Georgia Form CRF-002: Tax Accounts, Filing, and Submission

Georgia Form CRF-002 is the Business Tax Registration Application you file with the Georgia Department of Revenue to open your state tax accounts — sales and use, withholding, corporate income, and others — in a single submission. You can file it online through the Georgia Tax Center at gtc.dor.ga.gov or mail a paper copy to the Department of Revenue in Atlanta. Before you start, have your Federal Employer Identification Number, the Social Security Numbers of every owner and officer, your NAICS code, and your business banking details in hand.

What to Gather Before You Start

The form asks for specific identifiers up front, and missing any of them stalls the filing. Pull the following together first:

Your Federal Employer Identification Number. Most businesses need one; sole proprietors without an FEIN can use their SSN in that field.¹
The Social Security Number of every owner, partner, and corporate officer you’ll list on the application.²
Your legal business name exactly as registered with the Georgia Secretary of State, plus any DBA or trade names.
Your six-digit NAICS code for your primary business activity. The Census Bureau publishes a searchable list if you’re not sure which fits.
Both your physical location address and mailing address if they’re different.
Your bank account and routing numbers for electronic funds transfers.³

If you’re forming an LLC, corporation, or partnership, register the entity with the Georgia Secretary of State before you apply for an EIN or file CRF-002. The IRS notes that applying for an EIN before the entity is officially formed with the state can cause delays.¹

Which Tax Accounts CRF-002 Opens

One filing can open several accounts. You complete only the sections that match what your business actually does. The most common:

Sales and Use Tax, required of any business meeting Georgia’s definition of a “dealer” — anyone selling tangible goods or certain services to Georgia consumers. Georgia regulation requires every dealer to file CRF-002 for each place of business.⁴
State Withholding Tax, for any employer with a Georgia payroll.
Corporate Income Tax, for corporations and certain other entities doing business in the state.
International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), for motor carriers operating across state lines.
Tobacco and Alcohol Excise Taxes, for manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of those products.

A retail shop typically completes the sales tax and withholding sections and skips the IFTA block entirely. A remote seller with no Georgia location still has to register for sales tax if it crosses the state’s economic nexus threshold of $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions in the current or previous calendar year.

How to Fill Out the Form

You can download the current PDF from dor.georgia.gov or start the registration inside the Georgia Tax Center. The paper form and the online workflow request the same information in the same order.

Reason for Filing and Entity Type

The form opens by asking why you’re filing: starting a new business, adding a location, adding a tax type to an existing account, or reporting a change in ownership. Pick the one that fits so the Department of Revenue routes the application correctly. Then select your entity type — sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, corporation, or other. That choice controls which later fields become mandatory. A sole proprietor won’t list corporate officers; a corporation will.

General Information

Enter your FEIN (or SSN for a sole proprietor filing without one), your legal business name exactly as it appears on IRS records, and any DBA names. Add the physical location and, if different, the mailing address. Put your NAICS code in this section. The code matters because the state uses it to classify your activity for audit and compliance purposes.

Tax-Specific Blocks

The middle of the form is divided into blocks, one per tax type. Complete only the blocks for accounts you need. Each asks when you started (or plan to start) the taxable activity in Georgia. The sales tax block also asks for the county your business is located in, because local sales tax rates vary by county.

Ownership and Signature

List each owner, partner, or officer with name, title, SSN, home address, and ownership percentage. An authorized person — the owner, a corporate officer, or a managing member — signs to certify the application.⁴

Companion Forms CRF-004 and CRF-005

CRF-002 does not travel alone. Georgia’s registration regulation requires dealers and contractors to file CRF-002 along with Forms CRF-004 and CRF-005.⁴ CRF-004 captures additional ownership and relationship information beyond what fits on the main application, which helps when the ownership structure is complex. Both companion forms sit on the Department of Revenue site alongside CRF-002. If you register online through the Georgia Tax Center, the portal walks you through the equivalent questions inside the same workflow, so you don’t need to hunt down separate PDFs.

How to Submit

Online Through the Georgia Tax Center

The Department of Revenue points applicants toward online filing at gtc.dor.ga.gov. The portal accepts your information, lets you upload supporting documents, and confirms receipt in real time. Once your registration is approved you get GTC login credentials, which is where you’ll file returns, make payments, and manage the accounts going forward.²

By Mail

If you’d rather file on paper, print CRF-002 along with CRF-004 and CRF-005, complete them, and mail the package to:

Georgia Department of Revenue
P.O. Box 105555
Atlanta, GA 30348-5555

Paper submissions take longer to process than electronic ones, and the Department’s own materials steer applicants toward GTC.³

After Your Registration Is Approved

Once processed, you receive a Certificate of Registration. Georgia law requires that the certificate be displayed conspicuously at the place of business it was issued for. This isn’t optional. O.C.G.A. § 48-8-59 mandates the display for sales tax dealers.⁵

If your business operates from multiple locations, you file a separate CRF-002 and receive a separate certificate for each one. The regulation is explicit: the application must be filed “for each place of business in this State.”⁴

The certificate is tied to a specific location and business type. If you move your business to a different county, change to a different type of business, or close down, you must return the existing certificate for cancellation and file a new CRF-002 for a replacement if you’re continuing operations elsewhere.⁴ A change in ownership triggers the same requirement. The new owner cannot inherit the old certificate.

Contractors and Construction Businesses

Georgia’s rule singles out contractors. Any person who contracts to furnish tangible goods and perform services as part of constructing, remodeling, or improving real property in Georgia must file CRF-002 for a Certificate of Registration, even if the work is temporary or project-based.⁴ This catches out-of-state contractors who assume their home-state license is enough. If you’re supplying materials and labor on a Georgia job site, register before you start work.

What CRF-002 Does Not Cover

Filing CRF-002 opens Georgia state tax accounts. It does not register you with the IRS, and getting an EIN from the IRS does not register you with Georgia. The two systems don’t talk to each other, so you handle federal employment tax filings — Forms 941, 940, W-2, and W-3 — separately on the IRS’s own schedule if you have employees.⁶

1
Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
2
Department of Revenue. CRF-002
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Georgia Department of Revenue. Sales and Use Tax Forms
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Cornell Law Institute. Georgia Comp R and Regs R 560-12-1-.09 – Certificate of Registration
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Georgia Department of Revenue. Sales and Use Tax Registration – FAQ
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Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Due Dates