How to Get a Seller’s Permit in Georgia: Filing and Liability

To get a seller’s permit in Georgia, register online through the Georgia Tax Center for a sales and use tax certificate of registration. There is no fee, the application is free to submit, and you can have your sales tax account number by email in about 15 minutes.¹ A paper certificate follows in the mail within 7 to 10 business days, and once it arrives you must display it conspicuously at your place of business.² The obligation to collect sales tax from your customers begins with your first sale, not when the paper arrives.

Do You Actually Need One

Georgia requires registration from anyone who meets the state’s definition of a “dealer.” That covers selling tangible personal property at retail, leasing or renting property, importing goods for sale, or operating a sales office or warehouse in the state.² Brick-and-mortar shops, online sellers shipping to Georgia customers, and temporary vendors at craft fairs and pop-ups all fall inside it. If you meet the dealer definition, you must register even if every one of your sales turns out to be wholesale, out of state, or otherwise exempt from tax.¹

Remote Sellers and Economic Nexus

If you have no physical presence in Georgia, you still need to register once you cross either economic nexus threshold in the current or previous calendar year: more than $100,000 in gross revenue from Georgia sales, or more than 200 separate retail transactions delivered into the state.³ Physical nexus is triggered by an office, warehouse, distribution center, employees, or sales representatives in the state.

Selling Through Amazon, Etsy, or Walmart

Marketplace facilitators collect and remit Georgia sales tax on the sales they process for you once the facilitator meets the state’s economic nexus thresholds, and Georgia law says a marketplace seller is not obligated to collect or remit tax on any sale where the facilitator already handles it.⁴ You still need to register if you also sell directly through your own website or at in-person events, since those channels put you back inside the dealer definition. Keep records showing which sales the facilitator handled so you don’t report the same tax twice.

What to Have Ready Before You Apply

Pull these together before you open the application:

Your legal business name, any trade or DBA name, and both physical and mailing addresses.
Your Federal Employer Identification Number, or your Social Security Number if you’re a sole proprietor.
Your business structure: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or LLC.
Names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers for all owners, partners, or corporate officers.
A description of what you sell and the date you plan to begin operating in Georgia.

If you operate from more than one location, you’ll need a separate certificate for each place of business, though a single registration covers your operations statewide.²

Applying Through the Georgia Tax Center

The Georgia Tax Center (GTC) is the primary way to register, and it runs around the clock.⁵ The steps:

Go to the Georgia Tax Center and click “Register a New Georgia Business.”⁶
Enter the business and personal details from your prep list. You’ll create a single GTC login that can manage multiple tax accounts if your business has more than one tax obligation.
Review everything before you submit. Errors in your EIN, address, or owner information are the most common reason applications get held up.

Most businesses have no paper option; the online portal is it.

What You Get and When

Your sales tax account number arrives by email in about 15 minutes.¹ The physical certificate of registration comes by mail within 7 to 10 business days. Initial registration is free. Georgia charges a $1 reissuance fee only if a previous certificate was suspended or revoked.²

Post the certificate in a visible spot at your place of business.² It’s tied to the person and location named on it, so it can’t be transferred to a new owner or moved to a different site. A buyer taking over your business has to register for their own. The permit itself doesn’t expire and doesn’t require annual renewal. It stays valid as long as you’re operating and in compliance.

What the Permit Obligates You to Do

Having the certificate is only step one. It authorizes you to collect sales tax on Georgia’s behalf, and it commits you to filing returns and remitting what you collect.

Charging the Right Rate

Georgia’s state sales tax rate is 4%. Every county layers on its own local taxes, which range from roughly 3% to 5%, so combined rates for most Georgia customers land somewhere between about 7% and 9%. Local components can include county option taxes, special-purpose local option sales taxes (SPLOST) for infrastructure, and other voter-approved levies. You charge the combined rate for the destination of the sale, not the location of your business, and the Department of Revenue publishes rate tables you can use to look up each jurisdiction.

Most tangible personal property sold at retail is taxable. Most services are not, but restaurant meals, in-state passenger transportation, and certain lodging transactions are. If your offerings mix goods and services, confirm the taxability of each line before you start ringing up sales.

Filing Returns

The Department of Revenue assigns your filing frequency based on your total tax liability over a set period.⁷⁸⁹¹⁰

Georgia gives dealers a small vendor compensation for filing and paying on time: 3% of the first $3,000 in combined state and local sales tax collected, plus 0.5% of any amount above that. The discount vanishes if you file even a day late.

Personal Liability Most Owners Don’t See Coming

Sales tax is a trust fund tax. You’re collecting money that belongs to the state and holding it until you remit.¹ If a business fails to hand it over, Georgia doesn’t stop at the entity. The Department of Revenue can assess individual officers, directors, members, managers, and partners for the unpaid tax personally.¹¹

The test is control: whether you had authority to collect the tax and pay the state, or to direct the company’s funds. If you could sign checks, hire and fire, or decide how money was spent, an LLC or corporate shell will not protect you from a personal assessment for unpaid sales tax.¹¹ Sole proprietors and general partners are personally liable for business debts already, so no separate assessment is required.

If You Stop Selling

Closing shop, selling the business, or dissolving the entity does not close your sales tax account on its own. File a final return covering any remaining period, remit whatever tax you collected, and close the account through the Georgia Tax Center. An open account keeps generating filing obligations, and every missed return generates penalties. If you sold the business, your certificate does not go with it. The buyer registers for a new one before they start selling.

1
Georgia Department of Revenue. Sales and Use Tax Registration – FAQ
2
Justia Law. Georgia Code 48-8-59 – Dealers Certificate of Registration
3
Georgia Department of Revenue. Out-of-State Sellers
4
Justia Law. Georgia Code 48-8-30 – Imposition, Rate, and Collection of Tax
5
Georgia Department of Revenue. Register a New Business in Georgia
6
Georgia.gov. Register a Business with Georgia Department of Revenue
7
Georgia Department of Revenue. Notice of Change in Filing Status/Frequency
8
Georgia Department of Revenue. File and Pay
9
Justia Law. Georgia Code 48-8-66 – Penalties for Failure to File Return
10
Georgia Department of Revenue. Penalty and Interest Rates
11
Georgia Department of Revenue. Personal Liability