What the cat converter desk board in Georgia actually requires

Last updated 2026-08-21

Do you need a license for a cat converter desk in Georgia?

Yes. Pay people for catalytic converters in Georgia and resell or recycle them, and you are inside secondary metals law. You also look like a used motor vehicle parts dealer. That means sheriff registration under Title 10 and a license conversation under Title 43, Chapter 47. A city or county occupation tax certificate sits on the actual address. Confirm every current form with the board and your county sheriff before you buy the first unit.

A cat converter desk is a buying window. Someone walks up with a converter or a tub of them. You log it, you pay, you ship to a refiner or a larger yard. Georgia watched those windows turn into fencing operations. The Code reacted.

O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 1, Article 14 is the secondary metals recycler statute. Catalytic converters sit in that article as regulated metal property. If you compensate people for that metal and then resell it, you fit the recycler definition. ^[1][12]

O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 47 is the used motor vehicle and used motor vehicle parts dealer law. A converter cut off a car is a used motor vehicle part. The statute makes it unlawful to engage in that business without registering and obtaining a license. ^[2]

You still need a regular Georgia entity. Most people file an LLC with the Secretary of State. Georgia charges $100 to file articles of organization for a domestic LLC. Get an EIN from IRS if you will hire or open a business bank account. That application is free. Add a sales and use tax account if you sell tangible property at retail. ^[3][4][5]

I would not open on a handshake and license later. Prosecutors like simple cases. Unlicensed buying of converters is a simple case.

Buying one converter off your own titled vehicle so you can scrap it is a different fact pattern. Running a cat converter desk in Georgia is not that fact pattern.

Which Georgia board actually oversees a cat converter desk?

Two offices, not one board with a cat logo. The State Board of Registration of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers and Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealers is created in O.C.G.A. § 43-47-3. Your county sheriff handles secondary metals recycler registration under Article 14. You confirm both. ^[13]

People search for the cat converter desk board in Georgia like there is a single cat-only commission. There is not. The parts dealer board is the professional license side. You will deal with the state's motor vehicle dealer licensing process. The sheriff is the metal-theft side.

Call the board and ask whether a business that only buys unattached catalytic converters must hold a used motor vehicle parts dealer license. Get the answer in writing. Then call the sheriff in the county where the desk will sit and ask for the secondary metals recycler packet. Those two calls beat any generic national checklist.

I will not quote a board fee here. Boards change fees. Confirm the current application, bond, and fee on the live dealer licensing materials and with the board itself. ^[2]

If your model is that you only broker and never touch the part, do not get cute. Money changes hands for regulated metal in Georgia, and Article 14 still wants a look.

What paper does the sheriff want for secondary metals?

The sheriff wants you on file as a secondary metals recycler before you start paying for regulated metal, and then wants transaction records you can actually produce. Article 14 is a records statute first and a registration statute second.

O.C.G.A. § 10-1-351 is the sentence that matters. The Code says a secondary metals recycler "shall maintain a record of all purchase transactions of regulated metal property." Cannot print the buy? You should not have made the buy. ^[1]

Expect the county packet to ask for a business address, owners, and an acknowledgment of the restricted-property rules. Some counties will want a walk-through of the site. Processing time is a county fact. Confirm it with that sheriff. Do not use a blog's two weeks as your lease start date.

Hold periods, cash limits, and who you may buy a converter from live in Article 14 and its later catalytic converter amendments. Read the current text. The direction of travel in Georgia has been tighter seller eligibility, more ID, and less cash. A seller who cannot prove a lawful source? You pass. Every time.

I would build the log before the signage. A spiral notebook is how desks get emptied by investigators. A structured VIN and seller log is how you stay in business. CatConPath sells a $179 one-time VIN-Log + Theft-Compliance Kit if you want that log pre-built. A locked spreadsheet works if you actually fill it in.

How much does a cat converter desk cost in Georgia?

The filings are cheap. The desk is not. Georgia charges $100 to file LLC articles of organization and $50 for the annual registration. An EIN from IRS is free. Those are the only dollar figures I will treat as published and stable enough to print. ^[3][4][6]

License fees, sheriff registration fees, and any surety bond the parts dealer board wants are real costs and they move. Confirm them with the board and the county. Anyone quoting you a single Georgia cat license fee from memory is guessing.

