Registering a business in Georgia is genuinely fast. The state fee is 26 GEL for an individual entrepreneur or 200 GEL for an LLC, the registry turns it around in a day, and there is no minimum share capital to deposit. What trips people up is that the registry is only the first of three steps, and the two that follow are where the tax treatment, the bank account and the deadlines actually get decided.
The short version
Four steps, and only the first happens at the registry.
- Choose the structure. Individual Entrepreneur or LLC. This decision drives everything after it and is hard to unwind cheaply.
- Register at the public registry. One business day, and 26 GEL as a sole trader or 200 GEL as a company. You leave with a registration certificate and an identification number.
- Register with the Revenue Service. Separate agency, separate step. This is where your tax status gets set and where any preferential regime is applied for.
- Open a bank account. A separate process again, with its own compliance checks, and the one most likely to go wrong.
Most guides stop after step two, which is why so many people arrive at step three with the wrong structure already registered.
Step one: pick the structure before you go anywhere
Georgia has several business forms. In practice foreign founders use one of two.
An Individual Entrepreneur (IE) is a sole proprietorship. It is registered against you personally rather than existing as a separate legal person, which means no liability separation and no shares to issue. It is also the only route to Small Business Status, the regime that taxes turnover at 1%.
A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a separate legal entity. It can have multiple shareholders, issue shares, take investment, and it shields your personal assets. It is taxed under the corporate system rather than the 1% turnover regime.
| Individual Entrepreneur | LLC | |
|---|---|---|
| Separate legal person | No | Yes |
| Personal liability | Unlimited | Limited to the company |
| Access to 1% turnover tax | Yes, via Small Business Status | No |
| Corporate income tax | Not applicable | 15%, on distribution |
| Minimum capital | None | None |
| Multiple owners | No | Yes |
| Can raise investment | No | Yes |
| State fee | 26 GEL | 200 GEL |
The honest rule of thumb: if you are one person selling your own services and expect to stay under 500,000 GEL of turnover, the IE plus Georgia's 1% tax is almost certainly the right answer. If you have a co-founder, real liability exposure, staff, or any intention of raising money, it is an LLC. We compare them properly in IE versus an LLC, and if you are genuinely unsure, this is worth thirty minutes with someone before you file rather than after.
Choosing wrong is not fatal but it is expensive. Converting later means registering the new entity, migrating contracts and bank accounts, and in some cases losing a tax status you have to requalify for.
Step two: the public registry
Company registration happens at the National Agency of Public Registry, in practice through a Public Service Hall branch. It is a functional, queue-ticket government office, and the process is more efficient than most people expect.
What it costs and how long it takes
| Service | Fee | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Individual entrepreneur, standard | 26 GEL | 1 business day |
| Individual entrepreneur, same-day | 75 GEL | Same day |
| LLC or other legal entity, standard | 200 GEL | 1 business day |
| LLC or other legal entity, same-day | 400 GEL | Same day |
The expedited option is worth taking if you are on a short trip. Everything downstream, including the bank, depends on having the certificate in hand.
Fees come from the registry's own published fee schedule. Full cost including the things nobody quotes upfront is covered in company registration costs, because the state fee is not what setting up actually costs.
What you need to bring
For an Individual Entrepreneur:
- Your passport
- A Georgian address for the registration
- The activity you intend to carry out
For an LLC, add:
- The founding agreement, which contains the charter, signed by every founder
- Passports for all founders and the director
- Written consent from whoever is named as director and legal representative
- Documentation for the registered legal address
The founding agreement is typically prepared in Georgian and English and signed in front of a registry officer. If a founder is a foreign company rather than an individual, that company's own documents have to be apostilled or legalised in their home country first, which is the step that adds weeks rather than days. We handle that end of it as part of LLC registration so the paperwork is right before anyone gets on a plane.
Company name rules
The name must be unique against the existing register and you can check availability through the registry's online portal before you file. Beyond uniqueness:
- The legal form has to appear in the name. An LLC carries "LLC" or its Georgian equivalent.
- Names implying state affiliation, or using protected terms like "bank", "insurance" or "university", need authorisation you almost certainly do not have.
- The name can be in Latin characters. It gets recorded in Georgian script as well.
Reserving a name in advance is possible and is worth doing if you are printing anything or registering a matching domain.
The registered legal address
Every registered business needs a Georgian address, and it has to be one you can evidence. For an LLC the registry wants documentation of the address, which in practice means either a lease or the property owner's written consent.
