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If you’re looking to form a Georgia corporation, it’s good to have a sound plan. When you launch a business in Georgia, whether you are a C corporation, S corporation, or nonprofit corporation, it helps to know what steps to take.
Discover how to incorporate your Georgia business and see how we can help you launch and grow your corporation into the success it deserves to be.
To start a corporation in Georgia, you must file the Articles of Incorporation with the Georgia Secretary of State office. But that’s not all there is to form a corporation in the Peach State.
To simplify the process of forming a corporation or professional corporation in the state of Georgia, we’ve put together 10 easy steps for you to form your business:
One of the first things you should do when forming a Georgia corporation is to select a name for it. It not only should reflect what your company is and resonate with consumers, but it also needs to comply with several rules and restrictions.
Like most other states, the Georgia Secretary of State insists that the name not be too similar (“not distinguishable”) to existing registered business names. Names are not distinguishable if:
The corporation’s name must not be more than 80 characters long, and it’s required to end with one of the following terms or its abbreviation: “Incorporated,” “Corporation,” “Company,” or “Limited.” If you’re going to be operating as a professional corporation, you can also use the designators “associated,” “professional association,” “professional corporation,” or any of their abbreviations.
Additionally, your name cannot imply that the corporation is organized for some purpose other than the one specified in its Articles of Incorporation.
Georgia also has words that are restricted from use in corporation names or need special consent to appear. For example, these terms, variations on them, and related words need written approval from different government authorities to use: “bank, “insurance,” “college,” and “university.”
You can search for the availability of names through the Corporations Division business name database. You also can reserve the name for 30 days (for a fee) online at the Corporations Division website or by filing a Name Reservation Request by mail. You’d send the request to:
Office of Secretary of StateCorporations DivisionName Reservation Request2 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SE, Suite 313 West TowerAtlanta, Georgia 30334
Filing for a name reservation is not required to register a corporation. Still, it can a good idea, as it prevents other businesses from taking that name until you’re ready to make your corporation official.
Georgia law does not require statewide registration of trade names, also known as “doing business as” (DBA) names. But it does require that every person, firm, or partnership doing any trade or business in Georgia, under any name that “does not disclose the individual ownership of the trade or business, to file a registration statement in the office of the Clerk of Superior Court” before starting to do business.
You may also want to look into trademarks at the state and federal levels, keeping in mind that the state level is typically much faster to obtain. You can visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website to see whether your business name is trademarked federally. To see if it’s trademarked at the state level, check the George trademark database. If you’d like to register a trademark with the state of Georgia, you can file an Application for Registration Trademark or Service Mark online or by mail at the address listed above. You must also submit a nonrefundable filing fee. Note that the mark must already be in use in the state of Georgia before you can register it.
Given the rising importance of marketing and selling online, it’s also a wise move to secure your internet domain with an online address aligned with your real-world name and function. By reserving it early, you can protect yourself from someone else purchasing it, especially a competitor.
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The person (or people) who signs the Articles of Incorporation, the incorporator(s), must appoint the first corporate directors (one at a minimum), who will serve on the board until the first annual meeting of shareholders. At the meeting, shareholders will elect the board members who serve for the next term.
At their first meeting, the directors can appoint corporate officers, adopt bylaws, choose a corporate bank, authorize the issue of stock shares and determine share structure, and set the corporation’s fiscal year.
An “Incorporator Statement” needs to be prepared, with complete names and addresses of each director, and kept in a corporate records book.
Corporate directors are responsible for managing the affairs of the corporation and setting corporate policies and strategies. A corporation can have one or more directors, and there is no maximum number set, although the number of directors should be stated in the Articles of Incorporation or bylaws. Directors don’t need to live in Georgia or be shareholders of the corporation, but they must be at least 18 years old. And while owners of a company can be directors, the reverse doesn’t need to be true.
In looking at how to start a corporation in Georgia, you also need to choose a registered agent, who can accept legal notices and official correspondence on your behalf from the Secretary of State.
If you select a person as a registered agent in Georgia, they must reside in the state. If you choose a business, it must be allowed to conduct business in Georgia. The registered agent must have a physical street address in Georgia and not just a P.O. box. They must be available to receive any delivered correspondence during regular business hours, and they need to be 18 years of age or older.
It is possible to act as your own registered agent or choose someone you trust as long as they meet the above criteria. While this may seem like an easy decision, it could come at a cost. It might mean getting served with legal papers in front of customers or staff, which could be embarrassing. Or if the person appointed as a registered agent is away from their office and misses a service of legal papers, it could have serious ramifications for your business (a summary judgment, for example).
