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How to Start a Barbershop in Georgia: Licenses, Costs & Requirements

Georgia folded its barbers into the same board as its cosmetologists in 2015, and barbershop licensing has run on salon machinery ever since: one board, one establishment license, and a practitioner ladder with two rungs. This guide walks through the master barber and barber II licenses, the Salon/Shop license for your space, and the state and county filings every Georgia shop owes, with the fees and deadlines the board itself publishes.

Researched from Georgia state sources. Our guides are free. We may earn a commission when you use a partner service, at no additional cost to you.

Who licenses barbershops in Georgia

Georgia merged its barber and cosmetology boards in 2015, so one agency runs barbershop licensing: the Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers, administered by the Professional Licensing Boards Division of the Secretary of State under O.C.G.A. Chapter 43-10. The board licenses the barbers, at two levels, and it licenses the premises through the same Salon/Shop establishment license a hair salon uses. There is no separate barber shop license and no separate barber board. Applications and renewals run through the Secretary of State's GOALS online licensing system, and the board's published fee schedule, at sos.ga.gov, is the source for every fee in this guide.

The merger matters in practice. Your shop answers to the same facility rules, the same inspection rights, and the same renewal machinery as the salon across town, and a shop can hold one Salon/Shop license covering both barbering and cosmetology work. What differs is the practitioner side: barbers license at 16 instead of 17, renew on a December deadline instead of a spring one, and split into a full scope master barber license and a narrower barber II license that has no equivalent on the cosmetology side.

Georgia barbershop requirements at a glance

Master barber and barber II: the two Georgia barber licenses

The master barber license carries the full barbering scope in Section 43-10-1: shaving and trimming the beard, cutting and dressing hair, facial and scalp massage and treatments, and the chemical side of the trade, coloring, permanent waving, relaxing, and straightening. The school route is a course of 1,500 credit hours over at least nine months at a board approved school of barbering; Rule 240-14-.02 lays out that curriculum, which front loads 280 hours of theory before a student touches a live client. The apprenticeship route is 3,000 credit hours in a licensed shop. Applicants must be at least 16 and hold a high school diploma or equivalent, and pass both a written and a practical examination approved by the board.

The barber II license is the shorter route into the trade: 1,140 credit hours over at least seven months, or a 2,280 hour apprenticeship, with the same exams and the same minimum age of 16. Its scope is the classic chair work only, shaving and beard trimming, cutting and dressing hair, and facial and scalp massage and treatments. A barber II cannot legally color hair or run chemical services. Shops that staff barber II chairs need a master barber or master cosmetologist in the building for the chemical menu, or they need to keep that menu off the board.

The fees are identical at both levels. The application for licensure by exam is $30, plus a $5 online processing fee. Renewal is $50, due by December 31 of even years, the latest deadline on the board's calendar. A late renewal inside 30 days costs $100 and reinstatement costs $200. Renewal requires five hours of continuing education, three of them in a health and safety course, a requirement that has applied to barbers since January 1, 2018 and that starts at a licensee's second renewal. Barbers licensed in another state apply by endorsement for $75.

The Salon/Shop license for your shop

The shop itself needs the board's Salon/Shop license, the single establishment license that covers a barber shop, a cosmetology salon, or a business doing both. The application fee is $75, and the board's how-to guide states the sequence plainly: the shop may not perform services until it holds an active license. You do not need a barber license of your own to own the shop; the establishment license belongs to the business and its address.

Renewal is $75 by June 30 of odd years, on the cosmetology cycle rather than the barbers' December cycle, so a barbershop owner watches two different calendars. A late renewal within six months costs $200 and reinstatement $300. A change of name or address costs $45, a change of ownership $75, and a shop that moves must file its change of location application before opening at the new address.

The facility rules in Chapter 240-4 of the board's rules then govern the space. Any board member or inspector may enter and inspect during regular business hours, and refusing an inspection risks sanctions up to revocation. The shop needs a permanent and definite location, walls that separate it floor to ceiling from living or other commercial space, and toilet and lavatory facilities on the premises or within 300 feet in the same building. Post the facility license within fifteen feet of the entrance and each barber's current license in an open, public area. A shop inside a home follows the same rules, with the exterior sign optional.

Chemical services, crossover hours and apprentices

The scope line between master barber and barber II is where shops get into trouble. Coloring, lightening, permanent waving, relaxing, and straightening sit inside the master barber scope and the master cosmetologist scope, and outside the barber II scope. A barber II who picks up a color bowl is practicing beyond the license, and the shop's establishment license answers for services performed under its roof. Menu boards, booking software, and chair assignments should all respect the same line the statute draws.

Georgia builds a bridge between the two trades: a master barber can sit for the master cosmetologist exam, and a master cosmetologist for the master barber exam, after completing a 300 hour board approved crossover course and paying the application fee. For a hybrid shop, one dual licensed senior barber can anchor both sides of the menu. The apprenticeship route also runs through the shop itself: a barber apprentice trains in a licensed shop under a licensed master, 3,000 hours toward the master license or 2,280 toward barber II, with a $90 apprentice license application. Shops that train apprentices are building their own chair pipeline under the board's supervision and record keeping rules in Chapter 240-5.

Forming your LLC with the Georgia Secretary of State

Most Georgia beauty businesses organize as a limited liability company, and Georgia makes the filing simple. To form the LLC, file Articles of Organization with the Corporations Division of the Secretary of State, online through the eCorp system. Under the Corporations Division fee schedule effective September 6, 2025, the filing fee is $100 plus a $10 service charge, $110 in total, and the same $110 applies whether you file online or on paper. Older guides still quote $100 or $105; the September 2025 schedule replaced both numbers. Your Articles name the LLC, give its address, and name a registered agent with a Georgia street address who accepts legal papers on the business's behalf.

The filing owners miss is the annual registration. Every Georgia LLC files one with the Secretary of State each year between January 1 and April 1, starting the year after formation. The statutory fee is $50 plus the $10 service charge, $60 in total, and filing after April 1 adds a $25 late penalty. Let it lapse and the Secretary of State can administratively dissolve the LLC, which strips away the liability protection the entity exists to provide. Put the January to April window on your calendar the day you form, not the first spring it surprises you.

An LLC is not the only route. A sole proprietor files nothing with the Corporations Division, but also gets no separation between business and personal debts and claims. A corporation files Articles of Incorporation at the same $110 total and owes the same $60 annual registration. Whatever you choose, the entity does not change the licensing in this guide. The board licenses, the county trade name filing, and the tax accounts below are the same for an LLC, a corporation, and a sole proprietor.

Registering your trade name with the Clerk of Superior Court

Georgia handles business names at the county courthouse, not at the state level. If you do business under a name that does not disclose who owns the business, a storefront name, a brand, or an LLC trading under a shorter name, O.C.G.A. Section 10-1-490 requires you to register that trade name with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the business is chiefly carried on. File before you start doing business under the name. The registration statement is verified by affidavit and lists the names and addresses of the owners and the nature of the business being carried on.

Two steps catch people out. First, the filing is not complete until you publish notice of it in the newspaper in which the sheriff's advertisements are printed, once a week for two weeks. Second, there is no statewide fee: the charge is the clerk's fee prescribed by O.C.G.A. Section 15-6-77, so it is set county by county. Wayne County, as one published example, charges $163 to register a trade name. Ask your own clerk for the current schedule before you go in. You file once; a new and amended statement is required only when ownership changes.

A trade name registration does not create your entity and does not give you trademark rights in the name. It is a public disclosure filing, and your bank will usually ask for the filed statement when you open the business account, so complete it before you sign a lease or print signage under the name.

Getting your federal Employer Identification Number

Your Employer Identification Number, or EIN, is the federal tax ID for the business, issued by the IRS. Apply directly on the IRS website and it is free; any site charging you for an EIN is selling you a form you can file yourself in minutes. You need the number before your first hire, and in practice sooner: most banks require one to open a business account for an LLC, and the Department of Revenue and the Department of Labor both want it when you register your tax accounts. Apply right after your entity filing so it never becomes the bottleneck.

