Eligibility
The Small Business Status (1% on turnover up to 500,000 GEL) is a privilege the Revenue Service grants on application, and it can withdraw it. Most sales pages skip the limits. Here they are, with the legal basis.
Government Resolution No. 415 of 29 December 2010, Annex 4, lists activities for which the status cannot be granted at all. If any part of your turnover comes from them, the status is withdrawn back to 1 January of that year and the whole year is taxed at the regular 20% on net profit.
Activities that require a licence or permit (except the Tbilisi taxi permit)
Activities that require significant investment, and the production of excise goods
Currency exchange operations
Medical, architectural, legal (advocacy and notary), audit and consultancy activities, including tax consultancy
Gambling
Staffing and personnel supply
Trade in excise goods
The word consultancy is read broadly in practice: management advice, marketing advice and business advice are regularly treated as consultancy, and the NACE code you register under matters (70.22 management consultancy is a red flag). Executing work such as software development, design, content production or technical services qualifies, as long as the contract and the actual work are free of advice.
Annex 5 lists income that does not end your status, but is taxed separately and does not count towards the 500,000 GEL ceiling.
Rental income from property: 5% on gross residential rent, 20% on commercial rent
Capital gains on your own assets
Dividends, interest and royalties
Gifts and inheritances
Salary from employment
From the month in which your turnover passes 500,000 GEL (roughly 170,000 EUR) the rate is 3% for the rest of the calendar year. The status ends if the ceiling is exceeded in two consecutive years. An LLC under the Estonian-style profit tax is usually the better structure at that level.
The 1% applies to Georgian-source business income. Article 104 of the Tax Code treats income from personal services as Georgian-source when the work is physically performed in Georgia. Someone who registers an IE by power of attorney and never works from Georgia may have no qualifying income at all, while remaining fully taxable at home. Registration alone does not make you a Georgian tax resident; that takes 183 days in a rolling twelve months, or the high-net-worth programme.
Order No. 999 of the Minister of Finance, as amended on 5 February 2026, makes a monthly return mandatory for every status holder, due by the 15th of the following month, even in months with zero turnover. Missing returns are fined. The status now starts on the day of application instead of the first day of the next month.