Cofounder Academy / LLC Business Registration - Georgia / LLC Registration - Authorization Form

The first section at the top is fairly self-explanatory. The state of Georgia requires you to provide them with a business email address. You must provide at least one good email address that you will always be able to access, and it's a very good idea to also provide a secondary backup email address in case you ever get locked out of the first one.

A Registered Agent is one of the first weird requirements necessary to operate a business entity in most states. One strange quirk is that each state will have different legal requirements for who is allowed to be a Registered Agent for a business entity, though they all share similar high-level requirements:

1. Registered Agent must be 18
2. Must have a valid mailing address
3. Must be available during normal business hours

Some states add in additional requirements such as being a licensed attorney in that state or requiring specific documents to be kept up to date on site.

You'll want to do some deeper research or... (again)... talk to an attorney, but the state of Georgia does allow for you to be your own Registered Agent. This is a good option to select when you're just starting out, as your chances of needing to act as the Registered Agent are fairly low.

The government uses the Registered Agent to deliver time-sensitive documents and requests, like a summons or a complaint for a lawsuit. It's vital that your Registered Agent is someone that can physically accept and sign documents during normal business hours.

If your new startup is one where you're often away from your address or out on the road, you might want to bite the bullet now and sign up with a Registered Agent Service. The cost of these services are generally extremely low ($25-$100 per year) and it's one less thing to need to worry about.

Fill out the Registered Agent section with whomever you've selected to serve as your agent, or put in your own information and save that in the Registered Agent section to continue.

The next major section is your LLC Organizer. Traditionally, this section is used by whomever is filing your LLC registration. If you were using a third-party business registration service like LegalZoom, they would list themselves as the organizer.

The organizer is another legal-type of role, in which the person listed as the organizer is officially stating that the information that is being provided in the LLC registration is completely accurate and correct.

Because you're the one filling out this form, you can list yourself here again.

The Georgia version of this LLC registration allows for multiple people to be added as organizers, and it's generally a good idea to list any other shareholders that own a significant portion of the business. If you have a cofounder and you both own 50%, put both names in this section.

If you're a multi-member LLC with 10 different minority shareholders, you can just list yourself and anyone else that is important to the LLC.

You're Almost Done!!!

The last two major sections are usually very quick. Assuming that you're starting a new single-person LLC, you can most likely skip over the optional provisions box entirely.

Optional provisions are things above and beyond the normal LLC operations that you've agreed to with your other LLC owners (if there is more than you). It could include things like how many people need to vote to dissolve the company, or specific obligations to document retention, or even things like how the LLC members meet and vote on business changes.

Anything you include in this section will become public record, so only put in things that are specific to the operation of the LLC entity and not things that are specific to how you run the business.

Signing

The very last step on this page is to sign the form and specify the date at which the entity will be active. Most of the time you can leave the effective date of the filing as the default value of "Today", but in some cases you might want to get all of this set up for a business you're starting next month.

Then, you'll "sign" this registration with your name and select your role in the organization (organizer, member, or manager most likely).

Click next to review!

The next two pages require no special instructions. You'll see a full copy of all the information that you're about to submit to the state. If everything is correct, you move on to the payment page where you'll need to provide a credit card.

In 2024, the current fee for LLC registration is $100. If you need this completed in 2 business days, it's $200, and if for some reason you're doing this and need it in an hour, it's $450.

Plop in your credit card and enjoy a nice cup of coffee! Your LLC is now officially an entity and you don't have anything to do but wait for the document to arrive in your email. Once that document arrives, store it in a safe place, as you'll need this document for important things like opening a bank account, applying for specific business licenses, and going through several other business-related tasks you still need to do.

There are still a few major things you'll need to do to get up and running as a new business, but most of those can't happen until your official business registration has completed with the state. If you chose the normal speed registration, you have 7 days until you can get those processes started.

Next Steps

1. Register with the IRS and get an EIN.
2. Open a business bank account with a reputable bank.
3. Link your business bank account in CofounderOS so that you can take advantage of our free business Financial Insights suite.