Filing	Where you confirm it	Published amount
LLC articles of organization	Georgia Secretary of State	$100
LLC annual registration	Georgia Secretary of State	$50
Employer identification number	IRS	$0
Used motor vehicle parts dealer license	Title 43 board / dealer licensing	Confirm
Secondary metals recycler registration	County sheriff	Confirm
Occupation tax certificate	City or county clerk	Confirm

The money you should actually underwrite is the premises, the cage, insurance, and working capital. You need a space you control, not a folding table in a borrowed bay. Converters walk, so inventory needs a lock. A general liability policy is the start. Cut or unbolt, and you have shop exposures. Hold other people's metal, and you should ask about bailee coverage. I would not cheap out here.

Working capital is what kills new desks. You buy metal on Monday and get paid by the refiner later. Price that gap honestly.

An XRF gun is a waste for a first-year desk that will sell whole units to a sorter. Learn the can codes and the refiner's buy list instead. Buy the gun in year two if the margin is there.

Pay a Georgia lawyer who has read Article 14 once. Do not pay for a nationwide we-license-you-everywhere kit.

Occupation tax is usually hundreds, not thousands, but it is local. Confirm with the clerk at the desk address. ^[14]

Nobody has a clean public study of average first-year cost of a Georgia catalytic converter desk. Treat any national average you see as entertainment.

How long does cat converter desk setup take in Georgia?

Entity formation at the Secretary of State is the fast part. Board licensing and sheriff registration are the slow part, and I will not invent a processing time for either. Confirm current timelines with the board and with the county sheriff. Build your lease and your first buy date around their answers, not around a blog.

A realistic sequence looks like this. File the LLC. Get the EIN the same day from IRS. Apply for the sales tax account if you will sell parts or metal at retail. Request the used motor vehicle parts dealer application through the state's dealer licensing process. File the sheriff recycler registration for the county of the physical desk. Then the city occupation tax certificate, because they will ask for the state pieces. ^[3][4][5]

Background review, bond issuance, and any site check are what stretch the calendar. A prior theft or metals conviction? Assume extra review. I would not sign a short rent clock that expires before paper can land.

How long a cat converter desk takes in Georgia is also an operations question. A clean buy, with ID, photos, and a lawful-source check, should take longer than a parking-lot cash flip. That slowness is the point.

No approval guarantees. Someone promises a Georgia parts dealer license by Friday? They are selling you something else.

What records do you have to keep on every converter?

Keep a buy record that identifies the seller, the time, the place, the payment, and the part, including vehicle identifiers when the statute or the board asks for them. Keep it long enough that a detective can reconstruct the Tuesday in question. Article 14 is built for that reconstruction. ^[1]

Minimum fields I would log even if a clerk tells you they just need a name:

Full legal name and current address of the seller. The distinctive number and issuing state of the government photo ID, plus an image of that ID. Plate number and description of the vehicle that delivered the metal. Date and time in, date and time paid. Description of each converter, including count, any visible serial, and the alleged donor vehicle year, make, model, and VIN. How you paid and the instrument number. A photo of the seller next to the lot, and a photo of the converters on the scale. The lawful-source document (title, repair order, dealer invoice, or whatever the current Code still allows).

Georgia's statute language is direct. O.C.G.A. § 10-1-351 requires a secondary metals recycler to maintain a record of all purchase transactions of regulated metal property to which that recycler is a party. Print that section. Tape it on the drawer. ^[1]

How long to retain? Read the current Article 14 retention period and then keep a year longer than that. Storage is cheap. Missing records are not.

Buy from a licensed dealer or a repair shop on a recurring invoice? Still log each lot. We have known them for years is not a record.

Can you buy a catalytic converter from a walk-up seller in Georgia?

Often no, and when yes, only with source documents that would survive a detective's afternoon. Georgia tightened who may sell a detached converter. The lawful sellers tend to be licensed used vehicle dealers, licensed parts dealers, repair facilities, and vehicle owners who can tie that converter to a vehicle they actually own. Confirm the current seller list in Article 14 before you write a check. ^[1][12]

A person with a duffel bag and a story about a cousin's Camry is not a seller. Send them away. If you need the metal that badly, you do not need this business.

