What Is Registered Agent Llc

A registered agent is an individual or company that receives service of process, legal documents and official notices on your business's behalf. When registering a business entity, yous'll be required to appoint a registered agent who has a physical address in the state of registration.

Not merely anyone tin can fill this role, though. There are sure rules you need to follow when choosing one. Find out why you need a registered agent, who yous tin can appoint and how to change agents.

Who needs a registered amanuensis?

Whatever business concern that is registered with the state needs to appoint a registered amanuensis, likewise called a statutory agent or resident agent in some states.

The post-obit types of businesses demand to engage ane:

Corporations
Limited liability companies
Limited partnerships
Limited liability partnerships
Limited liability express partnerships (not recognized in every state).

If you take i of these business types, you'll be asked to name your registered agent during incorporation or business registration. There's typically a spot to designate your registered agent on your articles of incorporation or articles of system.

General partnerships and sole proprietorships don't need to designate ane because these business types are not registered with the state. Of course, all businesses need to keep upward with business organization tax obligations and respond in a timely style to legal papers. However, the government doesn't keep registered agent information on file for sole proprietorships and general partnerships.

Why practice you need a registered agent?

States take required businesses to appoint registered agents for decades. The main purpose is to ensure that in that location's a reliable mode for the public, the courts and the authorities to contact your company. Once the land has your registered agent information, information technology's a matter of public tape. Anyone searching through a business entity database can find out who serves this role for your company.

More specifically, here are the three main reasons why registered agents are important:

Receive legal process: People with legitimate legal complaints against a concern have an address to send service of process.
Authorities tin contact you: The government knows how to contact a business that's delinquent on taxes or noncompliant with other laws.
Stay in compliance: Official papers notifying you of any activeness yous need to have get to one address.

Most businesses hire a legal service or an chaser to serve as registered agent. Your registered agent will receive legal, tax and other official postal service for you, forward the documents to your business concern address and notify you lot of any deadlines or actions that you need to take. For urgent documents, such as notice of a lawsuit, you'll likely be notified the very same day.

Registered agent requirements

In general, registered agents must encounter the post-obit requirements:

Age: If you apply an individual, they must exist at least xviii years one-time.
Residency: If you use an individual, they must be a resident of the state of registration. If the registered agent is a visitor, information technology can be a domestic or strange entity, as long as information technology's authorized to do business in the state.
Physical address: Must have a concrete address in the land of registration. This location is usually called the "registered office." P.O. boxes don't count, then you tin can't use a UPS Store, for instance.
Availability: Must be bachelor to receive mail and sign official documents during normal business hours, Monday to Fri, ix a.1000. to 5 p.m.

Dissimilar states have slightly different regulations. For example, in Virginia, only licensed attorneys or officers or members of the concern tin serve as registered agents. And Arizona doesn't mandate that registered agents need to exist available during normal business hours. Your country's business filing agency will be able to tell you more virtually land-specific requirements.

In some states, the registered amanuensis must submit a consent course indicating that they've agreed to be your company'southward registered amanuensis.

Continue in mind that if you're registered to do business concern in multiple states, each land will require you to proper name a registered agent who has a physical address in that land.

Who can serve as your appointed agent?

Every state gives you the pick to engage yourself, someone else within the visitor or a tertiary political party, as long equally the appointed amanuensis meets the requirements mentioned higher up (plus any boosted country-specific requirements). The only caveat — you can't name your business concern as its own registered amanuensis. There needs to a separate, responsible party, whether that'due south an individual or an outside bureau.

Any of the post-obit can serve:

Yourself
A business partner, officer, managing director or member of the business organization
A business lawyer
A company that provides this specific service, such as LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer.

Often, the quickest, least expensive fashion is to but appoint yourself or some other person in the company equally the registered amanuensis. But business owners frequently find that this is also time-consuming or inconvenient and end up appointing either a lawyer or a service.

