Individual Entrepreneur in Georgia: How to Register an IE

What an individual entrepreneur is in Georgia

An individual entrepreneur, or IE, is a person registered to do business under their own name rather than through a company. Article 2(5) of the Law on Entrepreneurs says an IE is not a legal person. It is also the only business form that can hold small business status, which Article 88(1) of the Tax Code grants to an entrepreneur natural person and never to a company.

Registering one costs a fraction of what a company costs. These are the National Agency of Public Registry’s published fees:

Registration	Done in 1 working day	Done on the day you apply
Individual entrepreneur	GEL 26	GEL 75
LLC or any other entrepreneur	GEL 200	GEL 400

The trade-off is liability. Under the same Article 2(5), an IE is personally liable to creditors with all of their assets for the obligations of the business, unless a creditor agrees otherwise.

What a foreigner needs to register an IE

Article 11 of the Law on Entrepreneurs asks every applicant for two things, a written application and an identity document. A non-citizen uses the identity document that is used to identify a person in notarial actions. The article names no particular document beyond that.

The application carries four details: your name, your legal address, your personal number (for a non-citizen, the data of the identity document instead) and your signature. Under Article 5(10), the legal address must be your actual address in Georgia.

Working for yourself also has an immigration side. Under the Law on Labour Migration, a foreigner without a permanent residence permit who trades, provides services or works as an independent contractor is a self-employed alien, which makes them a labour immigrant who needs the right to work. Under the law’s transitional provisions, labour immigrants with an active labour migration registration on 1 March 2026 must obtain the right to work and a matching residence permit by 1 January 2027.

How to register an IE step by step

1. Settle your actual address in Georgia, because it becomes your legal address.
2. Write the application with the four details above and put it with your identity document.
3. File both with the National Agency of Public Registry and pick the speed from the fee table above. A remote smart contract service announced on 9 June 2026 lets Georgian citizens with a valid national ID card or passport register from anywhere. The announcement does not mention foreigners, so do not count on it with a foreign passport.
4. Note your identification number. There is no separate tax registration, because Article 66(2) of the Tax Code disapplies the Revenue Service procedure for anyone the Public Registry registers. Under Article 66(5) and (6), a non-citizen’s tax identification number is a 9-digit number, while a Georgian citizen’s is the personal number on their ID card.
5. Apply for small business status if your activity qualifies. The application goes to the Revenue Service, which issues a certificate under Article 89(1), and the status applies from the day you file the application under Annex 1, Article 12(4) of Ministry of Finance Order No 999.

1% small business status or 20% income tax

With small business status, your Georgian-source business income is taxed at 1% under Article 90(1) and (3), and the rate becomes 3% from the month gross income passes GEL 500,000 in a calendar year (GEL 700,000 for wine and agro tourism operators) under Article 90(2). Annex 4 of Government Resolution No 415 bars seven activities from the status, consulting among them, so a freelance consultant can register as an IE but cannot use the 1% rate. On the general regime, an IE pays income tax at 20% under Article 81(1).

The example leaves out an accountant’s monthly fee, which comes on top if someone else files your returns.

Returns to file after you register

Registration starts your filing with the Georgian Revenue Service. Every monthly return an IE can owe shares one deadline, so a single date each month covers the 1% return, salaries and VAT.

Return	Who files it	Deadline	Tax Code
Small business return, with the 1% tax	IE with small business status	By the 15th of the following month	Art 93(1.1)
Return on salaries and tax withheld	IE paying salaries	By the 15th of the following month	Art 153(5)
VAT return	IE registered for VAT	By the 15th of the following month	Art 168(1)
Annual income tax return	IE on the general 20% regime	Before 1 April of the following year	Art 153(1)
Return of gross income and deductions	IE that stops business in Georgia	Within 30 business days	Art 153(2)

A small business holder makes no advance payments under the Georgian text of Article 94(1). An IE on the general regime does, in instalments of 25% of the previous year’s tax, the first two by 15 May and 15 July under Article 155(1).

A month with no income still needs a return. Since Order No 38 of 2026, a small business return that is not filed is not treated as a zero return, so the late filing rules apply. Under the Georgian text of Article 274(1), a return up to 2 months late is fined 5% of the tax due on it, and Article 274(2) and (3) raises that to 10% after 2 months, with no fine when the tax due is zero. Unpaid tax also carries interest of 0.05% for every overdue day under Article 272(4).

VAT is the threshold to watch. Small business status does not exempt you from it under Article 92(1), and once VAT-taxable supplies pass GEL 100,000 in any 12 consecutive calendar months, Article 165(1) gives you 2 business days to apply for registration.

If you would rather hand the filing over, the ten Tbilisi accounting firms compared by the clients they take on include several that work with individual entrepreneurs. Register in Georgia runs monthly filings for freelancers on the 1% regime, with a named accountant who answers in English or Russian. PB Services Georgia represents individual entrepreneurs with the tax service in Georgian, and BFA Accounting handles small business status for individual entrepreneurs.