I would refuse converters with fresh cut marks and no vehicle. Sellers who will not let you copy the ID. Anyone who wants cash only after you explain the payment rule. Minors. People who found them. Lots that arrive at night from a van with paper plates.

Payment method is statutory, not a customer-service choice. If Article 14 limits cash on regulated metal or on converters specifically, you follow that limit even when the seller groans. Confirm the current payment rule in the Code. Do not take a Facebook group's word for the cash cap.

Compare this with how Alabama's cat converter desk board and Florida's cat converter desk board handle walk-ups. The Southeast is not one rulebook.

What federal rules still apply if Georgia licenses you?

A Georgia license does not waive the Clean Air Act. Federal law still bans tampering with emission controls on motor vehicles, and a catalytic converter is the part people most like to steal or delete.

42 U.S.C. § 7522(a)(3)(A) prohibits any person "to remove or render inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine" after sale to the ultimate purchaser, when that device was installed to comply with Title II of the Clean Air Act. ^[7]

EPA's November 23, 2020 Tampering Policy says the agency will pursue civil penalties for tampering and defeat-device conduct, including converter removal tied to performance shops and parts sellers. Read that policy if your desk sits next to a we-tune-and-delete bay. The combination is how federal cases get built. EPA also posts vehicle and engine enforcement case resolutions if you want to see how those files look when they land. ^[11]

Recycling a converter that is already legally off a vehicle at end of life is a different act from pulling a working converter off a truck that will go back on the road with a test pipe. Stay on the recycling side of that line.

Aftermarket replacement converters are regulated under 40 CFR Part 85, Subpart X. Start selling new replacement units, and you have left the scrap desk and entered EPA aftermarket rules. ^[9]

Scrap metal that is actually recycled often sits in a RCRA exemption under 40 CFR 261.6. That exemption is not a license to dump ceramic substrate in a ditch. Cut converters, and you have a dust and waste problem. Talk to Georgia EPD before you buy a saw. ^[10][15]

What do first-year operations look like at a Georgia desk?

Year one is compliance work that also has to make a margin. You will spend more hours on logs and cameras than you will spend arguing about rhodium tickets.

Open the cameras before the door. Zero the scale. Buy only from the allowed seller classes, with the full record. Lock inventory. Ship on a schedule so you are not sitting on a pile that advertises itself. Reconcile the log to the payment account every Friday.

One fully trained buyer at the window is enough at the start. Two people who both sort of know the rules is how converters get bought on a lunch break with no ID.

You will lose money if you try to outbid every national text-for-quote service. Pay a fair, posted range by type (aftermarket, OEM small, OEM large, foreign premium) and stick to it. Update from your refiner sheet, not from a Facebook screenshot.

Theft risk runs both ways. People steal from you. People also try to sell you stolen metal. Your desk is part of that fence-or-not decision. EPA's enforcement docket is the federal version of the same story. ^[11]

Sheriff spot checks will feel personal. They are not. Have the binder ready.

For a neighboring-state read on the same desk model, Arkansas and California show how far states will go in opposite directions on paperwork.

What gets people in trouble at a Georgia cat desk?

Unlicensed buying, cash in the alley, no VIN, and a camera that has been broken for six months. That is the starter pack.

The next tier is buying from sellers you are not allowed to buy from, even with a pretty log. The log then becomes Exhibit A.

Federal trouble shows up when the desk is paired with tampering. If a shop pulls working converters and you recycle them while the truck leaves on straight pipes, you are in 42 U.S.C. § 7522 land. EPA has said it will assess civil penalties for that fact pattern. ^[7]

Local trouble is zoning and occupation tax. A desk in a space zoned retail-only, with cutting in the back, draws neighbors and then code enforcement. ^[14]

I would also worry about money. Large cash structures, third-party payments, and paying someone who is not the ID on the ticket are how you inherit a fraud case that was not even about converters.

Do not store converters in an unmarked van and call it a mobile desk unless the board and the sheriff have both signed off on a mobile location. Most have not.

How does Georgia compare with nearby states on cat desks?