Joe Horan, the owner of Wrightwood Homes, an Indianapolis-based property buyer, says:

"I originally chose myself because it was the easiest way to get-go my LLC. But I've recently called my attorney to be my registered agent. The primary reason is that my attorney also has her own real estate business, so she understands the details of mine. She tin can handle all necessary paperwork and exist the 'legal face' of my business. It's adequately inexpensive for the service. I pay near $100 per year for my attorney to be the registered agent for my business."

Rithvik Musuku, the president and CEO of Advancing Science Worldwide, went with an fifty-fifty less expensive option:

"In Arizona (where nosotros are incorporated), a registered agent can be any person, and there is no requirement for them to be available during normal business hours. One of my family members living in Arizona is the registered agent for Advancing Science Worldwide. I would advise that those looking to outset a business organization look into the registered agent requirements for their specific states."

Ultimately, the state doesn't care so much about who you cull, every bit long as they're doing what's required of them, so make sure your option is convenient for you.

Reasons to use a legal service

Dozens of legal service websites, including LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer and IncFile, offer registered agent services for a fee. There are multiple benefits to using one of these services, as opposed to appointing yourself or someone else inside the company.

These are the benefits of using a legal service:

Inexpensive

LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer and IncFile charge about $150 per year for registered agent services. You tin can detect even less expensive services, just the nice affair nearly sites like LegalZoom is that they also provide other kinds of legal assistance with business organization setup and maintenance.

As your registered amanuensis, they will accept all legal and official correspondence on your company'southward behalf, forward you the documents and give you timely notifications well-nigh pending deadlines or actions that yous need to take.

Saves yous fourth dimension

Nearly one-third of pocket-sized-business owners work more than 50 hours per week. If you're spending time sorting through official mail, that adds to your already busy lifestyle.

Past using a service, yous're free to continue vacation or take time off without worrying that you're missing important mail. Y'all also save fourth dimension of going through junk mail. Since a registered amanuensis's address is a matter of public tape, yous volition receive a lot of junk mail if y'all appoint yourself.

Privacy

Having a registered amanuensis means that their address is public tape, non your own. This protects your business to some extent from spammers. In addition, when y'all have an appointed agent, you can avert potentially embarrassing moments in front of customers. Imagine existence served with a lawsuit while you're helping a client. A service will transport you important documents via e-mail and postal post.

Organization

If you take a fast-growing business organization, it can be tough to keep all your important paperwork and deadlines straight. Having a registered agent is one way to ensure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. In improver to accepting official correspondence, LegalZoom and many other legal services will create a compliance calendar (like the one pictured above) for your business, noting of import government deadlines.

Matt Ross, co-owner of RIZKNOWS and The Slumber Yard, which operate multiple net properties, chose LegalZoom after using the website for LLC setup.

"We used LegalZoom to form our LLC, and so we thought it was easiest to stick with them equally our registered agent as well… Whenever they receive documents from the state, they immediately snail-mail us copies. Within the LegalZoom account portal, you lot can too just download PDF copies of the documents equally well. In add-on, there is also a calendar within the LegalZoom account portal that shows you when important deadlines are budgeted."

Irresolute your registered agent

No thing who you select, you'll need to keep the information upwards to date. Having a registered agent is an ongoing requirement, meaning that you need 1 as long as your business is operating.

If you modify your registered agent or their contact information changes, you'll need to inform your state'due south business filing agency. In most states, there is a modify grade (case from Texas shown above) that yous can download and fill out online. Some states allow electronic filing, while others crave that you mail in the form. The fee for changing your appointed agent is usually pretty low, $25 to $50 in most states.

It'south piece of cake to forget near updating your registered amanuensis, but make sure y'all fill out the necessary papers. The fines for a lapse can be pretty hefty. And if you become also long without an appointed agent, the country tin can revoke your certificate of skillful standing or even dissolve your company.

A version of this commodity was outset published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet