Georgia Business Entity Search (2024)

A formal organization created to conduct business is called a business entity. Corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs) and limited partnerships are common types of business entities. Sole proprietorships and general partnerships are not considered business entities. Every business entity must be registered in the states where it is operating.

To create a business entity and register it with your state, you need to choose a business name as well as a business type, such as corporation, LLC or limited partnership.

Starting a Business in Georgia

Although you must register your business with the Georgia Secretary of State, Georgia doesn’t issue a business license at the state level. Instead, you must obtain a business license and requisite permissions from the city or county you operate in.

Forming an LLC in Georgia

The first step in forming an LLC in Georgia is to choose your LLC’s name and a registered agent. If it’s a new entity, you must submit Articles of Organization to the Georgia Secretary of State.

If you already have an LLC in another state, you are treated as a foreign entity and need to submit different forms to obtain authorization to do business in Georgia. You can read all about forming an LLC in Georgia here.

The Georgia Corporations Division allows you to search for a business entity by its full or partial name. You can do an exact match search too, if you know the full name of the business you are searching for.

When you’re starting a new business, searching for businesses by name can help you identify other Georgia businesses with names that are the same as, or similar to, the name you want to use. You aren’t allowed to form a new business entity that has the same name as an existing one. A name that’s similar to an existing business name in your locality or industry can raise trademark issues or make it hard to establish your own brand.

To search names, all you need to do is visit the corporation division website and enter the name of the business in the “Business Name” field. You can search for limited liability companies, corporations, limited partnerships, professional corporations, nonprofit corporations and limited liability limited partnerships.

In case of an exact match search, you will get details for only one entity. Otherwise, you’ll get a list of all business entities containing the search terms. The results include each matching business’s name, control number, business type, office address, registered agent name and status.

You can also search for a business entity by its control number. The control number is a unique nine-digit number assigned by the Georgia Secretary of State to all the registered entities. When you search by control number, you will get only one result.

A registered agent is an individual or business entity authorized to receive official papers, such as a legal summons or periodic renewal. You can search for a business using its registered agent name too. You will again get a list of business names.

Bottom Line

Starting a business in Georgia involves lots of preliminary planning and preparation. Choosing the right business name that demonstrates your values and promises to the clients is the first crucial step. To ensure you have a unique business name, you should start by conducting a business entity search on the Georgia Corporations Division website.