Table of Contents
Written by : Nick Kreutzer |
Current |
Write a comment |
Write a comment
the following information is provided for educational purposes only and in no way constitutes legal tax or financial advice for legal tax or financial advice specific to your business needs we encourage you to consult with a licensed attorney and/or CPA in your state the following information is copyright protected no part of this lesson may be redistributed copied modified or adapted without prior written consent of the author a limited liability company is a hybrid between the corporation and a partnership an LLC protects your assets in the event of a lawsuit in order to form your LLC you must file LLC formation documents with the Secretary of State once your documents are approved and sent back to you your LLC is now in existence and authorized to do business in the state before completing your LLC formation documents you need to have two things completed first make sure you have watched the lesson on research and your LLC's name your desired LLC name must be available for use before you proceed second make sure you've watched the lesson on registered agent and that you've made your selection now let's discuss your LLC formation documents the name of the LLC formation documents for the state of Georgia are called the articles of organization and the transmittal form these documents are not complicated and they contain basic information including listing your registered office and registered agent they will also require you to list your LLC's name and the name and address of the LLC member or members we will walk you through the details of the articles of organization and transmittal form in just a couple minutes and we will make sure that you get it filled out correctly once your articles of organization and transmittal form are complete you will need to submit them to the state along with a filing fee you will find the filing fee amount the accepted forms of payment and the address where to send your documents to below this video when submitting your documents to the state you must send one original articles of organization one copy of your articles of organization and one original transmittal form an original document is one that you actually sign a copy is a duplication of the original document and it is easiest to make a copy on a copy machine however if you don't have access to a copy machine you can simply print the form again then fill it out and sign it so to repeat when submitting your documents to the state you must send one original articles of organization one copy of the articles of organization and one original transmittal form once you mail the filing fee along with your articles of organization and transmittal form the state will review and process your paperwork if there are any issues with your documents the state will mail back a letter with instructions on what needs to be corrected you will have 30 days to make these Corrections and return your documents as a state for further processing if you do not return these documents within 30 days the state will abandon your filing and keep your filing fee if there are no issues with your filing the state will send back approval for your LLC which is called the certificate of organization you'll receive the certificate within approximately 15 to 20 business days once you receive your certificate of organization your LLC is now a legally formed business in the state of Georgia the certificate of organization will contain your LLC s and D control number a number that is unique to your LLC and that you will use when filing taxes and dealing with the state please keep a copy of this document with your business records do not order your ein also known as your federal tax ID number or start to use your LLC for any business purposes until you have this approval once your LLC is formed paperwork with the state is not over as part of the ongoing requirements for your LLC Georgia requires that you pay an annual registration fee also depending on your type of business you'll be required to file state taxes we discuss these items in lesson six and lesson seven we are now ready to fill out the articles of organization and the transmittal form you can download these documents below the video let's get started the first document I'm going to discuss is the articles of organization this is a one-page document that can be filled out on the computer or it can be printed and filled out by hand if you fill it out by hand please use black ink make sure to print the document on white paper that is letter sized that's your standard eight and a half by eleven inches also I have a professional version of Adobe Acrobat you may just have the simple version called Adobe Reader and you may not have as much functionality in order to edit and type inside the document as you see here if that's the case simply print out the documents and then fill them out by hand both the articles of organization and the transmittal form do not need to be notarized alright let's get started I've already prefilled the documents in order to save time and I'm using a sample company called ABC widgets LLC and will be 10 that myself I'm the organizer the person forming the LLC and I'm also the member of the LLC we'll just call myself John Doe for these purposes at the top of the articles of organization you're essentially going to list your LLC name twice it's a little bit repetitive but it is required so underneath articles of organization you're going to fill in your LLC name make sure to include the Bree VNL LC or l dot L dot C dot the comma that you see here is optional so you can include a comma if you'd like or you can leave one out if you prefer under article one you're going to list the LLC name again and you're going to list they're going to be identical these two fields under article to management you're going to check off the last box which says management is by all the members article three duration you're going to fill in perpetual that means that the LLC is in existence until it is dissolved or shut down by the members article four is pertaining to purpose and you don't need to add anything here this is a standard clause at the bottom of the form your something going to date sign and print your name you're going to put the day of the month then the year print your name at the bottom then once you print this form out you're going to sign right where it says signature of organizer remember to either print this document twice or fill it out twice because the state requires an original signature and then a copy let's take a look at the transmittal form we're going to look at two examples of the transmittal form one where I'm going to be my own registered agent which is common if you have an address in the state and one where I've hired a commercial registered agent again I fill this document out ahead of time so let's run through the different fields underneath the first section you're going to include your email address Georgia is are pretty modern and up-to-date state and they do a lot of correspondence via email make sure to include your best email address and one that will last for many years all right let'
Thanks for your comment Daryl Mottershead, have a nice day.
