Micro Business Status is Georgia's genuinely 0% regime, not a marketing rounding of a small number, and it sits directly below the 1% Small Business Status most people ask about first. The two get confused constantly, and the confusion gets expensive at exactly one moment: the point where your turnover crosses 30,000 GEL and a strict deadline starts running whether you notice it or not. Here is what Micro Business Status actually requires, how it differs from Small Business Status at every point that matters, and what the 2026 amendment changed about the transition between them.
What Micro Business Status actually is
Micro Business Status exempts a very small operation from tax entirely. Turnover under 30,000 GEL a year, roughly $11,000, is taxed at 0%, confirmed in PwC's Georgia tax summary, which describes it plainly: individuals with annual turnover under 30,000 GEL, no employees, who register as a micro business are exempt from tax on that business income.
That is a genuinely different proposition from Small Business Status, which charges 1% on turnover up to 500,000 GEL. Micro Business is not "Small Business Status at a smaller scale." It is a separate regime with its own restrictions and a ceiling more than sixteen times lower.
The application runs through the Revenue Service of Georgia, and the legal basis for what does and does not qualify sits in Government of Georgia Resolution No. 415 of 29 December 2010, the same resolution that governs Small Business Status exclusions. Confirm your exact registration sequence directly, since the March 2026 amendment touched procedural detail across both statuses.
Micro Business Status against Small Business Status, side by side
The two statuses share a legal foundation and diverge on almost everything else that matters in practice.
| Micro Business Status | Small Business Status | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax rate | 0% | 1% up to 500,000 GEL, 3% above |
| Turnover ceiling | 30,000 GEL a year | 500,000 GEL a year |
| Employees | Not permitted | Permitted |
| Activity list | Narrower - some 1%-eligible work does not qualify | Broader, but a defined exclusion list under Resolution 415 |
| Monthly filing | Simplified - see below | Full monthly declaration, including zero months |
| Best suited to | A very small, no-staff operation testing the water | Almost anyone running a real solo service business |
The ceilings alone explain most of the practical difference. Thirty thousand GEL is a genuinely small number, roughly $900 a month sustained across a full year, which makes Micro Business Status a starting point for a very early-stage operation rather than a destination most growing businesses stay in.
What 0% actually saves you, in real numbers
The saving is genuinely meaningful at this scale, because 1% of a small number is still a real cost relative to what a very early business actually has spare.
| Annual turnover | Micro Business Status | Small Business Status | Ordinary 20% rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15,000 GEL | 0 GEL | 150 GEL | 3,000 GEL (on a 100% margin) |
| 25,000 GEL | 0 GEL | 250 GEL | 5,000 GEL |
| 29,000 GEL | 0 GEL | 290 GEL | 5,800 GEL |
| 30,000 GEL | 0 GEL | 300 GEL | 6,000 GEL |
The gap between Micro and Small Business Status looks small in absolute terms at this scale, a few hundred GEL at most, which is exactly why the decision to stay on Micro Business Status usually comes down to the activity restrictions and the no-employee rule rather than the tax saving itself. Once turnover moves meaningfully past 30,000 GEL, the comparison that actually matters shifts to Small Business Status against the ordinary 20% rate, covered at every income level below.
No employees, at all, ever
This is the restriction that disqualifies more people than the turnover cap does. Small Business Status permits hiring; Micro Business Status does not, under any circumstances, regardless of how small the payroll would be or how far under 30,000 GEL your turnover otherwise sits.
Hiring a single employee ends Micro Business Status on the spot, independent of turnover. A business earning 8,000 GEL a year that takes on one part-time assistant no longer qualifies, even though it is nowhere near the 30,000 GEL ceiling. The two disqualifying events, crossing the turnover line and hiring anyone, are separate triggers for the same 15-day clock covered below, and either one starts it.
The logic is consistent with what the status is actually for: a single person's own independent work, with nobody else on the payroll. The moment a second person is involved as staff rather than as a client or a subcontractor issuing their own invoice, the arrangement has outgrown what Micro Business Status was built to cover.
The activity list is narrower, not the same list at a smaller number
Both statuses draw their exclusions from the same Resolution No. 415, and the overlap is substantial: medical, legal, architectural and notarial services, auditing, consulting of any kind including tax consulting, currency exchange, banking, insurance, gambling and licensed activities are excluded from both, which our prohibited activities guide covers in full for Small Business Status.
