IE registration and business account

Here is information on how to become an individual entrepreneur in Georgia, which banks open accounts for individual entrepreneurs, and what tax rates apply to different types of activities.

To obtain the status of an individual entrepreneur, you need to contact the House of Justice. The House of Justice in Tbilisi is located at 2 Zviada Gamsakhurdia Street, and in Batumi at 7 Khimshiashvili Street. To apply for registration of an individual entrepreneur, you must have:

1. Foreign passport;
2. Local phone number;
3. Legal address.

The standard registration costs 26 lari (your individual entrepreneur will be opened within 3 working days), and the accelerated registration (opening an individual entrepreneur on the day of application) costs 75 lari.

After opening an individual entrepreneur, you will receive an SMS with information about your tax office. There you can register your small business, as well as file an income declaration and pay taxes.

The main advantage of individual entrepreneurship in Georgia is the availability of preferential tax rates for some types of activities.

You can get a legal address in various ways. The easiest way is to negotiate with your landlord or rent a small office space and use it. If you have your own property in Georgia, you can also use it as a legal address.

You can also buy a legal address. There are many people in front of the House of Justice who are willing to provide you with an address for a certain fee. They are easy to negotiate with, so you can save 20-30% of the quoted price.

The overall tax rate for individual entrepreneurs (IE) is 20% of income + 18% VAT. However, there are types of activities that are not subject to VAT. For example, IT specialists who work for a foreign company are exempt from paying VAT. There are also different statuses for IE:

1. Microbusiness. Income up to 30,000 GEL per year and a tax rate of 0%.
2. Small business. Income up to 500,000 GEL per year and a tax rate of 1%. But when the income threshold of 100,000 GEL is exceeded, an additional 18% VAT appears if your customers are located and operate in Georgia.
3. For income above 500,000 GEL and with the status of a small business, the tax rate is 3%. If you do not keep track of your income and continue to pay 1% of your income, you risk losing your small business status and moving to the general tax rate.

Not all types of activities are suitable for obtaining a small business status. For example, psychologists or programmers who work for a foreign company but do not provide consultations can obtain a small status. The full list of activities that are not available for obtaining a small business status is available on the tax website.

The most popular banks in Georgia are Bank of Georgia (BoG), TBC, and Liberty.

In Bank of Georgia, you can open either a personal account or a business account. In any case, you will need to pay a commission of 50 lari and fill out the KYC.

For a personal account, you will need a passport, local phone number, address, and a receipt for paying the commission. For a business account, you will need a passport, receipt, local phone number, legal address, tax identification number, and a statement of opening an individual entrepreneur. Also, to open any account, you need to have a statement of account activity for the last six months or a year. The presence of a service agreement attached to the application increases the chances of opening an account.

The application is processed within 3-5 business days. You will be notified of the result by mail. The service costs 10 lari per month, and Bank of Georgia also provides card insurance services and offers the Plus bonus program.

Bank of Georgia also has a premium department called Solo. To open an account there, you need to have a monthly income of $2,000.

To open an account in TBC, you need the same documents as for opening an account in BoG. But sometimes bank employees ask for additional documents, such as a lease agreement. Also, the presence of an employment contract or a service agreement is mandatory for opening an account (the unemployed are often refused).

Usually, the application is processed within 3 business days, but sometimes the waiting period may be extended. The service costs 110 lari per year and is paid immediately after receiving the card.

For Liberty, the same documents as for BoG and TBC are required. Sometimes you may also be asked for a lease agreement. The cost of processing the application is 10 lari, but sometimes they ask you to fill out KYC and pay an additional 50 lari. The maintenance fee at Liberty is 25 lari per month, which is quite expensive compared to Bank of Georgia and TBC.

1. Registry of businesses in Georgia;
2. Obtaining a statement for an individual entrepreneur;
3. Taxpayer personal account.