SARAS annual financial reporting gets mentioned constantly and explained rarely. It is a genuinely separate obligation from anything the Revenue Service handles, it applies to a very specific set of entities rather than every registered business, and which accounting standard you owe depends on a size classification most business owners have never actually run against their own numbers. Here is who must file, the category your business actually sits in, the standard that follows from it, and the 1 October deadline that closes the whole thing out.
What SARAS actually is
SARAS is the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision, the Georgian government body responsible for overseeing financial reporting and statutory audit under the Law of Georgia on Accounting, Reporting and Auditing. It is not the Revenue Service, and SARAS reporting is not a tax filing - ordinary tax declarations run through rs.ge, an entirely separate portal. A business can be perfectly current on every monthly tax declaration and still be behind on its SARAS obligation, because the two run on entirely separate legal bases, separate deadlines, and separate penalties.
This distinction trips people up specifically because the deadlines sit close together on the calendar and the language sounds similar. Filing your monthly tax declarations correctly does nothing to satisfy the SARAS requirement, and the reverse is equally true. They are tracked, and missed, independently.
Who counts as a "reporting entity" in the first place
The Law on Accounting, Reporting and Auditing defines an "entity" broadly enough to catch every LLC, joint stock company and branch of a foreign enterprise registered in Georgia. What surprises most people is that an Individual Entrepreneur can, in principle, be caught by the same definition - but only if it is genuinely large enough.
An IE becomes a SARAS reporting subject if its own numbers put it into Category I, II or III, described below. An Individual Entrepreneur whose assets, revenue and headcount only reach the fourth, smallest category is not a reporting subject at all and carries no SARAS obligation, regardless of how the business otherwise operates. In practice this covers almost every Small Business Status IE: the 500,000 GEL turnover cap that comes with the 1% regime sits comfortably inside Category IV's own 2 million GEL revenue ceiling, so an ordinary solo IE simply never crosses into SARAS territory. The obligation lands overwhelmingly on LLCs and other legal entities, and specifically on the larger ones among them.
The four categories, and the thresholds that decide them
Every reporting entity is classified into one of four categories, from largest to smallest, based on three criteria measured at the end of each financial year: total assets, revenue, and average number of employees. Meeting at least two of the three thresholds for a category is what places a business in it, and the classification is reassessed annually and applied to the following year's reporting.
| Category | Total assets | Revenue | Average employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| I (largest) | Over 50 million GEL | Over 100 million GEL | Over 250 |
| II | Up to 50 million GEL | Up to 100 million GEL | Up to 250 |
| III | Up to 10 million GEL | Up to 20 million GEL | Up to 50 |
| IV (smallest) | Up to 1 million GEL | Up to 2 million GEL | Up to 10 |
There is also a fifth tier that sits outside this size ladder entirely: Public Interest Entities, defined by what they are rather than their size. This category covers commercial banks, microfinance organisations, insurers, pension scheme founders, investment funds, credit unions and companies listed on a stock exchange, and it carries the strictest reporting and audit requirements regardless of how small the entity's own balance sheet happens to be.
The practical read for most of our clients: a small or medium LLC, even one comfortably profitable, is very likely sitting in Category III or IV rather than anywhere near Category I. The categories exist to scale the burden with genuine size, not to catch every registered company in the same net.
Which accounting standard applies to each category
The category a business sits in decides which financial reporting standard it has to prepare its statements under, and the gap between the top and bottom of the scale is substantial.
| Category | Required standard |
|---|---|
| Public Interest Entities and Category I | Full IFRS, mandatory |
| Category II | IFRS for SMEs, with the option to apply full IFRS voluntarily |
| Category III | A simplified standard, with the option to apply IFRS for SMEs voluntarily |
| Category IV | A dedicated simplified standard published by SARAS specifically for the smallest reporting entities |
Full IFRS is a genuinely technical undertaking, built for entities with complex financing, group structures or public accountability, and it is disproportionate for a small trading company. SARAS's simplified standard for Category IV entities exists specifically so the smallest reporting businesses are not forced into that same technical burden purely because they happen to be an LLC rather than an IE. Choosing to apply a fuller standard than your category requires is always permitted; the constraint only ever runs in one direction, toward more rigour, never less than your category's floor.
Audit requirements move with the same categories
Whether a statutory audit is required tracks the same classification, and it is the part of SARAS compliance that carries the most cost if it is missed or left until late.
- Public Interest Entities, Category I and Category II entities generally require an annual statutory audit of their financial statements, alongside the report itself.
- Category III and Category IV entities generally do not require an audit, unless a specific piece of Georgian legislation imposes one on that particular entity regardless of its SARAS category - a licensed activity or a regulatory requirement outside the accounting law itself, for instance.
This is where the practical stakes actually sit for most growing businesses. A company crossing from Category III into Category II does not just gain a heavier accounting standard - it typically also picks up a mandatory external audit for the first time, which is a materially larger annual cost and a longer lead time than the reporting itself. Businesses approaching that boundary are worth reviewing well before the year-end that would trigger it, not after.
Moving up a SARAS category is not paperwork. Crossing from Category III into Category II typically brings both a heavier accounting standard and a statutory audit requirement for the first time, and an audit takes genuine lead time to arrange properly. A business tracking its assets, revenue and headcount only against tax thresholds can be caught off guard by a SARAS category change it never saw coming, because the two sets of thresholds are entirely different numbers.
The 1 October deadline
Financial statements are due to SARAS immediately, but not later than 1 October of the year following the reporting period. For a business reporting on the standard calendar year, that means statements covering the year to 31 December are due by the following 1 October - nine months later, not the following spring. A reporting entity whose financial year does not follow the calendar has nine months from its own year-end instead of a fixed calendar date.
