Georgia 1 percent tax: who it is actually for

Georgia 1 percent tax is on turnover, not profit

This is the part people misread. The 1% applies to everything that comes in, with no deduction for costs. For a consultant with almost no expenses that is close to a 1% income tax. For a business reselling goods on a thin margin it can be worse than the ordinary rate.

Work out which you are before treating it as a reason to move.

What it takes

• Register as an individual entrepreneur. The status attaches to the person, not to a company.
• Apply for small business status separately. Registration alone does not grant it.
• Stay under the turnover limit. Going over ends the status and changes the rate on the excess.
• Keep the receipts and file. The regime is light, not absent.

Activities that are excluded

Several kinds of activity cannot use the status, including licensed and regulated work and some professional services. The list is in the Tax Code and its subordinate acts rather than in the marketing of it, which is why people find out late.

And the part that has nothing to do with Georgia

Your home country may still tax you, particularly if your family and home stayed there. The 1% is what Georgia charges. It is not what you owe in total, and nobody in Tbilisi can answer that question for you.