To legally incorporate your company, you need to file your Articles of Incorporation (also known as “Certificate of Incorporation, “Corporate Charter,” or “Articles of Association” in other states) with the Georgia Secretary of State Corporations Division.
The Articles of Incorporation may be filed online or mailed or hand-delivered to the Corporations Division. The fee for filing online is $100, and to mail or hand-deliver is $110 (the extra $10 is a paper filing service charge). If mailed or hand-delivered, the Articles of Incorporation should be accompanied by a Transmittal Information Form. Georgia does not have an Articles of Incorporation form to fill out for the mailed version, so you must draft your own on 8.5-by-11-inch white paper. Both standard corporations and professional corporations can consult the form “Filing Procedures for Forming a Georgia Corporation” for full instructions on how to draft your own Articles.
The Articles are effective and your business is incorporated on the date that the Georgia Corporations Division receives it, unless another date is specified.
The Articles of Incorporation should include:
When you file your Articles of Incorporation, you should authorize how many shares you will issue and designate what kind of shares they are. They may have special voting rights or restrictions associated with them. For example, the common stock usually has voting rights, with the number of votes in proportion to the number of shares owned. Preferred stock typically doesn’t include voting rights but has fixed, guaranteed dividends and priority payouts if there is a bankruptcy.
Georgia does not require you to file your corporate bylaws with the state. Still, it is a good idea to draft them because they establish your corporation’s operating rules and help to prove your legitimacy to banks, creditors, and the IRS.
Typical bylaws include:
While templates are available to help you write your Georgia corporation’s bylaws, it’s often advisable to get professional help with them since they are an important legal document.
For a company to launch and operate smoothly, it needs a clear vision and framework. A shareholder agreement is an agreement among the owners (shareholders) of the company that provides a legal structure for making financial and functional decisions and establishing the obligations of the people involved. Again, while templates are available to draft this agreement, seeking professional help with this important legal document makes sense. Among other things, the shareholder agreement may include:
A corporation’s shareholders are issued stocks in return for their capital contributions of cash, property, or services. In Georgia, the default rule is that a stock has no par value — the lowest legal price for which a business may sell its share. So, it is optional for a corporation to include a par value in its Articles of Incorporation.
Federal and state securities laws that control the offer and sale of corporate stock classify a share as a security. Both sets of laws offer different rules governing private offerings — nonadvertised sales of stock to a limited number of people. These are often founders, managers, employees of the company, or a private group of investors. (Public companies make their stock offerings available to the public.)
The Secretary of State as Commissioner of Securities also offers its Invest Georgia Exemption (IGE), allowing for-profit businesses formed under Georgia law to raise up to $5 million from Georgia resident investors. Under IGE, securities issuers are limited to selling no more than $10,000 in securities to nonaccredited Georgia investors. There’s no limit for accredited investors.
Georgia corporations that issue public stock need to file quarterly statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and track how many shares are issued and to whom.
According to Georgia state law, every shareholder in a professional corporation needs to be an individual who holds a license in the business’s profession. But Georgia law takes it a step further than some other states: the shareholders need to be actively practicing the profession (unless they are currently disabled and unable to practice). If shareholders retire or lose their licensure, they have between 90 days and six months to transfer the shares or redeem their shares.
When operating your Georgia corporation, you will need to get the appropriate permits and licenses. Unfortunately, you cannot find information on these all in the same spot since they may be issued at the federal, state, and/or local levels. This is why some companies will hire a professional business licensing service to do the legwork for them.
Examples of Georgia licenses and permits include:
To start gathering information on federal business permits and licenses, visit the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) website. For business licenses in Georgia, you generally need to go to the county or city where your company will be located. Visit the Georgia Municipal Association: Member Cities for contact information. You can also check Georgia’s First Stop Business Information Center for help with state licenses and permits.
If a corporation were a person, the Employer Identification Number (EIN) would be the equivalent of a Social Security number, needed to file taxes and open bank accounts. Corporations must apply for an EIN (identifying you as a business entity) through the IRS website.
Apart from any taxes paid on shareholder earnings, corporations must pay their own taxes, doing returns at both the federal and state levels annually.
Corporations must pay Georgia’s corporate income tax at a flat rate of 5.39% of federal taxable income for 2024, with adjustments. As well, Georgia corporations have to pay the corporation net worth tax.
Within 90 days of incorporation, if you’re doing it between January and October, your corporation must file an initial annual registration form with the Georgia Secretary of State that lists three principal officers: CEO, CFO, and Secretary. Corporations with a start date between Oct. 2 to Dec. 31 are required to file an initial annual registration form during the first quarter of the year after.
