Business In Georgia

  

 

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Here are ways to formalize business in Georgia, written from the perspective of a business person, not an attorney. It is for information only.  We are NOT accountants or attorneys, and we are NOT offering legal or accounting advice.  We urge you to seek the advice of competent, licensed professionals before making any decisions.   

Trade Name Registration - In Georgia, business names or trade names are registered at the Superior Court in the county where the business resides.  Registration helps protect you from someone else using your business name.  This is as important for sole proprietorships and partnerships as it is for corporations. They provide the form [registration is $25] and instructions describing how to advertise your business name which costs another $20 - $40.  

Trade or Service Mark Registration - Your actual business or corporate Trade Mark or Service Mark is registered within Georgia through the Secretary of State’s Office - see their web pages for instructions.  This also protects your business name from use by others within Georgia.

The Secretary of State's website:
ww.sos.state.ga.us/corporations/trademarks.htm  Down load the form from the web page and be sure to include the classification code. This costs $25.

Federal Trademark Registration - It's wise to register your business name and logo as a trademark or service mark with the Federal Patent and Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov if you are offering goods or services outside of Georgia.
You can do this on line http://www.uspto.gov/teas/e-TEAS/index.html  for $425 and the process takes a minimum of 6 months.  You might want to involve a trademark attorney as this is more expensive and complicated than the Georgia registration.

To Search USPTO records:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/tm.html  to see if your trademark is being used by another company elsewhere in the U.S. A  yahoo www.yahoo.com  search of "trademark" provides a wealth of additional information.  It is possible to register trade or service names yourself if you have a legal bend.  Be wary about investing a great deal of money promoting your business name until it is trademarked.  

GEORGIA INCORPORATION 

Browse the Georgia Secretary of State’s website: www.sos.state.ga.us/corporations/ to get a feeling for the information and services the Secretary of State's Office provides to businesses.  

Reserve your corporate name through the Georgia Secretary of State web site. www.sos.state.ga.us/corporations/request.htm  Make sure to include "Inc." in your corporate name or it won’t take, and they won’t notify you if it doesn’t.  Corporate name reservation is free.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office provides a listing and examples of the papers you need to file for the Incorporation, including a draft of the Articles of Incorporation. File the Certificate of Incorporation [$60], and arrange for Public Advertisement of the Corporate Name [$40]. This is relatively easy and straight forward.

You will also need to assemble and keep a note book with all your Incorporation forms... Articles of Incorporation, By Laws, Organization Meeting Minutes, Board of Directors Meetings, etc. This satisfies the IRS that you’re actually acting like a corporation and not a sole proprietorship. Quicken’s Business Lawyer includes many of these forms. There are books available describing how to file your own incorporation.  We found "How To Form Your Own Corporation" by Eckert, Sartorius, and Warda to be very helpful. Set up a notebook, hold the meetings, get the documents signed.  The IRS will ask to see your corporate note book if you get an audit, especially if you are filing as a Sub Chapter S corporation.  Unless you have direct experience with all this, a good attorney is a must.

SBA SCORE Programs:
The Small Business Administration offers an incredible array of helpful resources www.sba.gov/ga/ including consulting by experienced retired business executives www.scoreatlanta.org

Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Resources -
www.metroatlantachamber.com/ed_entrepreneurs.html

For your corporate notebook, know what each document is intended to do, what you’re trying to achieve, and what the format should be, including the Organization meeting, Minutes, By Laws, Stock Ledger. For small, simple closely held corporations this is not terribly complicated. One person can incorporate by themselves in Georgia.

The IRS has a series of excellent free training programs, STEP, Small Business Tax Education Program, explaining how to set up, track and pay employment taxes, record keeping, filing, etc. Attending these is very helpful when you are just starting out.

Visit the Georgia Secretary of State’s One Stop Center to get the booklet listing all the different State and Federal agencies you could be dealing with. This booklet includes post cards to send to each department requesting further information. Beware of Business Licenses, Operating Permits, etc. Their new business information is very helpful. 

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