VerifySOS is a 50-state business-verification tool for credit and underwriting in trucking and commercial finance. One search merges Secretary of State registration, FMCSA/USDOT authority, OFAC sanctions, ownership, and county DBA filings into a single PDF packet.

How do I look up a business across all 50 states?

Enter the company name and its 2-letter state code (or a USDOT number) on verifysos.com. It searches the Secretary of State and FMCSA SAFER side by side, screens OFAC, and generates a verification packet PDF.

How much does VerifySOS cost?

There is a free tier and a Pro plan at $14.99/month with unlimited searches.

Does VerifySOS show business ownership and officers?

Yes. Where a state publishes officers, members, or managers in its free public records, VerifySOS pulls them into the packet, separate from the registered agent, which is not the owner.

← All posts September 08, 2026

How to find out who owns an LLC in Georgia

ownership llc georgia

Georgia’s Secretary of State makes LLC ownership public, but not in the place most underwriters look first. The registered agent—the name splashed across the top of the record—is almost never the owner. The real owners are the members, and you have to know where to find them and what to do when the state record leaves them blank.

The registered agent trap

When you pull an LLC record from Georgia’s business registry, the registered agent appears prominently. This is the person or firm designated to receive legal documents on behalf of the company. Many underwriters stop there and write the agent’s name into the file as “owner” or “principal.” That is a critical mistake.

A registered agent can be a law firm, a compliance service, a family friend, or even a nominee. It tells you nothing about who actually runs the business, who signed the loan guarantee, or who controls the bank account. For credit underwriting, the registered agent is noise. The owner is in the members or managers section · and if that section is empty or unclear, you have a problem that requires follow-up.

Where Georgia publicly lists LLC owners

Georgia’s Secretary of State publishes the Articles of Organization for each LLC, and that document lists the members and/or managers at the time of filing. If an LLC is member-managed, the members’ names appear there. If it is manager-managed, the managers’ names appear there. This is the canonical ownership record and it is freely searchable by business name or registration number.

The catch: the Articles of Organization are a snapshot from the day the LLC was formed. If ownership has changed since incorporation, the state’s free public record will not reflect it unless the company filed an amended Articles or an annual report listing updated members. Many LLCs do not update the state record when a member leaves or a new one joins. The Articles you pull may be five or ten years old and completely stale.

Annual reports and the ownership gap

Georgia requires LLCs to file an annual report each year. On that report, the company is supposed to list the current registered agent and the managers (if applicable). However, Georgia’s annual report does NOT require the company to list all current members · only the managers.

This creates an ownership blind spot. A member-managed LLC with no amendments will show the original members from the Articles of Organization, even if three of them have sold their stake to a new investor. The state record is still legally accurate but practically worthless for underwriting. You are looking at yesterday’s ownership, not today’s.

What to do when the record is incomplete

If the Articles of Organization list no members or managers, or if they list a business instead of individuals, or if the filing date is very old and you suspect turnover, you have three moves.

First, request a certified copy of the Articles of Organization and any amendments filed since inception. These will give you the state’s official record of every ownership change the company actually reported.

Second, ask the business directly for a current membership certificate or operating agreement. An operating agreement is the internal contract that governs member rights and obligations. It will name all current members, their ownership percentages, and any transfers. Most lenders require this as a standard doc anyway · treat it as your source of truth for ownership, not the state record.

Third, cross-reference the LLC with the UCC filings in Georgia. If the company has borrowed money or pledged equipment, the secured lender will have filed a UCC-1. That filing often names the guarantors or the principals, giving you an independent read on who is actually behind the entity.

Why this matters for underwriting

A member who appears on the state record but has been out of the business for five years is not a credit risk. A hidden new member who took over last month, but whose name does not appear anywhere in Georgia’s public files, is a credit event you need to investigate. Ownership changes drive operational risk, guarantee structure changes, and sometimes fraud.

If you are underwriting a loan to a Georgia LLC and the state record shows a registered agent but no clear members, or members from years ago with no recent amendments, your file is incomplete. Get the operating agreement. Call the company and ask who the current owners are. Cross-check names against other public records. Do not assume the state’s public record is current.

Bottom line

Georgia publishes LLC ownership in the Articles of Organization, but that record can be years out of date if the company has not filed amendments. The registered agent is a legal designee, not an owner. To know who actually owns a Georgia LLC, pull the Articles and any amendments, request the operating agreement from the company, and ask directly. The state record is a starting point, not the finish.