This is a genuine obstacle for founders who do not live in Georgia and it is the reason legal address services exist. What matters is that the address is real and that documents sent there reach you, because tax correspondence and bank compliance letters both go to it. We cover what the requirement actually demands in the legal address requirement, and provide the address itself as a virtual office where you do not have your own.
Step three: the Revenue Service
This is the step that gets skipped in summaries and it is where the tax outcome is decided.
The registry creates the legal entity. It does not set your tax treatment. For that, the business has to be registered with the Revenue Service, which issues the tax identification number and gives you access to the rs.ge portal where every future declaration gets filed.
Three things happen here:
Your identification number becomes usable for tax. How the number is issued and what you do with it is covered in the Georgian tax ID. Everything downstream runs through the Revenue Service, which is a genuinely separate agency from the registry.
Any preferential regime is applied for. Small Business Status is not automatic and it is not retroactive. An IE that registers and starts invoicing before the status is granted pays 20% on that income permanently. If the 1% is the reason you are doing this, the status application is the point of the exercise, not an afterthought, and it is what our small business status registration is built around.
Portal access is set up. Everything after this runs through rs.ge, which is where monthly declarations are filed and tax is paid. It is primarily in Georgian. Our rs.ge walkthrough covers the screens if you intend to run it yourself.
Register the entity, get the tax status confirmed, then start invoicing. Doing it in any other order means income earned in the gap is taxed under the standard regime at 20% rather than at 1%, and it is not corrected retrospectively. On a busy first quarter that gap is worth more than the entire cost of setting up properly.
Step four: the bank account
Your business legally exists after step two and is tax-registered after step three. It cannot receive money until step four, and this is the step with the highest failure rate.
Georgian banks apply real compliance checks to non-resident-owned businesses. They will ask what the business does, who the clients are, where the money comes from and why it is coming to Georgia. A vague answer is the most common reason an application stalls.
What helps: a clear written description of the business, evidence of where your funds originate, contracts or invoices showing real clients, and the registration documents from steps two and three. What does not help: describing your business as "consulting" or "international trade" and expecting the account to open on the strength of the certificate alone.
We go with clients to the branch and handle the conversation in Georgian as part of our business bank account service, largely because the meeting is where accounts get approved or quietly parked.
Doing it without flying to Georgia
None of the above requires you to be physically present. The whole sequence can run under a power of attorney: you sign in front of a notary in your own country, have the document apostilled, and a representative in Georgia files everything on your behalf.
The Georgian side of a remote registration takes about the same time as an in-person one. The variable is entirely your own country's apostille process, which ranges from a couple of days to several weeks. The details are in remote company registration, and it is the service most of our non-resident clients actually buy.
One caveat worth knowing before you commit to doing it all remotely: banks are considerably more comfortable opening an account for someone who turns up. Remote account opening is possible but narrower than the marketing around it suggests.
The complete setup checklist
Everything, in order.
Before you file
- [ ] Decide IE or LLC, and confirm your activity is not on the prohibited list for any tax status you want
- [ ] Check the company name is available on the registry portal
- [ ] Arrange a registered legal address with evidence
- [ ] Prepare passports for every founder and director
- [ ] For a corporate founder, apostille the parent company's documents
- [ ] Draft the founding agreement and charter, if an LLC
At the registry
- [ ] File the application and pay the state fee: 26 GEL as a sole trader, 200 GEL as a company, or the same-day rate
- [ ] Sign the founding agreement in front of the officer
- [ ] Collect the registration certificate and identification number
At the Revenue Service
- [ ] Register for tax and confirm the identification number is active
- [ ] Apply for Small Business Status, or the relevant regime, and wait for confirmation
- [ ] Get rs.ge portal access working
- [ ] Register for VAT if you are already above the threshold or want to be voluntarily
Then
- [ ] Open the business bank account
- [ ] Set up bookkeeping before the first declaration is due
- [ ] Diarise the monthly filing deadline
- [ ] Only now, start invoicing
We'll handle the entire company registration process for you, end-to-end. Charter drafted, registry filed, tax registration completed and the bank meeting attended with you.
See what it costs
What goes wrong
Four patterns account for most of the problems we are asked to fix.
Registering before deciding. Someone registers an LLC because it sounds more serious, then discovers the 1% turnover regime is only available to an Individual Entrepreneur. Unwinding that costs more than the original registration several times over.
Invoicing in the gap. Covered above, and it remains the single most expensive mistake available.
An address that is not really an address. If registry or bank correspondence does not reach you, you find out through a penalty rather than a letter.
Treating the certificate as the finish line. The business exists. It is not yet tax-registered, banked, or compliant, and the monthly clock has started regardless of whether anyone is filing.
More of them, with what each one costs, in company registration mistakes.
After you are registered
The obligations start immediately and do not wait for revenue.
Monthly declarations are due by the 15th, including in months with no income. Annual reporting applies to LLCs. If you cross 100,000 GEL of taxable turnover in any rolling twelve-month period, VAT registration becomes mandatory at 18%.
Getting bookkeeping in place before the first deadline rather than after the first penalty is the whole argument for monthly accounting. It is also considerably cheaper to set up correctly than to reconstruct a year later.
If the structure turns out to be wrong, or the business does not go anywhere, closing it down properly matters too. An abandoned entity keeps accruing filing obligations. Closing a business in Georgia covers doing it cleanly.
Key takeaways
- Registration is one business day. The state fee is 26 GEL for an individual entrepreneur and 200 GEL for an LLC, with same-day processing at 75 GEL and 400 GEL. There is no minimum share capital.
- The registry is one of four steps. Tax registration, the preferential regime and the bank account all happen separately afterwards.
- Choose IE or LLC before you file. Only an Individual Entrepreneur can access the 1% turnover regime.
- Small Business Status is not retroactive. Confirm it before you invoice anything.
- Every business needs an evidenced Georgian legal address.
- Foreigners can own 100% of a Georgian company, with no residency requirement.
- The whole process can be done remotely under power of attorney; the apostille in your country sets the timeline.
- The bank account is the step most likely to fail, and it fails on vague business descriptions.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it actually take to register a company in Georgia?
The registry itself is one business day, or same-day if you pay the expedited fee. Realistically, budget three to five business days to get through registration, tax registration and status confirmation. A remote registration depends almost entirely on how fast your country issues an apostille.
How much does it cost?
The state registration fee is 26 GEL for an individual entrepreneur or 200 GEL for an LLC, rising to 75 GEL and 400 GEL respectively for same-day processing. That is the government's charge only, and does not include a legal address, translation, notarisation, apostille or professional fees, which together usually exceed the state fee several times over.
Can a foreigner own 100% of a Georgian company?
Yes. There is no local shareholder requirement, no local director requirement, and no residency or citizenship condition on ownership. This applies to both an LLC and an Individual Entrepreneur.
Do I need to be in Georgia to register?
No. The entire process can be completed under a power of attorney signed and apostilled in your own country. Attending in person is faster overall and makes the bank account materially easier, but it is not a legal requirement.
Is there a minimum share capital for a Georgian LLC?
No. Georgia imposes no minimum capital requirement for a standard LLC. You state a nominal capital contribution in the charter and there is no obligation to deposit a set sum before registering.
What is the difference between the registry and the Revenue Service?
The registry creates the legal entity and issues the registration certificate. The Revenue Service handles tax: your identification number, your tax regime, your portal access and every declaration afterwards. They are separate agencies and registering with one does not register you with the other.
Do I need a Georgian address to register?
Yes. Every registered business needs a Georgian legal address, evidenced by a lease or the property owner's written consent. It is a real requirement rather than a formality, because tax and bank correspondence is sent there.
Can I register a company and get residency that way?
Not automatically. Registering a business does not by itself grant a residence permit, and it does not make you a Georgian tax resident. Those are separate applications with their own criteria, and anyone implying otherwise is overselling.
What happens if I register but never trade?
The filing obligations still apply. Monthly declarations remain due even with no income, and an entity left dormant without being formally closed continues to accrue obligations and penalties. If you are not going to use it, close it properly.
Which structure should I choose?
If you are a single person selling your own services under 500,000 GEL a year, an Individual Entrepreneur with Small Business Status. If you have co-founders, staff, liability exposure or investment plans, an LLC. If your intended activity is on the prohibited list for Small Business Status, the 1% is not available to you and an LLC is the answer regardless.
Do I need a lawyer or agent to register?
Not legally. The registry will process an application you bring yourself. The practical arguments for help are the language, the sequencing between the three agencies, and the fact that most costly mistakes here are structural and made before anything is filed. If you are confident on structure and speak Georgian, doing it yourself is entirely viable.