Georgia is stricter than a rumor-mill just-get-a-scrap-license state and looser than the heaviest West Coast paper states. You still have a real parts-dealer board and a real sheriff registration. That two-door structure is the Georgia signature.

Alabama and Florida both police converter buying, with their own recycler and dealer schemes. Run a route across state lines, and you do not get to pick the friendliest statute. The buy is governed where the buy happens. Read the Alabama board guide and the Florida board guide before you staff a second window.

California is the warning label. If Georgia's packet feels long, look at California's cat converter desk board and then come home grateful.

Illinois and Arizona are useful if you buy from traveling sellers who will quote those markets. Illinois and Arizona are not your license. They are context.

Do not copy another state's form set into a Georgia sheriff packet. That is how required fields get skipped.

What should you confirm with the board before you spend money?

Confirm whether your exact model needs the used motor vehicle parts dealer license, the secondary metals recycler registration, or both. Confirm the current application, fee, bond, premises rules, and processing time. Confirm who may sell you a detached converter and how you may pay. Get names and dates on those answers.

Write the board. Write the sheriff. Write the city clerk. Keep the emails.

Questions I would send, verbatim:

Does a business that only purchases unattached catalytic converters for recycling need a used motor vehicle parts dealer license under O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 47? What is the current application, fee, and surety bond for that license? What is the current secondary metals recycler registration process and fee in this county? What is the current lawful-seller list and payment rule for catalytic converters under Article 14? How long are we required to retain buy records, photos, and payment instruments? Are mobile or temporary buy events allowed?

Until those answers are in your file, do not order signage.

CatConPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. If you want a structured VIN log, the kit is at /start. That is optional. The board letters are not.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a license for cat converter desk in georgia?

Yes if you pay people for converters and resell or recycle them. Georgia secondary metals law (Title 10, Article 14) and the used motor vehicle parts dealer statute (Title 43, Chapter 47) both apply to that model, plus a local occupation tax certificate. Confirm your exact facts with the board and the county sheriff before the first buy. Do not treat a friend's yard as your license.

How much does cat converter desk cost in georgia?

Georgia Secretary of State charges $100 to file LLC articles and $50 for the annual registration. An IRS EIN is free. Board license fees, sheriff registration, and any surety bond must be confirmed with those offices because they change. The real first-year bill is rent, insurance, cameras, a cage, and cash to buy metal before the refiner pays you.

How long does cat converter desk take in georgia?

The LLC and EIN are the fast pieces. Parts dealer licensing and sheriff registration are the slow ones, and processing time is not something to guess from a blog. Confirm current timelines with the board and the county sheriff, then set the lease and the first buy date from those answers. Nobody can honestly guarantee an approval date.

Is a catalytic converter a used motor vehicle part in Georgia?

A converter cut off a vehicle is a used motor vehicle part in ordinary English and in how Title 43, Chapter 47 is built. That is why a cat converter desk in Georgia usually triggers a parts-dealer license conversation, not only a scrap conversation. Ask the board in writing whether your exact buy-and-ship model requires that license.

Do I register with the sheriff or the state board first?

Start both tracks the same week. File the LLC so you have an entity name, then submit the sheriff secondary metals packet and the parts dealer application together. Cities often want to see the state pieces before they issue an occupation tax certificate. Confirm the local order with the clerk at the desk address so you do not stall on the last form.

Can I pay cash for catalytic converters in Georgia?

Do not assume cash is legal just because a seller demands it. Article 14 sets payment rules for regulated metal property, and converter-specific limits have gotten tighter over time. Read the current Code section and ask the sheriff how that office reads it. If the statute limits cash, you follow the statute even when the ticket is small.

Do I need a scale and cameras by law?

Article 14 is a records statute. A scale and cameras are how you make those records believable. I would not open without both, even if a clerk never says the word camera. A detective who cannot see the seller's face or the lot on the scale will treat your log as a story. Confirm any local surveillance rules with the city as well.

Can I run a mobile cat converter desk out of a truck?

Only if the board and the county sheriff both accept that location in writing. Most will not. A moving van full of converters looks like a theft problem, not a licensed premises. If you want a second site, license the second site. Do not invent a mobile exception because it would be convenient on Saturdays.

What if I only buy from licensed repair shops?

