One Percent

Not one percent after deductions. One percent of everything a qualifying Georgian Small Business Status holder bills, up to roughly GEL 500,000 (about USD 185,000) a year. Take Nino, a solo consultant billing USD 150,000 a year to clients scattered across three continents: her Georgian tax bill is approximately USD 1,500. Not 15%, not 1.5%. One percent.

That's the whole tax. No corporate tax layered on top. No Georgian VAT under the registration threshold. No personal income tax on qualifying business income. None of that touches what your clients' own countries require of you, though — if you're billing consumers in the EU or UK for digital services, you may still need to register and account for VAT there under their own rules, regardless of your 1% Georgian rate.

Who Qualifies

Small Business Status is available to Individual Entrepreneurs — natural persons registered as sole proprietors, not through a company. Qualifying activities cover most consulting, professional services, software development, digital services, and similar location-independent work. Excluded: gambling, mining, financial services, medical services, and a handful of others.

You must employ no more than three people under the regime, and revenue must stay below GEL 500,000/year. Cross that ceiling and you drop into the ordinary regime — 20% personal tax plus VAT registration.

The Setup

• Register as an Individual Entrepreneur in Georgia. Takes 1–2 days.

• Apply for Small Business Status separately, once you meet the qualifying-activity criteria.

• Open a Georgian bank account — Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, or others. Onboarding typically takes 1–3 weeks.

• Establish tax residency: either 183+ days physically in Georgia, or HNW Resident status, which doesn't require physical presence but does require meeting a wealth or income threshold. Either route only helps if your previous home country also agrees you've stopped being resident there. Georgia granting you residency doesn't override a CFC-rules country's own test — if you haven't genuinely left under its rules, or if the business is still effectively directed from wherever you used to live, that country can keep taxing you regardless of what Georgia says.

• Invoice clients through your Individual Entrepreneur registration.

The Cost of Georgian Life

Tbilisi is cheap by international standards — a comfortable single-founder life runs roughly USD 1,500–2,500/month. Batumi, on the Black Sea coast, is similar or slightly cheaper. Both sit well below Panama, and dramatically below the UAE.

The Banking Reality

Georgian banks — Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank — offer functional business and personal banking in USD, EUR, and GEL. For serious international operations, most Georgia-based online business owners also maintain accounts at Wise, Mercury, or similar alongside their Georgian domestic banking.

The 500K Ceiling Problem

The Small Business regime caps at GEL 500,000 annual turnover, roughly USD 185K. Below that ceiling, Georgia is possibly the world's most tax-efficient legal structure for a solo consultant. Above it, the options are: drop into the Georgian ordinary regime (20% personal tax plus VAT), split operations across multiple entities (real anti-avoidance risk here — don't do this casually), add a Georgian LLC with different tax treatment, or relocate to a more scalable jurisdiction such as the UAE or Panama.

Georgia can be an excellent early-stage base for a growing online business. It isn't built to be the permanent structure once you're well past the ceiling.

Comparison for Online Business Owners

• Panama
  Georgia's edge: Much cheaper, simpler at small scale
  The alternative's edge: No revenue ceiling, stronger USD banking, better for scaling past GEL 500K

• UAE
  Georgia's edge: Dramatically cheaper cost of living
  The alternative's edge: Better for larger operations and ecosystem prestige

• Portugal (post-NHR)
  Georgia's edge: Clearly better tax-wise for solo consultants now
  The alternative's edge: Better EU access and lifestyle

• Estonia
  Georgia's edge: Simpler and lower tax below the ceiling
  The alternative's edge: Taxes only distributed profits, so it scales further without a hard cap

The HNW Resident Twist

Georgia's HNW Resident status offers an unusual feature: tax residency without physical presence, for individuals meeting a wealth threshold (GEL 3M+) or an income threshold (GEL 200K+/year for three years). For genuinely mobile HNW online business owners, this can establish Georgian tax residency without spending 183 days in the country.

It isn't directly connected to the 1% Small Business regime, which does require actual Georgian operations — but it's relevant for HNW individuals looking for a defensible tax home, provided the same caution above applies: your old home country has to agree you've actually left.

If the Ceiling Fits

If Georgia's Small Business regime fits your revenue and your plans for the next few years, book a scoping call. Bring your current billing structure, your rough annual revenue, and your citizenship — you'll leave knowing whether the 1% regime is available to you and what breaking home-country residency actually requires.

General information only. Georgian tax rules and thresholds are specific to your circumstances — verify current figures with a qualified adviser before acting.