Georgia Foreign Registration / From Delaware
Taking a Delaware LLC into Georgia
Taking a Delaware LLC into Georgia means Form CD 241 for $235, with Delaware's $400 still due June 1 every year. Add Georgia's $60 annual registration and both states together cost $460 a year. The registration year, with the certificate of authority and Delaware's tax, comes to $635.
Delaware and Georgia side by side
| Topic | Delaware | Georgia |
|---|---|---|
| Entry filing | Already formed | Form CD 241, $235 |
| Home-state certificate | $50 for a short-form certificate | Not filed with an LLC application |
| Yearly charge | $400 tax, due June 1 | $60 registration, January 1 to April 1 |
| Cost of being late | $200 added to the tax | $25 late fee; revocation risk |
| Agent | A Delaware registered agent | A Georgia street address; the Delaware agent does not carry over |
What changes for a Delaware LLC
The LLC stays a Delaware company. It keeps its Delaware agent, its Delaware tax and its Delaware good standing. It adds a Georgia filing, a Georgia agent and a spring filing. Georgia does not ask for a Delaware certificate with an LLC application. A lender or customer may still ask for one, and Delaware sells it for $50 in the short form.
Filling in the form from a Delaware record
Item 3 takes the LLC name as Delaware records it, the home state, the formation date and the period of duration. Item 4 is the principal place of business. Item 5 needs a Georgia registered agent at a street address in Georgia; the Delaware agent is not enough. Item 6 wants the manager in practical charge of the business. For a Delaware LLC held through layers of ownership, name the person who actually runs the Georgia activity.
Two seasons
Delaware bills in the first days of summer and Georgia asks in the first quarter. A Delaware LLC working here therefore has an April 1 deadline and a June 1 deadline, and paying one does nothing for the other. A Delaware tax late by a day adds $200. A Georgia filing late by a day adds $25. Both go in one calendar the day you register.
Parents and subsidiaries
A Delaware parent LLC may own operating companies. Whether the parent itself has to register turns on its own activity in Georgia, which is a question for a Georgia lawyer as it is for any LLC. When the operating LLC registers, put its own manager in item 6. A parent that only holds shares in the subsidiary differs from one that has staff in Georgia.
The yearly figure
Delaware's $400 plus Georgia's $60 is $460 a year. In the registration year, the figure is $635: Georgia's $235 plus Delaware's tax. The calculation leaves out both agents, any paid review and our price.
Registering a Delaware LLC in Georgia
Note the Georgia start date
The 30 days run from it.
Square up Delaware
Have the $400 tax paid, or at least scheduled.
Choose a Georgia agent
At a real Georgia address.
File Form CD 241
$235 online or by mail.
Diary two dates
April 1 for Georgia and June 1 for Delaware.
A year in two states
| When | Georgia | Delaware |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 to April 1 | Annual registration, $60 | Nothing due |
| April to May | Late fee if the registration missed April 1 | Delaware statement arrives at the Delaware agent |
| June 1 | Nothing due | Tax, $400 |
| Rest of the year | Watch for notices at the principal office and agent | Pay late and a penalty is added |
Papers Georgia leaves out
No Delaware certificate of formation is requested, nor an operating agreement, and a foreign LLC sends no home-state certificate of existence with the application. What Form CD 241 wants is the name, the formation date, a duration, addresses, the agent and a managing person. Keep the Delaware papers tidy for a bank; they stay outside this filing.
Before you file
Check three things. That the Delaware tax is paid, since a lender or customer who asks for good standing will look at Delaware. That the Georgia start date is accurate. And that the person in item 6 knows they are named. The Delaware agent will keep receiving Delaware mail, but Georgia mail goes to the Georgia agent, so give both agents each other's contact details if a person at the LLC reads only one inbox.
What the Georgia record will show
Once the filing is approved, the Division's business search lists the LLC by name and control number with its status, and the registered agent. A customer or lender checking on your Georgia standing will see that. Keep the status active by filing the annual registration, and the entry stays clean.
Delaware LLC questions
Will Georgia registration lower the Delaware tax?
It will not. Delaware collects its $400 tax regardless of the LLC's activity in Georgia.
Can my Delaware agent be my Georgia agent?
Only if it meets Georgia's rules and has a Georgia street address.
Our price, then the Georgia fee
Register in Georgia
Georgia$199
+ $235 Georgia fee
- Form CD 241, prepared from your answers
- The thirty-day clock checked against your start date
- Our office as your Georgia agent, or the one you choose
- Your annual registration window, marked
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
Our price and the Georgia fee are separate lines at checkout. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Georgia Secretary of State sources
- Georgia Secretary of State, Form CD 241, Application for Certificate of Authority for Foreign Limited Liability Company (PDF)
- Georgia Secretary of State, Corporations Division filing fees and expedited processing (PDF)
- Georgia Secretary of State, how to file an annual registration
- Delaware Division of Corporations, LLC/LP/GP annual tax
- Delaware Division of Corporations fee schedule (PDF)
- Georgia Secretary of State, Corporations Division business FAQ
Working in Georgia already?
Tell us the day it started. We file before the penalty window opens, or tell you plainly if it already has.