Georgia's 1% regime stops being 1% at 500,000 lari — and a long list of trades cannot use it at all

This is the point most newcomers miss. The 1% is charged on everything that comes in, with no deduction for rent, equipment, contractors or anything else. For a consultant with almost no costs that is an excellent deal. For a business that buys and resells, or that pays out most of what it takes in, the arithmetic can be worse than the standard regime, because a thin margin on a large turnover is still taxed on the turnover. Work out your own cost ratio before assuming the headline rate is a saving.

Up to 500,000 lari of annual turnover, the rate is 1%. Between 500,000 and one million, the part above the first threshold is taxed at 3%. Above one million lari the status is revoked and the entrepreneur returns to the standard regime from the following tax year. Separately, VAT registration at 18% becomes compulsory once Georgian-source taxable turnover passes 100,000 lari over any twelve consecutive months — note that this is a rolling window, not a calendar year. Income from clients abroad for services performed outside Georgia is generally outside the scope of Georgian VAT.

Any individual registered in Georgia as an individual entrepreneur can apply regardless of citizenship, but a number of activities are shut out: banking and insurance, medical and pharmacy work, notarial and architectural services, legal and accounting services, currency exchange, employment agencies, gambling, leasing, and brokerage of residential property. Construction services supplied to Georgian companies and individual entrepreneurs were added to the exclusions in February 2025. The authoritative list is Article 88 of the Tax Code, and it is the article to check rather than any summary, this one included.

Two steps: register as an individual entrepreneur at the House of Justice or through the registry's online portal, which issues a tax ID, then apply for the status at the Revenue Service or through rs.ge. The status starts on the first day of the month after the application, so timing matters at a year end. Both steps can be done through a representative holding a notarised power of attorney. After that a declaration and the 1% payment are due by the 15th of each following month, even in months with no turnover at all, and the annual income declaration by 1 April. The status does not switch off pension contributions for Georgian citizens and permanent residents.