass technical inspection, or the registration fee itself.
Rates are set by the Revenue Service and can change. Treat the result as a planning figure and confirm the current tariff on rs.ge before you commit to a purchase.
