If a start up business has $0 for the revenue because it does not have revenue to date, is this revenue reported as a Code 3 "unknown" or Code 1 "under $1M)?

We also use Code 1, under $1MM. I vaguely recall this issue adressed somewhere, perhaps in the Q&A's.

Here is the applicable Q&A:

§ __.42(a)(4) – 3: What gross revenue should an institution use in determining the gross annual revenue of a start-up business?
A3. The institution should use the actual gross annual revenue to date (including $0 if the new business has had no revenue to date). Although a start-up business will provide the institution with pro forma projected revenue figures, these figures may not accurately reflect actual gross revenue.

So you would use "$0" if the business had no revenues to date at the time the loan was made.

You'd also want to take into consideration the source of the revenues you relied on. Were you relying on a business with 0 revenues to pay back the loan or personal income/assets of a borrower. In that case it would be a 3. The only time you'd want to use a 1 is when you actually rely on the revenues of 0 to repay debt...how often is that?

Or there is the often seen case of one entity opening a new entity or location. In that case, though revenues of the new shop are 0, the revenues of the parent entity would be your reporting figure.