How to form an LLC in Georgia

This page is for a person who lives in Georgia, will do the work from Georgia, and is choosing between remaining a sole proprietor and filing a domestic Georgia LLC. It is a filing walkthrough, not a recommendation that every 1099 earner needs an LLC. Compare the structures on LLC vs sole proprietorship.

File in Georgia if the work is in Georgia

Georgia.gov distinguishes a domestic entity (created for the first time in Georgia) from a foreign entity (already formed somewhere else). A foreign entity that transacts business in Georgia follows a different procedure. For a first-time operator who lives and works in Georgia, the domestic filing is the one that matches the facts.

Filing in Wyoming or Delaware does not move the work out of Georgia. A Wyoming or Delaware LLC that transacts business in Georgia is still a foreign entity here: Georgia registered agent, Georgia foreign qualification, Georgia annual registration, plus the formation state’s agent and annual report. Wyoming’s own fee schedule (effective 1 July 2026) lists $100 to form a domestic LLC and $150 for a foreign LLC certificate of authority — before Georgia’s fees are added. For most one-state operators, home-state filing is cheaper and simpler. That is the honest default. It is not a rule that no holding company should ever sit in Delaware.

What to have on the desk before opening eCorp

Georgia.gov’s register-an-LLC page (last updated June 2026) lists what the filing needs:

• A distinguishable LLC name, or a valid name-reservation number.
• Name and address of the person filing, plus a working email address.
• Mailing address of the principal office.
• Name and address of the registered agent. The agent must be located in Georgia. For annual registration, Georgia.gov requires a physical street address in Georgia where a person can be found; a drop box is not a registered office.
• Name and address of each organizer.
• Any optional provisions for the articles (most first-time filings have none).
• Payment: credit card online; check, cashier’s check, or money order by mail.

The registered agent can be a member who has a Georgia street address, or a commercial agent that maintains one. The point of the agent is service of process, not branding.

File online through eCorp

The Corporations Division portal is ecorp.sos.ga.gov. Georgia.gov’s instructions, as of the June 2026 update:

1. Create an eCorp user account.
2. Choose create or register a business → new domestic business → domestic limited liability company.
3. Enter the information above.
4. Pay the $100 filing fee by an approved credit card (the accepted networks are listed on Georgia.gov at filing time).

Georgia.gov lists standard online processing as 7 business days. Two-business-day processing is an additional $100. Same-business-day processing (submitted before noon on a weekday) is an additional $250. Confirm those expedite amounts on eCorp at the time of filing; they are optional.

Paper is slower and costs more at the counter. Georgia.gov lists a $110 filing fee by mail or in person, 15 business days by mail, and the same expedite add-ons. Mail goes to the Corporations Division at 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SE, Suite 313 West Tower, Atlanta, Georgia 30334 — that is the state’s filing address, not an address for Formation Lane.

The statutory articles fee in O.C.G.A. § 14-11-1101 is $100. The $100 online / $110 paper split is what Georgia.gov published as of June 2026. If eCorp shows a different total at checkout, pay what the portal shows and keep the receipt.

A second official overview of the same process is georgia.gov/register-llc.

After the articles come back

If the name is available and the filing is complete, Georgia.gov says the articles of organization are returned within the stated processing time. Formation with the state is not a license to skip tax, employment, or local occupational-tax registrations. Georgia.gov states that SOS registration is not the only step before doing business in Georgia.

The IRS tells applicants to form the state entity first, then obtain an Employer Identification Number. The EIN application on IRS.gov is free. Sites that charge for an EIN are reselling a government form. A single-member LLC often still needs an EIN to open a business bank account even when the LLC is disregarded for income tax.

Georgia does not require an operating agreement to be filed with the Secretary of State. A written agreement still matters between members, and a single-member LLC still benefits from a short document that says who owns the company. That is a lawyer’s drafting job if the facts are not trivial.

Annual registration: 1 January–1 April

Every Georgia LLC files an annual registration. Georgia.gov’s formation page and O.C.G.A. § 14-11-1103 put the window at January 1 through April 1. The first annual registration is due in that window in the calendar year after the year of formation. An LLC formed in August 2026 files its first annual registration between 1 January and 1 April 2027, not the following August.

Missing the filing can lead to administrative dissolution. That is the state’s leverage; it is not a suggestion to ignore the registry.

O.C.G.A. § 14-11-1101 sets a $50 annual-registration fee and a $25 late-filing penalty. Georgia.gov’s renew-an-LLC page also states a $25 late fee and an extra $10 service charge for mail. Confirm the amount eCorp charges in the year of filing; Secretary of State service charges can sit on top of the statute. One Click Annual Registration at eCorp is only for entities that are current and need no changes.

What this page does not cover

• Professional LLCs, series LLCs, or conversions from a corporation.
• Sales-tax, Department of Revenue, or Department of Labor accounts — those have their own registrations.
• Whether an S corporation election is worth the payroll. That is a CPA conversation after there is real net income, not a formation-day default.
• Any promise that an LLC prevents a personal guarantee on a bank account or a business card. It usually does not.