- Nick Kreutzer, Staff Member
hello i'm samantha with empower multimedia we post content regarding business academia and entrepreneurship remember if you ever need help with starting or growing your business click the link in the description for a free 15-minute consultation today we will be covering how to file an llc in georgia just as a reminder this video is strictly informational and is not advice so the very first step is going to be choosing a name for your llc under georgia law an llc must contain one of the following either limited liability company or limited company the term limited is allowed to be abbreviated to ltd and company as co the complete name must be 80 characters or less including any spaces and or punctuation your llc's name must be recognizably different from the names of other business entities already on file with the georgia secretary of state corporations division names may be checked for availability by searching the corporation's division business name database you may reserve a name for 30 days online or by filing a name reservation request form the reservation fee is 25 so you can also use a fictitious business name you don't have to use your llc's official legal name registered in your articles of organization when you do business out in the real world instead you can use a fictitious business name also called a trade name or dba for short or assumed name to do so in georgia you must register your fictitious name with the clerk of superior court the county where your llc's principal office is located you can find the appropriate clerk's office at the georgia superior court clerk's cooperative authority website your second step is going to be appoint a registered agent every georgia llc must have an agent for service of process in the state this is an individual or business entity that agrees to accept legal papers on the llc's behalf if it is sued a registered agent may be either an individual resident or business entity that is authorized to do business in georgia the registered agent must have a physical straight address in georgia your third step is going to be filing articles of organization in transmittal form a georgia llc is created by filing articles of organization with the georgia secretary of state cooperations division corporations the articles must include the llc's name and the signature of an organizer member manager or an attorney in fact the filing fee is 100 the articles of organization can be filed online or by postal mail if you file by mail you must also complete a transmittal information form georgia limited liability company form 231 this form must include the llc's email address the llc's name and name reservation number if any the name and address of the person filing the articles the llc's principal mailing address the name and address of llc's registered agent and all the organizers names and addresses here's some important information about the articles of organization and transmittal form firstly filing by mail you must send two copies of the articles of organization only one copy of the transmittal form is needed though and disregard this if you are filing online furthermore the approval times are 12 to 15 business days by mail or seven business days if you are filing online and you will get back a receipt a stamped and approved copy of your articles of organization and a certificate of organization which has a state seal and can be used when opening a bank account if you file by mail these documents are returned by mail and if you file online these documents are returned by email you also have the option for expedited filing faster processing times are available for both filing by mail and filing online there are two options for online expediting which is a hundred dollars extra for two-day processing or a 250 extra for same day processing and you have one other option for mail expediting it's one hundred dollars extra for two day processing and here's a tip no expedited form is needed just include the extra amount in the truck or money order the fourth step is preparing an operating agreement an llc's operating agreement is not required in georgia but it is highly advisable this is an internal document that establishes how your llc will be run it sets out the rights and responsibilities of members and managers including how the llc will be managed you can also help preserve your limited liability by showing that your llc is truly a separate business entity in the absence of an operating agreement state llc law will govern how your llc operates your fifth step is going to be obtaining an ein if your llc has more than one member it must obtain its own irs employer identification number even if it has no employees if you form a one-member llc you must obtain an ein for it only if it will have employees or you elect to have it taxed as a corporation instead of a sole proprietorship you may obtain an ein by completing an online application on the irs website for this there is no filing fee finally you're going to need to file annual registrations all llcs doing business in georgia must file an annual registration with the secretary of state and pay a 50 filing fee the initial registration is due between january 1st and april 1st of the year following the calendar year in which the llc was formed the registration should be filed online here are some other questions you may have first can a foreign llc do business in georgia all of seas organized outside of georgia must register with the georgia secretary of state to do business in the state foreign llcs must appoint a registered agent for service of process physically located in georgia to register file an application for a certificate of authority for foreign limited liability company you can file online or by posting mail for this the filing fee is 225 you may be wondering if you need a business license so depending on the type of business and where it is located your lsa may need to obtain other local and state business licenses for local licenses check with the city in which the businesses primary place of business is located or county if it is an unincorporated area for state licenses check the georgia secretary of state's first stop business guide in summary here's what you'll need to file an llc in georgia first the new the llc or vela name reservation number name and address of the person filing for the llc a valid email address mailing address of the principal office name and address of the registered agent name and address of each organizer any optional provisions you need to add to your articles of organization finally a form of payment and depending on how you apply your form of payment will be one of the following credit card check cash check or money order thank you for watching this concludes the video make sure you check back with empower multimedia for all of your business academia and entrepreneurship concerns remember if you ever need help with starting or growing your business click the link in the description for a free 15-minute consultation if you have any questions comments or video recommendations please comment below also remem
Thanks hirosanD your participation is very much appreciated
- Nick Kreutzer
About the author
I've studied affect control theory at Landmark College in Putney and I am an expert in drug policy reform. I usually feel sick. My previous job was motion picture director I held this position for 28 years, I love talking about ghost hunting and upcycling. Huge fan of Shakira I practice rafting and collect butterflies.
Try Not to laugh !
Joke resides here...