Where Micro Business Status narrows further is trade. Small Business Status taxes a reseller's full gross turnover at 1%, which is expensive on thin margins but is not an outright bar - buying and reselling goods is a qualifying activity for the 1% regime. Micro Business Status treats ordinary trading activity far more restrictively, and the businesses that fit cleanly into the 0% band are overwhelmingly independent service providers producing their own work: a developer, a designer, a single-person craft or production business selling what they made directly to the end customer, not an operation built around buying and reselling inventory.
If your activity sits close to that line, the honest answer is to check it before registering rather than assume Small Business Status eligibility carries over. The two lists overlap heavily but are not identical, and the gap between them is exactly the kind of detail that costs money to discover after the fact rather than before.
The 15-day window, and what changed in the 2026 amendment
This is the mechanic that makes Micro Business Status genuinely risky to run close to the edge on, and it was tightened, not loosened, by the amendments that took effect in March 2026.
Under the current rules, exceeding 30,000 GEL of turnover or taking on an employee gives you exactly 15 calendar days to apply for Small Business Status. During that window, income already earned stays taxed under the Micro Business regime, effectively remaining untaxed, confirmed in Eurofast's analysis of the February 2026 amendment. Apply within the 15 days and the transition costs you nothing beyond the paperwork.
Miss the 15-day deadline and the consequence is not a fine on the excess. It is a full retroactive reclassification: income earned from 1 January of that year through to the date Small Business Status is actually granted is taxed at the standard 20% rate instead of the 0% Micro Business rate it would otherwise have kept. On a business that had already earned 25,000 GEL by the time it crossed the line, that is 5,000 GEL of tax on income that would have cost nothing had the application gone in on time.
The amendment also shortened Small Business Status's own effective date. Status now takes effect from the date you apply, rather than from the first day of the following month, which narrows the exposure window on the Small Business side once you have actually filed. None of that helps if the Micro Business application itself is late, which is why the 15-day clock, not the 30,000 GEL number, is the detail worth actually tracking.
Watching the number before it becomes a problem
The businesses that get caught by this are rarely the ones who did not know 30,000 GEL was the limit. They are the ones who knew it in the abstract and were not tracking their running total closely enough to notice the exact week they crossed it.
- Check your running turnover monthly, not annually. A single large invoice can push a business that was comfortably under the ceiling all year over it in one transaction, and the 15-day clock starts on the date you cross, not at year end.
- Decide your Small Business Status application is ready before you need it. Since the clock is only 15 calendar days, having your activity codes and paperwork sorted in advance is the difference between a same-week filing and a late one.
- Remember hiring anyone is also a trigger. It is easy to plan around the turnover number and forget that taking on even part-time help ends the status independently of revenue.
- Do not assume your activity qualifies for both statuses just because it qualifies for one. Check the narrower Micro Business list specifically if you are close to the line, rather than assuming Small Business Status eligibility transfers automatically.
Most of our clients who start on Micro Business Status move to Small Business Status within the first year, simply because 30,000 GEL is a low ceiling for a business that is actually growing. Treating the move as the expected next step rather than an emergency response makes the 15-day window a formality instead of a risk.
Why almost nobody stays on Micro Business Status long-term
Micro Business Status suits a genuinely narrow set of situations: someone testing a very small side activity, a single-person production business selling directly to end customers at low volume, or an early-stage operation that expects to stay under 30,000 GEL for the foreseeable future and values 0% over the operational flexibility Small Business Status allows.
For almost everyone else, the ceiling is reached quickly enough that Micro Business Status functions as a stepping stone rather than a destination. A freelancer billing even a single mid-sized client can cross 30,000 GEL within a few months, at which point Small Business Status's 1% on a much higher ceiling, its ability to hire, and its broader activity list make it the more useful regime despite no longer being free. The monthly tax declaration that comes with Small Business Status is a real ongoing obligation Micro Business largely avoids, but it is a small price for the higher ceiling and the ability to actually build a team.
We check your actual turnover trajectory and activity against both the Micro and Small Business lists before you register, and if you are already close to 30,000 GEL, we file the Small Business Status application inside the 15-day window so nothing gets taxed at 20% by accident.
