How to Fill Out and Submit the Georgia Sponsoring Broker Statement Form

The Georgia sponsoring broker statement form is not a standalone document. It is a section built into whichever Georgia Real Estate Commission application fits your situation, and it is where a licensed Georgia broker signs to affiliate your license with their firm. Every active salesperson, associate broker, and community association manager must be licensed under an active Georgia broker before performing any brokerage activity, and this signed affiliation is how the commission records that relationship.¹

Which GREC Form Contains the Statement

Pick the application that matches what you are doing. The broker affiliation section appears in each one; the rest of the form differs.

New licensee activating for the first time after passing the exam: use the GREC Change Application.²
Transferring from one Georgia brokerage to another: also the Change Application. The outgoing broker releases you in one part of the section and the incoming broker affiliates you in the other.
Reinstating a lapsed or inactive license: the Individual Reinstatement Application, which carries the broker affiliation in its Section C.³
Licensed in another state and applying through Georgia’s reciprocal process: the Reciprocal Application, which has its own firm affiliation section.⁴

All three are fillable PDFs on the commission’s website at grec.state.ga.us. The Change Application lets you fill it in on screen, then print two copies, one to sign and submit and one for your records. Submitting the wrong form means starting over, so confirm you have the right one before you begin.

You cannot be affiliated with more than one Georgia broker at the same time, and a new salesperson cannot start work until the broker has physically received the wall certificate of licensure from the commission.¹ If your previous broker releases your license and you do not either affiliate with a new broker or move to inactive status within 30 days, additional fees apply and you cannot practice during the gap.⁵

Completing the Affiliation Section

The walkthrough below tracks the Change Application, because that is the form most licensees use. The reinstatement and reciprocal applications arrange the same information under different section letters.

Section A: Your Information

Enter your full legal name, residence address, phone number, and license number. If you are a brand-new applicant without a license number yet, leave that field blank and the commission will assign one. Your name must match what GREC already has on file exactly. A missing middle initial is enough to get the form kicked back.

Section B: Change Information

Covers name changes, replacement wall certificates, and similar record updates. If you are only moving brokers and nothing else about your record is changing, skip it. Check only the boxes that apply.

Section E: Firm Affiliate and Release

This is the sponsoring broker statement itself. Your broker completes it, not you. It is split in two.

Part A is the release. If you are leaving a brokerage, the releasing broker signs here and fills in the firm name, firm license number, and firm phone number. This frees your license to move.

Part B is the affiliation. Your new sponsoring broker prints their name, enters the firm’s legal name, firm license number, and firm phone number, then signs and dates. By signing, the broker certifies that you and the firm have entered into the written agreement required by Substantive Regulation 520-1-.07(5).²

For a transfer, both parts get completed on the same form: the former broker signs Part A, the new broker signs Part B. For a first-time licensee, only Part B is used.

Section F: Your Certification

You sign and date, certifying that the information on the application is true. The form is invalid without both your signature and your broker’s signature in Section E, so confirm nothing is blank before mailing.

The Written Agreement Your Broker Is Confirming

When your broker signs Part B, they are attesting that a written agreement already exists between you and the firm. Georgia Regulation 520-1-.07(5)(a) requires that agreement to spell out two things: how you will be compensated during your affiliation, and how you will be paid for transactions you started but have not closed if you later leave.⁶ The commission does not dictate the contents beyond requiring that the agreement exists, and disputes about its terms are not grounds for a broker to refuse to release your license.

The agreement is separate from the sponsoring broker statement, but they are linked. Your broker cannot truthfully sign the affiliation without the written agreement already in place. Get it signed first, then put the form in front of your broker.

Submitting the Form

Mail the completed, signed application to the commission:

Georgia Real Estate Commission
229 Peachtree St., NE
International Tower, Suite 1000
Atlanta, GA 30303-1605

Certified mail or a tracked delivery service is worth the small added cost. If GREC never receives your paperwork, you have no proof it was sent, and you cannot legally practice while things sit in limbo. Incomplete applications are returned unprocessed and trigger a $25 charge, so run through every field and both signatures before sealing the envelope.²

The commission also runs an online portal at ata.grec.state.ga.us for certain licensing transactions, though not every form type can be submitted electronically. Check the portal to see whether your application qualifies.

Fees Tied to the Underlying Action

The Change Application itself has no filing fee, but the license action it supports does. Current GREC fees:

Original license activation: $45, which includes a $20 contribution to the Real Estate Education, Research, and Recovery Fund.
Renewal (four-year cycle): $100 online, or $125 by mail or other method.
Reinstatement within four months of lapsing: $225.
Reinstatement after four months: $225 plus $25 for each additional month, or partial month, beyond six months from the lapse date.³

All fees are payable to the Georgia Real Estate Commission and are nonrefundable.

After You Submit

Commission staff review the application, verify signatures, and cross-check your broker’s firm license status in their records. If the firm license number is expired, inactive, or does not match the broker’s name, expect the application back. Applications that require a background investigation take additional time beyond the standard review.⁴

Once approved, your status is updated to active in the GREC database and your wall certificate of licensure is mailed out. Your broker must have that certificate in hand before you perform any brokerage work.¹ Keep a copy of everything you submitted.

If a Broker Will Not Sign the Release

Your current broker is required to sign the release immediately on request and forward your wall certificate of licensure to the commission, or directly to the new broker with written notice to GREC. The broker cannot hold your certificate over a compensation dispute or unfinished deals, which are separate matters. A refusal to release can itself be the basis for a formal complaint to the commission.⁶

One Boundary on What This Form Does

Signing a sponsoring broker statement affiliates your license. It does not make you an employee of the firm. Under federal tax law, licensed real estate agents are treated as statutory nonemployees, and therefore as self-employed for income and employment tax purposes, when substantially all of their pay is tied to sales or other output rather than hours worked and a written contract states they will not be treated as employees for federal tax purposes.⁷ Most brokerage independent contractor agreements are written to satisfy both conditions, which is why the compensation agreement required by GREC and the independent contractor agreement establishing tax status are often signed together. Handle both before you ask your broker to sign the affiliation.

1
Cornell Law – Legal Information Institute. Georgia Comp R and Regs R 520-1-.05 – Maintaining a License
2
Georgia Real Estate Commission. Georgia Real Estate Commission Change Application
3
Georgia Real Estate Commission. Georgia Real Estate Commission Individual Reinstatement Application
4
Georgia Real Estate Commission. Georgia Real Estate Commission Reciprocal Application
5
Justia Law. Georgia Code 43-40-12 – Fees; Inactive Status
6
Georgia Secretary of State. Georgia Code 520-1 – Licensure and Brokerage
7
Internal Revenue Service. Licensed Real Estate Agents – Real Estate Tax Tips