Georgia sales tax: services are not taxed, retail products are

Georgia taxes the retail sale of tangible personal property, and the Department of Revenue states the rule plainly: the tax falls on retail sales of goods and a short list of specific services, and most services are exempt. Haircuts, shaves, beard work, and chemical services performed by your barbers are services, and they are not on that taxable list, so you do not charge sales tax on service tickets. The tax lives at your retail shelf: shampoo, conditioner, styling products, and anything else a client pays for and takes home are taxable retail sales.

Register with the Department of Revenue before your first retail sale. Registration runs through the Georgia Tax Center, the Department's online portal, which issues your sales and use tax number and your Certificate of Registration as a dealer. The state rate is 4 percent, and county and city taxes stack on top of it, so the rate you charge is the combined rate for your location from the Department's published rate chart. Inside Atlanta, in Fulton County, that combined rate is 8.9 percent. Charging another county's rate is a common and expensive mistake, because the combined rate follows the place of the sale.

One more rule matters to service businesses. On the products you use up while providing services, your clippers' worth of consumables, tonics, shave products, and color used at the chair, you are the end user, and sales or use tax is due on those purchases. Buy your retail inventory under your dealer registration and collect the tax when you sell it; pay the tax on what the business consumes itself. Keep services and products on separate lines in your point of sale, file your returns on the schedule the Department assigns, and remit what you collected. That money was never yours.

Hiring staff: unemployment tax, new hires, wages and classification

Hiring your first employee opens accounts with two agencies. With the Georgia Department of Labor, a business becomes liable for unemployment insurance once it pays $1,500 in wages in a calendar quarter or employs at least one person in each of 20 different weeks in a year, and it establishes its UI tax account with the Employer Status Report, Form DOL-1N. New employers are assigned a beginning rate of 2.70 percent, charged only on the first $9,500 of each employee's wages per year, until the Department computes an experience based rate from your own history. Quarterly tax and wage reports, Form DOL-4N, are due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Separately, register for Georgia income tax withholding through the Georgia Tax Center and have each employee complete Form G-4.

Report every new hire, rehire, and return to work to the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program within 10 days, as O.C.G.A. Section 19-11-9.2 requires. On wages, do not plan around Georgia's $5.15 state minimum wage: the state law covers only employers of six or more employees and excludes employment subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act when the federal rate is higher, so nearly every Georgia beauty business must pay at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Workers' compensation insurance becomes mandatory once you regularly employ three or more people. Part-time staff count toward the three, and so do LLC members and corporate officers.

Then there is classification. Georgia has no salon specific statute that blesses booth rental, so a chair renter is an independent contractor only if the relationship actually works like one: the renter sets their own prices and hours, books and collects payment from their own clients, holds their own license and insurance, and pays you rent for the space rather than working to a schedule and price list you control. The more the arrangement looks like employment, the more likely the Department of Labor and the IRS are to call it employment, with back payroll taxes to match. Get the rental agreement in writing before the first client sits down.

The local layer: occupational tax certificates, zoning and Atlanta

Georgia issues no general state business license. The license that lets you operate day to day is local: an occupational tax certificate, called a business license or a business tax certificate in many jurisdictions, issued by your city when the business sits inside city limits or by your county when it does not. Fees and formulas are set locally, commonly from some mix of business type, employee count, and gross receipts, and renewal dates are local too. Zoning has to allow a personal services business at your address before you sign the lease, and buildout work can need building, plumbing, and electrical permits plus a certificate of occupancy. Do the local checks in that order: zoning for the address, the certificate, then buildout permits.

Metro Atlanta stacks the layers highest. A business inside Atlanta needs the city's business license on top of the county process, and the metro area is split across Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties, so the county of your actual street address controls your county filings and your combined sales tax rate. Two storefronts a few miles apart can answer to different county offices at different rates. Confirm zoning and the certificate for the exact address before you commit to a space.

Insurance and the costs that keep coming back

Plan on three policies at a minimum. General liability covers injuries in the space, like a client slipping on a wet floor. Professional liability covers claims arising from the services themselves: a straight razor nick that needs stitches, a chemical burn from a relaxer, or a reaction to an aftershave product. Property coverage protects your equipment, furniture, and retail stock, and business interruption coverage can carry the business if a fire or flood closes you for a month. Workers' compensation, covered above, is legally required once you regularly employ three or more people and is priced separately.