See what it costs
If you are already fairly confident Small Business Status is the better fit from the start, our full 1% tax guide covers eligibility, the prohibited activities list and the 500,000 GEL ceiling in depth, and exceeding that threshold covers what happens further up the same regime. For a comparison across every Georgian tax status rather than just these two, our tax regime comparison lays out the full decision table.
Key takeaways
- Micro Business Status charges 0% tax on turnover under 30,000 GEL a year, with no separate Individual Entrepreneur registration required to hold it.
- Employees are not permitted under any circumstances. Hiring one person ends the status regardless of turnover.
- The activity list is narrower than Small Business Status, not the same list at a lower ceiling. Ordinary trade is restricted far more tightly.
- Crossing 30,000 GEL or hiring anyone gives you exactly 15 calendar days to apply for Small Business Status.
- Miss the 15-day window and income from 1 January of that year through to the new status being granted is taxed at the standard 20% rate.
- Almost every business that outgrows Micro Business Status moves into Small Business Status next, not directly into an LLC.
- Track your running turnover monthly rather than annually, since the clock starts the day you cross, not at year end.
Frequently asked questions
What is Micro Business Status in Georgia?
It is a 0% tax regime for very small operations with annual turnover under 30,000 GEL and no employees. It sits below Small Business Status, which charges 1% up to a much higher 500,000 GEL ceiling and permits hiring.
Do I need to register as an Individual Entrepreneur to get Micro Business Status?
The application goes through the Revenue Service either way, but the exact registration sequence for very small individual activity can differ from the full Individual Entrepreneur route Small Business Status requires. Confirm your specific path before you start, since the March 2026 amendment changed procedural detail here.
Can a Micro Business have employees?
No, under any circumstances. Hiring even one part-time employee ends Micro Business Status immediately, regardless of how far under 30,000 GEL your turnover sits. This is a harder rule than the turnover ceiling and catches people who are watching revenue but not headcount.
What happens if I go over 30,000 GEL in turnover?
You have 15 calendar days from the date you cross to apply for Small Business Status. Applying within that window keeps your income taxed under the Micro Business regime, effectively at 0%, right up to the point Small Business Status is granted.
What happens if I miss the 15-day deadline?
Income earned from 1 January of that year until Small Business Status is actually granted gets taxed at the standard 20% rate instead of staying exempt. This is a retroactive reclassification, not a penalty on the excess alone, which is what makes missing the window expensive.
Is the activity list the same for Micro and Small Business Status?
No. Both draw on Government Resolution No. 415, and the exclusions overlap heavily, but Micro Business Status restricts ordinary trade and resale more tightly than Small Business Status does. Some activities that qualify for the 1% regime do not qualify for the 0% one, so check both lists rather than assuming eligibility carries over.
Can I go straight from Micro Business Status to an LLC?
Nothing stops you registering an LLC directly, but almost nobody actually does this in practice. The far more common path is Small Business Status, since it keeps the low-rate turnover-based system going at a much higher ceiling before an LLC's distribution-based model becomes the better fit.
Does Micro Business Status require monthly filing like Small Business Status does?
The filing obligation is lighter than the full monthly declaration Small Business Status requires, though it is not a complete exemption from Revenue Service reporting. Confirm your specific filing obligation directly, since the March 2026 amendments changed several procedural details across both regimes.
Is Micro Business Status worth it if I am about to outgrow it anyway?
Sometimes, mostly for the months before you cross the line. If you can see 30,000 GEL coming within a matter of weeks, it is often simpler to register directly for Small Business Status rather than go through Micro Business Status first and then transition inside the 15-day window under time pressure.
Does the 15-day rule apply the same way if I hire an employee instead of exceeding turnover?
Yes. Both triggers, crossing 30,000 GEL and taking on an employee, start the same 15-day clock to apply for Small Business Status. The consequence of missing it is identical either way: retroactive taxation at 20% from the start of the year.
Who does Micro Business Status actually suit?
A genuinely small, single-person operation with no plans to hire, selling its own work or product directly to end customers, and comfortable staying under 30,000 GEL for the time being. Anyone expecting steady growth past that ceiling within the year is usually better served registering for Small Business Status from the outset.