Steps to Forming a Georgia Corporation
Information We Need From You to Start Your Corporation
1: Select a Name: Your company name must include the word Corporation, Company, Incorporated, or Limited, or an abbreviation of one of those words. You may not use the words Bank, Credit Union, Insurer or Trust.
2: Authorize Shares: The owners of a corporation are known as shareholders. They own shares of stock in the company. Georgia requires you to identify the number of initial shares you are authorizing (cannot be zero). Generally speaking, you would authorize a simple number of shares (100, for example). At the first shareholders meeting, you would issue 51% of those shares to yourself, giving you control of the company. The other 49% can remain for future business partners.
3: Choose Management: Corporations are run by Directors. The Directors are the people who set company policies, make major financial decisions, and appoint the corporate directors (President, Treasurer, Secretary). Typically, you would simply appoint yourself the sole Director and take on the roles of all corporate officers.
4: Remaining Info Needed to File:
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Principal mailing address: the business address where mail from the Georgia Corporations Division can be sent. This can be a PO box.
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Registered Agent: all registered agents in Georgia are legally required to maintain a physical street location where they can accept service of process (cannot be a PO box). This is known as a registered office. Speedy filings come with one free year of Georgia registered agent service by Northwest Registered Agent.
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Steps to Forming a Georgia LLC
Information We Need From You to Start Your LLC
1: Select a Name: Your company name must include one of the following: Limited Liability Company, LLC, L.L.C., Limited Company, LC or L.C. You may abbreviate Limited as Ltd. You may abbreviate Company as Co. The complete company name must be 80 characters or less, including spaces and punctuation. If you want to know if your name is currently available, you can conduct a Georgia business name search.
2: Membership: LLCs do not issue stock like corporations. Instead, LLC owners are known as members, and members are assigned an ownership percentage. The percentage is usually, though not always, based upon how much each member has invested in the company.
3: Choose Management: Generally, LLCs are managed by their members, who oversee the daily business activities. However, an LLC can also choose to appoint a manager to run the business. A manager can be one of the LLC’s members or a separate third party.
4: Remaining Info Needed to File:
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Management: Georgia asks you to identify whether your LLC is managed by your members or a manager and supply the names and addresses of managers (this is optional).
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Registered Agent: a legal registered agent has a physical street address within the state. This is known as a registered office, and it cannot be a PO box. Speedy filings come with one free year of Georgia registered agent service. This service keeps your private and home address off the public records, while also fulfilling your registered agent, mailing and principal address requirements.
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