Does crossing 100,000 GEL end my 1% Small Business Status?

No. VAT registration and Small Business Status are separate. You can be VAT-registered and continue declaring turnover at 1%. The rate on Small Business Status changes at 500,000 GEL in a calendar year, which is a different rule.

Is the 100,000 measured per calendar year?

No — it is any rolling 12-month period. That is what makes it easy to cross without noticing: the twelve months in question may start in the middle of last year.

Do payments from foreign clients count toward the threshold?

It depends on where the supply is treated as taking place, which depends on what you provide and to whom. Services to foreign business customers are often treated differently from local supplies. This is the specific question to put to an accountant before you are near the line.

What happens if I registered late?

The obligation dates from when the threshold was crossed, not from when you noticed. Bring the actual figures to an accountant rather than estimating — the correct start date is what determines everything that follows.

The 100,000 GEL VAT threshold in Georgia, and how it differs from the 500,000 cap

These are separate rules that people constantly merge. VAT registration is triggered by turnover crossing 100,000 GEL in any rolling 12-month period. The Small Business Status cap is 500,000 GEL per calendar year and changes your income tax rate, not your VAT position. You can be VAT-registered and still be on 1%.

Two numbers, two different clocks

The 100,000 GEL VAT threshold is measured over any rolling 12 months — not the calendar year. It can be crossed in the middle of a year by a stretch of good months that started the previous autumn.

The 500,000 GEL Small Business cap is measured per calendar year and resets on 1 January. Crossing it changes your income tax rate for the breach month and the rest of that year.

They are independent. Crossing one says nothing about the other, and being registered for VAT does not remove Small Business Status or the 1% rate.

Georgian Tax Code — VAT registration threshold; Art. 90 (SBS rate and cap)

What crossing 100,000 actually obliges you to do

Registration is not automatic and it is not optional once the threshold is crossed. The obligation is on you to register, within the period the Tax Code specifies, from the moment turnover passes the line.

After registration you charge VAT on taxable supplies, file VAT returns on their own schedule, and keep the input/output records that go with them. That is a genuinely different bookkeeping burden from the 1% regime, which is why it is worth knowing the threshold is approaching rather than discovering it afterwards.

Your 1% monthly declarations continue exactly as before. The two obligations run in parallel.

Georgian Tax Code — VAT registration and filing obligations

Not every lari counts the same way

Whether a particular supply counts toward the threshold depends on where it is treated as supplied, and services provided to foreign business customers are frequently treated differently from services supplied locally.

This matters enormously to the typical Small Business Status holder, whose clients are often all abroad. Two people with identical bank statements can have very different VAT positions depending on what they sell and to whom.

This is the point on this page where a general answer stops being useful. If your turnover is approaching 100,000, the question "does my work count toward the threshold" is worth one paid hour with an accountant, and that hour is cheap against registering years late or years early.

Georgian Tax Code — place of supply rules for services

How to watch the line without watching it

Because the VAT threshold is a rolling 12-month figure, it cannot be checked by looking at one month or one year-to-date total. It has to be recomputed as each month rolls off the back.

The practical version: keep a running twelve-month total updated every time you file, and look at it when it passes roughly 80,000. That gives you time to get advice while the answer is still hypothetical.

FAQ

Does crossing 100,000 GEL end my 1% Small Business Status?: No. VAT registration and Small Business Status are separate. You can be VAT-registered and continue declaring turnover at 1%. The rate on Small Business Status changes at 500,000 GEL in a calendar year, which is a different rule.
Is the 100,000 measured per calendar year?: No — it is any rolling 12-month period. That is what makes it easy to cross without noticing: the twelve months in question may start in the middle of last year.
Do payments from foreign clients count toward the threshold?: It depends on where the supply is treated as taking place, which depends on what you provide and to whom. Services to foreign business customers are often treated differently from local supplies. This is the specific question to put to an accountant before you are near the line.
What happens if I registered late?: The obligation dates from when the threshold was crossed, not from when you noticed. Bring the actual figures to an accountant rather than estimating — the correct start date is what determines everything that follows.

Sources

Georgian Tax Code — VAT registration threshold; Art. 90 (SBS rate and cap)
Georgian Tax Code — VAT registration and filing obligations
Georgian Tax Code — place of supply rules for services

This guide summarises published Georgian regulations and cites its sources. It is not legal or tax advice, and it cannot account for your particular circumstances. You remain responsible for what you file.

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