Premiums vary by city, services, and claims history, so get quotes from brokers who write beauty industry policies and compare the exclusions, not just the price. Then add the recurring state stack to the same budget: practitioner renewals on their staggered dates, the establishment renewal, the $60 LLC annual registration every spring, and your local certificate renewal. None is large on its own. Together they are a real line in the budget, and calendaring them in advance is how owners avoid late renewal fees and reinstatement charges.

Dates to put on your calendar

• December 31, even years: master barber and barber II renewals, $50, with five hours of continuing education complete.
• June 30, odd years: Salon/Shop license renewal, $75.
• January 1 to April 1, every year: LLC annual registration with the Secretary of State, $60 total.
• April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31: quarterly unemployment tax and wage reports to the Department of Labor, if you have employees.
• Within 10 days of each hire: new hire report to the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program.
• On the Department of Revenue's schedule: sales and use tax returns for your retail product sales.
• Every year: renew your city or county occupational tax certificate on the local schedule.

Official Georgia sources for this guide

• Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers: applications, renewals, how-to guides and board news
• Board fee schedule (GSBCB Rev 03/22): every board fee and renewal date in this guide
• O.C.G.A. Section 43-10-9: training hours, apprenticeships and examinations for each license
• Board rules, Chapter 240-4: facility requirements, license posting and health and safety rules
• Corporations Division filing fees (effective September 6, 2025): Articles of Organization and annual registration fees
• Department of Revenue, What is Subject to Sales and Use Tax?: the services versus retail split
• Department of Labor, File Tax and Wage Reports: unemployment tax accounts, the $9,500 wage base and quarterly due dates
• State Board of Workers' Compensation, insurance FAQs: the three employee threshold for coverage

This guide is general information researched from official Georgia sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the agencies linked above before you file, sign or spend.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a master barber and a barber II in Georgia?

Scope and school hours. A master barber completes 1,500 credit hours and can perform the full barbering scope, including coloring, permanent waving, relaxing, and straightening. A barber II completes 1,140 credit hours and is limited to shaving and beard trimming, cutting and dressing hair, and facial and scalp massage and treatments. Both license at age 16, take written and practical exams, pay a $30 application fee, and renew for $50 by December 31 of even years.

Does a Georgia barbershop need a different license from a hair salon?

No. Since the 2015 board merger, one establishment license, the Salon/Shop license, covers a barber shop, a cosmetology salon, or a shop doing both. It costs $75 to apply and $75 to renew by June 30 of odd years. The shop may not perform services until the license is active, and a change of ownership costs $75 because the license does not transfer to the new owner.

How old do you have to be to get a Georgia barber license?

Sixteen. O.C.G.A. Section 43-10-9 sets the minimum age for master barber and barber II applicants at 16, a year younger than the cosmetology licenses, which require 17. Barber applicants also need a high school diploma or equivalent, the required school or apprenticeship hours, and passing scores on the written and practical examinations.

Can a barber II do hair color or relaxers in Georgia?

No. The barber II scope in Section 43-10-1 covers shaving and trimming the beard, cutting and dressing the hair, and facial and scalp massage and treatments. Coloring and chemical services such as permanent waving, relaxing, and straightening belong to the master barber and master cosmetologist scopes. A shop can bridge the gap with a 300 hour crossover course, which qualifies a master barber to sit for the master cosmetologist exam and the other way around.

Are barbershop services subject to sales tax in Georgia?

No. Georgia taxes retail sales of tangible personal property and a short list of specific services, and barbering services are not on that list, so cuts, shaves, and chemical services carry no sales tax. Retail products do: pomades, tonics, and grooming products a client takes home are charged the 4 percent state rate plus county and city taxes. Register through the Georgia Tax Center before your first retail sale.

Do Georgia barbers need continuing education to renew?

Yes. Barbers renew every two years by December 31 of even years and must hold proof of five hours of continuing education, three of them in a health and safety course, under O.C.G.A. Section 43-10-10. The requirement has applied to barbers since January 1, 2018, and it starts at the second renewal rather than the first. Licensees keep the proof and produce it if the board audits.