This deadline sits entirely separately from the Revenue Service's own annual calendar, including the individual income tax return due by 1 April and the monthly declarations due by the 15th of every month year-round, all collected in one place in Georgia's tax deadlines. A business can file every monthly declaration on time, all year, and still miss the SARAS deadline entirely if nobody is specifically tracking it as its own line item.
Why this catches growing LLCs off guard
The businesses most likely to miss this are not the ones ignoring compliance generally - they are the ones that have grown past the simple version of themselves without updating what they track. A single Individual Entrepreneur only has the monthly 15th to watch, and correctly assumes SARAS does not apply, since almost no solo IE reaches Category III. An LLC that starts small carries the same assumption for a while, reasonably, since its first few years likely sit in Category IV with no audit requirement either.
The moment that assumption stops being safe is exactly the moment nobody is checking for it: a good year, a hiring round, or a balance sheet that grew faster than the founders were watching. Accounting in Georgia covers how SARAS reporting sits alongside the ordinary monthly bookkeeping cycle every LLC already runs, and why the two obligations need tracking together rather than as separate afterthoughts. What actually drives the cost of getting this handled properly, including where SARAS reporting adds to a standard accounting retainer, is set out in full in accounting cost in Georgia.
What to actually do about it
The sequence that keeps this from becoming a problem is short.
- Check your category against your actual numbers, not against a general sense of how big the business feels. Total assets, revenue and average employees, measured at year-end, against the four thresholds above.
- Confirm which standard and audit requirement follow from that category, and whether either has changed since the last time you checked.
- Budget the time an audit takes, if one applies, well before the 1 October deadline - a rushed audit engagement in September is a worse position than a planned one starting months earlier.
- Diarise 1 October separately from your tax calendar, since nothing about filing monthly declarations on time protects this deadline at all.
- Re-run the check every year, since the classification itself is reassessed annually and a business can move category without anyone deciding it should.
Most of our LLC clients fold this into the same relationship that handles their monthly filing, precisely so nobody is running two separate compliance calendars in their head at once.
We check which of the four categories your business actually sits in, confirm the standard and audit requirement that follow, and get your statements filed to SARAS by 1 October alongside your monthly tax cycle.
See what it costs
Key takeaways
- SARAS financial reporting is a separate obligation from tax filing, governed by the Law on Accounting, Reporting and Auditing rather than the Tax Code.
- Every reporting entity sits in one of four categories, based on total assets, revenue and average employees, reassessed annually.
- An Individual Entrepreneur only becomes a SARAS reporting subject if it is large enough for Category I, II or III - a Category IV-sized IE has no SARAS obligation at all.
- Category I, II and Public Interest Entities use full IFRS or IFRS for SMEs and generally require a statutory audit; Category III and IV use simplified standards and generally do not.
- Statements are due by 1 October of the year following the reporting period, separately from every Revenue Service deadline.
- Moving up a category is a real cost event, often including an audit requirement for the first time, and is worth reviewing before the year-end that triggers it.
Frequently asked questions
What is SARAS and is it part of the Revenue Service?
SARAS, the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision, is a separate Georgian government body overseeing financial reporting and statutory audit under the Law on Accounting, Reporting and Auditing. It is not the Revenue Service, and SARAS reporting is a distinct obligation from any tax filing.
Does my Individual Entrepreneur have to file with SARAS?
Only if it is genuinely large enough to qualify for Category I, II or III based on assets, revenue and employees. Almost every Small Business Status IE sits comfortably inside Category IV's thresholds, which means it is not a SARAS reporting subject at all and carries no filing obligation.
What are the four SARAS reporting categories?
Category I is the largest, generally over 50 million GEL in assets or 100 million GEL in revenue or 250 employees. Categories II and III sit progressively below that. Category IV is the smallest, capped at roughly 1 million GEL in assets, 2 million GEL in revenue and 10 employees. A business needs to meet at least two of the three thresholds to sit in a given category.
Do all LLCs have to file annual financial statements with SARAS?
Yes, every registered LLC is classified into one of the four categories, even the smallest, and files accordingly. Category IV carries the lightest requirement, a simplified standard with generally no audit, but the filing obligation itself still applies.
When is the SARAS filing deadline?
By 1 October of the year following the reporting period, for a business on a standard calendar financial year. An entity with a non-calendar financial year has nine months from its own year-end instead.
What accounting standard does my business need to use?
It depends on your category. Public Interest Entities and Category I use full IFRS. Category II uses IFRS for SMEs, with the option to apply full IFRS. Category III and Category IV use progressively simpler standards, including a version SARAS publishes specifically for Category IV entities.
Does my company need an audit?
Generally yes if you sit in Category I, Category II, or as a Public Interest Entity. Generally no if you sit in Category III or IV, unless separate Georgian legislation imposes an audit on your specific type of entity regardless of SARAS category.
Is SARAS reporting the same as the annual tax return?
No. They are governed by entirely different laws, run on different deadlines, and missing one does not affect the other. Filing your monthly and annual tax declarations correctly does not satisfy the SARAS requirement in any way.
What happens if my business grows into a higher category?
You pick up whatever standard and audit requirement apply to the new category, generally from the following reporting year. Moving from Category III into Category II in particular often means a statutory audit for the first time, which needs real lead time to arrange rather than being left until close to the deadline.
Can a small company voluntarily use a higher accounting standard?
Yes. Any entity can choose to apply a fuller standard than its category strictly requires - Category III applying IFRS for SMEs, for instance. The requirement only ever sets a floor; applying more rigour than your category demands is always permitted.
Where do I find my SARAS category if I am not sure?
Compare your business's total assets, revenue and average employee count at your last financial year-end against the four thresholds above. If you meet at least two of the criteria for a given category, that is the one you sit in, and it is worth rechecking every year rather than assuming last year's answer still holds.