Georgia Certificate of Authority / LLCs
Reading Georgia Form CD 241 for a foreign LLC
Form CD 241 is the Application for Certificate of Authority for Foreign Limited Liability Company, and it costs $235 to file. It runs to 8 numbered items, a primary email line and a signature block, and it asks for far less than the corporation form does. Our fee for preparing it is $199.
Each item and its source
| Item | What you enter | Where the answer comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A primary email address | A mailbox someone reads | |
| 1 | LLC name, optional reservation number, date business began or is proposed in Georgia | The home record and your own start date |
| 2 | The filing person's name, address and email | Whoever is submitting |
| 3 | Name in the home state, jurisdiction, formation date, period of duration | The home-state record |
| 4 | Principal business address, with a state | Where the LLC is managed |
| 5 | Registered agent and Georgia registered office street address, with city, county and zip | The agent |
| 6 | Who has substantial responsibility for managing the business activities, and where to reach them | The LLC chooses |
| 7 | The address where LLC records are kept | The LLC's own decision |
| 8 | When the filing takes effect: on filing, or at a later stated date and time | Your timetable |
How the LLC form differs from the corporation form
The LLC application has no officers, no assets and liabilities, and no attached home-state certificate. A corporation names a CEO, CFO and secretary and encloses an original certificate of existence that its home state issued within 90 days. The LLC lists one managing person and sends nothing from home. The fee is the same, $235 against $235, because both come to the filing fee plus the service charge.
The one date that matters
The start date in item 1 carries a printed warning. A start date reaching back more than thirty days from the effective date triggers a statutory $500 penalty, plus fees, that the Secretary of State may not waive. Item 8 sets the effective date, upon filing or delayed by up to 90 days. A delay therefore cannot help; it only lengthens the gap the warning measures. Where there is no proposed date, the FAQ gives "upon qualification or upon filing" as the entry.
Home details and the principal office
Item 3 wants four things from the home record: the name used at home, the jurisdiction, the formation date and the duration. All four come from the home-state record, so copy them exactly. The principal place of business goes in item 4, whose state line lets the LLC be managed from elsewhere. Item 7 names the place where the LLC's records are held, and the LLC promises to keep them there until the Georgia registration is cancelled or withdrawn.
The agent, and the person who manages
Item 5 requires the agent's name plus a Georgia street address and county; a box or mail drop is turned away. For item 6, the LLC names the person with substantial responsibility for managing its business, which may be a manager, member or officer. Per the FAQ, an LLC's Georgia record carries just its registered agent. Choose the name you are comfortable seeing on a filing.
Signature and undertakings
The signer must be someone authorized to sign for the LLC under its home state's law. Signing commits the LLC to hold its records at the item 7 address, and it names the Secretary of State as the recipient of process when no Georgia agent has been appointed. Read the form to the end before it is signed; the statements at the bottom are part of the application.
Paying, and how long it takes
The fee is $235, paid by Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover online or by check or money order with a paper form. The Division's estimates are about 7 business days online and 15 by mail. Paid review is $120 for a two-business-day answer, $275 for same-day and $1,200 for one hour. Fees are non-refundable, so check the form before it goes.
Where an LLC filing can stall
- A start date left blank, or a date that reaches back past the thirty days with no explanation.
- A mail drop or box given as the registered office.
- The LLC named as its own agent.
- A home-state name or date that does not match the record.
- A missing email address.
- A signer without authority under the home state's law.
How we prepare Form CD 241
Collect the answers
From your checkout form: home details, start date, agent, manager, records address.
Check them against the home record
The name, state and date of formation must match.
Send you the draft
The authorized signer reviews each item.
File and pay
$235 to the Corporations Division.
Hand over the certificate
And the date the annual registration window opens.
Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year
$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Form CD 241 questions
Does an LLC list its members?
The form asks for one person responsible for managing the business, not a list of members.
Can the form be filed online?
Yes. Online filers answer questions and the Division generates the application.
Is a notary needed?
The form asks for a signature and does not mention a notary.
Our filing fee, then the Georgia fee
Checkout lists what we charge and what Georgia charges on separate lines. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Get a Georgia certificate of authority
$199
+ $235 Georgia fee
- The Georgia application that fits your entity type, filled in from your answers
- The home-state certificate requested, where your entity type needs one
- A Georgia registered agent: our office, or the one you name
- A note of the annual registration window that follows
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
Georgia sources
- Georgia Secretary of State, Corporations Division filing fees and expedited processing (PDF)
- Georgia Secretary of State, Corporations Division business FAQ
- Georgia Secretary of State, Form CD 241, Application for Certificate of Authority for Foreign Limited Liability Company (PDF)
- Georgia Secretary of State, how to guide: register a foreign entity
Need Georgia authority for a company?
Send us the entity type and the date it started in Georgia. We assemble the papers and file.