The annual registration provides a current record of your corporation’s management structure, correct mailing address, and registered agent’s name and address.
You must also publish a notice of intent to incorporate in a local newspaper once a week for two consecutive weeks, including the corporation’s name, name of the registered agent, and address of the registered office in Georgia. For further instructions, see the “Publication of Notice of Intent to Incorporate” section of the Filing Procedures for Forming a Georgia Corporation.
To start a corporation in Georgia, you must file the Articles of Incorporation with the Georgia Corporations Division for $100 to do it online or $110 to mail it or deliver the document by hand, accompanied by Transmittal Form 227. To file your initial report costs another $50 (or $60 for mail/hand delivery).
The Georgia Secretary of State has a complete list of its Corporations Division filing fees, such as a 30-day name reservation ($25/$35), amendments ($20/$30), and trademark/service mark renewal ($15). All of these fees are subject to change, so see the Georgia Secretary of State for the latest fee schedule.
Georgia corporations also must pay recurring annual fees in their operation, such as annual registrations and professional licensing fees. Small businesses can save time by letting ZenBusiness help them manage their paperwork in Georgia. Our team collects and files all the necessary paperwork with the state to form your business based on the plan and time frame you select at checkout.
Starting a Georgia corporation offers several significant benefits. For example, it allows you to issue shares of stock to help finance the launch and running of your company. A corporation also helps protect your personal assets if your business is the subject of a lawsuit or some other financial obligation; you have greater protection than if you were a sole proprietorship or general partnership.
The standing as a corporation establishes you as a separate entity and official business in the U.S. and abroad, bolstering your credibility and reaching new customers. It also might entitle you to various tax breaks and exemptions.
Some of the downsides of forming a corporation include double taxation (of C corporations), a heavy burden of recordkeeping, and ongoing fees, such as Georgia’s annual registration fee.
When it comes to federal taxes, if you are a Georgia S corporation, your earnings “flow through” from the business to your personal tax return. This means you must pay self-employment tax on those earnings at a rate of 15.3%. (Standard tax deductions and business expenses are allowed.) If you are a Georgia C corporation, the company is taxed as a separate entity from its shareholders, who must report and pay taxes on what the corporation pays them for their earnings and dividends. So, this is, in effect, “double taxation” but has benefits, such as greater flexibility in deductions.
While a nonprofit can be federally tax-exempt, for the most part, Georgia grants no sales or use tax exemptions to “churches, religious, charitable, civic, and other nonprofit organizations. These organizations are required to pay the tax on all purchases of tangible personal property.” Limited exemptions may be available for qualifying nonprofits, including:
When it comes to payroll, employers must withhold employee taxes and pay them directly to the state. This includes taxes withheld for:
Though not a “tax” per se, employers in Georgia must carry workers’ compensation insurance if they employ three or more people.
Starting a business can feel like a stressful time, but you don’t have to navigate it all on your own; let ZenBusiness help. While we don’t currently offer formation services for professional corporations in Georgia, we can help you form a standard corporation quickly easily. We’ve also got a variety of other services, from compliance help to registered agent services and more. Let us help you with the red tape so you can focus on helping your business thrive.
The greater complexity of Georgia’s corporate structures often requires more paperwork than a simpler business model, such as a limited liability company (LLC). The paperwork can involve a shareholder agreement, corporate bylaws, and additional reporting.
A Georgia LLC is a business structure that is a pass-through entity for tax purposes, keeping the owners’ assets separate from business assets. However, LLCs do not have a board of directors, and they don’t issue shares of stock.
To change the name of a Georgia corporation, you need to file form CD 100 (Articles of Amendment of Articles of Incorporation) with the Georgia Secretary of State, Corporations Division.
It takes one or more incorporators to form a corporation in Georgia. They are responsible for filing the Articles of Incorporation and running a notice of intent to incorporate in a local paper.
You can form your corporation by filing your Articles of Incorporation online with the Georgia Secretary of State Corporations Division and paying a $100 fee.
You dissolve your corporation by filing the Articles of Dissolution with the Georgia Secretary of State. Because of the complexity of dissolution, the state “strongly recommends that filers obtain professional legal, tax and/or business advice to assure the filer’s goals and intentions are met, that requirements of the law are satisfied.”
No. However, if you have any doubts or questions, you should consult a lawyer for clarification.
You can start entities such as LLC, general partnerships, and limited liability partnerships, but these aren’t specific to professionals. Georgia doesn’t offer professional limited liability companies (PLLCs).
No. The initial founders of a Georgia PC must be licensed professionals in the field for which the corporation was formed. An exception exists for firms specializing in architecture, engineering, and surveying.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
ZenBusiness is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 700,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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