That is a cleaner seller class, and it is often the model I would actually run. You still need your own licenses and a lot-level log. A shop invoice is source paper, not a substitute for your recycler registration or a parts dealer license. Confirm with the board that your only-from-licensees plan still requires the same credentials. It usually does.

Does an LLC replace the parts dealer license?

No. An LLC is only the entity. Georgia Secretary of State formation does not authorize you to buy used motor vehicle parts or regulated metal. You still handle Title 43 licensing, sheriff registration, tax accounts, and the city occupation tax. People skip this and then act surprised when the first audit is about the missing board license.

Are spent catalytic converters hazardous waste in Georgia?

Whole converters sold into recycling often travel under the federal scrap metal recycling exemption in 40 CFR 261.6, but that is not a dumping permit. Cut them open and you create dust and leftover substrate that Georgia EPD will not treat as a cute hobby. Ask EPD before you buy a saw. When unsure, ship whole units to a refiner.

What federal penalty applies if my shop removes working converters?

Removing or defeating a catalytic converter on a motor vehicle can be tampering under 42 U.S.C. § 7522. EPA's 2020 Tampering Policy says the agency will pursue civil penalties for that conduct. A Georgia metals license does not bless a delete. Recycle end-of-life parts. Do not pull working converters off trucks that will go back on the road.

Do I charge sales tax when I buy scrap converters?

Buying scrap for recycling is not the same as selling a replacement converter at retail. If you only pay sellers for metal you will ship to a refiner, you are usually on the purchase side. If you sell parts or converters to the public, register for Georgia sales and use tax and confirm the taxable receipts with DOR. Do not guess from a forum thread.

Where do I confirm the current Georgia board fee?

Ask the State Board of Registration of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers and Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealers through the state's current dealer licensing office, and ask the county sheriff for the recycler fee. Do not use a fee printed in an old article, including this one, for the license itself. Only the SOS $100 LLC filing and $50 annual registration are stable enough to quote here.

Sources

1. O.C.G.A. § 10-1-351, records of secondary metals transactions (Justia): Georgia requires a secondary metals recycler to maintain a record of all purchase transactions of regulated metal property.
2. O.C.G.A. § 43-47-8, used motor vehicle parts dealer license required (Justia): Georgia makes it unlawful to engage in the used motor vehicle parts dealer business without registering and obtaining a license.
3. Georgia Secretary of State, How to Form a Domestic Limited Liability Company: Georgia Secretary of State publishes the domestic LLC formation process and the $100 articles of organization filing fee.
4. IRS, Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online: IRS issues an EIN online at no charge for eligible entities.
5. Georgia Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax: Georgia requires sales and use tax registration for businesses that sell taxable tangible property.
6. Georgia Secretary of State, Corporations Fee Schedule: Georgia lists a $50 annual registration fee for entities on the Corporations Division fee schedule.
7. 42 U.S.C. § 7522, Prohibited acts (Cornell LII): Federal law prohibits removing or rendering inoperative an emission control device installed on a motor vehicle after sale to the ultimate purchaser.
8. 40 CFR Part 85, Subpart X (eCFR): EPA regulates aftermarket catalytic converters under 40 CFR Part 85, Subpart X.
9. 40 CFR 261.6, Requirements for recyclable materials (eCFR): Scrap metal that is recycled is excluded from certain hazardous waste management requirements under 40 CFR 261.6.
10. U.S. EPA, Clean Air Act Vehicle and Engine Enforcement Case Resolutions: EPA publishes vehicle and engine enforcement case resolutions for tampering and related Clean Air Act violations.
11. O.C.G.A. § 10-1-350, secondary metals definitions (Justia): Georgia's secondary metals article defines secondary metals recyclers and regulated metal property, the hook for converter buying desks.
12. O.C.G.A. § 43-47-3, State Board of Registration of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers and Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealers (Justia): Georgia statute creates the State Board of Registration of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers and Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealers.
13. O.C.G.A. § 48-13-6, municipal occupation tax (Justia): Georgia law authorizes municipalities to levy an occupation tax on businesses, which applies to a physical cat desk address.
14. Georgia EPD, Hazardous Waste (Land Protection Branch): Georgia EPD administers hazardous waste rules that matter if a desk cuts converters or manages leftover substrate.