Micro business in Georgia: 0% tax and the 30,000 GEL limit

Micro business status in Georgia exempts income up to 30,000 GEL per calendar year from income tax. It is open to a natural person who works alone, with no hired employees, outside the excluded activities: consulting, legal and medical services, currency exchange, reselling goods. You don't have to register as an individual entrepreneur. Reporting is a single annual return due by 1 April. If your income goes over the limit, you have 15 days to move to small business status with its 1% tax.

Who can get micro business status

Article 84 of the Tax Code describes a natural person who works independently, hires no employees and earns no more than 30,000 GEL in a calendar year. Family members who help in the business don't count as hired employees.

You don't need to register as an individual entrepreneur. If you aren't yet registered with the tax authority, the tax registration application goes in together with the status application. A registered individual entrepreneur can work as a micro business as well. That is a real difference from the 1% status, which is only available to individual entrepreneurs.

The Code sets no citizenship requirement. Foreigners face a separate rule from labour law: since March 2026, working for yourself in Georgia requires a right to work if any of your clients are Georgian companies or residents. Services to foreign clients fall outside that rule; the sole proprietor registration guide has the details.

Who is excluded

The excluded activities are listed in Annex 2 to Government Decree No. 415. It is not the same list as for the 1% status.

• activities that need a licence or a permit;
• consulting of any kind, including tax consulting, and legal, notarial, audit, medical and architectural services;
• currency exchange;
• gambling;
• trade, meaning reselling goods you bought. Turning bought materials into your own product is not trade.

Trade is the main difference from the 1% status. A shop or marketplace reselling can work under 1%, but not as a micro business. Software development, design, writing, translation and online teaching are not on the excluded list.

What counts towards the 30,000 GEL limit

The limit covers all income from your business activity in the calendar year, with no deduction for expenses. Foreign-currency payments are converted to lari at the NBG rate for the day they arrived; the NBG rate calculator gives the rate for any date.

Some incomes stay outside the limit and are taxed under the usual rules: rent, interest on loans and deposits, dividends, royalties, winnings, and gains on real estate and securities. A salary from an employer is taxed separately too.

How to apply

Submit an application to the Revenue Service on the form from the instruction on special tax regimes. The status applies from the date you put in the application, but not earlier than the day it is registered. The certificate is issued within two working days. Your status and certificate number must appear on the documents you give clients (article 87).

Returns and records

A micro business files one income tax return a year, by 1 April of the following year (article 93). There are no monthly returns like those under the 1% status. If you stop the activity, the return is due within 30 working days. Since 2026 you keep income records for three years after the end of the calendar year, down from six.

MyIncome.ge converts each payment to lari at the NBG rate for the day it arrived, so your total since January is easy to check against the 30,000 GEL limit. Signing up is free.

If your income goes over 30,000 GEL

The status stops applying once your income for the year passes 30,000 GEL or you hire an employee. What follows depends on how quickly you apply for small business status (Minister of Finance Order No. 38 of 5 February 2026).

When you apply	Income before the limit	Income after the limit
Within 15 days	0%, under micro business rules	1%, under small business rules
After 15 days	general rules, 20%, from 1 January to the application date	1% from the application date

Say you design and bill 3,000 GEL a month. By the end of October you've earned exactly 30,000 GEL, and the November payment takes you over. Apply for small business status within 15 days and the November payment and everything after it is taxed at 1%, while the 30,000 GEL for January to October stays at 0%. Apply in December instead, and everything you received from 1 January to the application date falls under the general rules.

Small business status requires an individual entrepreneur registration. If you've been working as a private person, register as an individual entrepreneur in advance, while your income is approaching the limit.

Micro business or the 1% status

	Micro business	Small business
Tax	0%	1% of turnover, 3% above the limit
Income limit	30,000 GEL a year	500,000 GEL a year
Individual entrepreneur registration	not required	required
Hired employees	not allowed	allowed
Trade	not allowed	allowed
Returns	one a year, by 1 April	monthly, by the 15th

The 1% tax guide covers small business status in detail.

When the status is cancelled

Micro business status ends at your request, when you exceed the limit or hire someone, when you register for VAT, when your inventory is worth more than 45,000 GEL, and when you take up an excluded activity. The last one also carries a 500 GEL fine. You can apply again from the next calendar year, with a new certificate number.

This is general information, not tax advice. Rules change, so check with rs.ge or an accountant before you apply.