When you start a new LLC and are filing your Articles of Organization formation documents
with the state, one of the questions you must answer is: who is your registered agent?
If the term registered agent isn’t used, your state might ask for a resident agent,
registered office, statutory agent, or agent for service of process.
All of these names refer to the same thing.
But the question remains: What is a registered agent?
What do they do?
Do you need to hire one, or can you do it yourself?
Watch this video to find out everything you need to know about your LLCs registered agent,
An LLC, or limited liability company, is a business structure that treats your organization
as a distinct legal entity.
In addition to professional credibility, this distinction is what gives you, as an owner,
the limited liability protection that is the namesake of an LLC.
Because your LLC is distinct from you, it has requirements for how it must interact
with the state government and communicate with representatives of the legal world
(lawyers and debt collectors, for example).
It’s not enough to have a mailing address- an LLC must assign the role of receiving mail
and other communications to an official registered agent.
Simply put,
A registered agent is responsible for receiving important legal documents on behalf of your
business.
The registered agent is your LLC’s main point of contact, and because of this, they
must have a physical address in the state where you are doing business.
They will receive papers served in the event of a lawsuit or judgement, and it is their
responsibility to notify you of state-required filings such as annual reports.
Now that you know what a registered agent is, how do you decide who you should designate
for this role?
There are two options when choosing your registered agent.
You can either assign the role to an individual, or to a state-qualified corporate agent.
Let’s look at the individual option first.
If you designate an individual to be your registered agent, you can choose a member
of the LLC, or a manager of the LLC, or, actually, any individual at all- so long as they live
in the state the LLC is being formed in.
This individual, it must be said, can also be you- in the case of a single owner LLC,
for example, that same single owner can also be the registered agent.
To qualify, however, you will need to have a physical address in your state.
A PO box will not suffice as an individual registered agent’s address.
An individual agent should also be aware that their name and the physical street address
is a public record, and can easily be found by anyone researching the company.
They should also be aware that they need to be available at “all regular business hours”
to receive mail and official papers, which means they must be at the registered physical
address from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.
The main advantage to being your own registered agent is price- a service will cost you 50
to 150 dollars, whereas doing it yourself is free.
Let’s look at the second option now- hiring a corporate registered agent- and consider
the advantages of a professional service solution.
If you decide to pay the service fee, here is what a professional service offers over
doing it yourself:
Privacy: if you are your own registered agent, your address will be publicly listed for anyone
to see.
A service allows for greater anonymity, and keeps your personal and business mail separate.
Availability: the registered agent must be available at their location during all regular
business hours.
They must also be located in all states in which the company does business.
Hiring a service allows you to work when and where you would like.
Organization: Having a professional registered agent helps avoid any fees or legal trouble
caused by missing or misplacing an important legal document or notice.
They assist your LLC’s compliance with the law, so you can stay focused on running and
growing your business.
Given the two options, we recommend hiring a service.
The fees are fairly modest, and if you value privacy, flexibility, and organizational assistance,
it is easily worth the cost.
When you are running a small business, you want to focus as much of your limited resources
as possible to growing your business.
Having professional administrative help, increasing your flexibility, and limiting your exposure
to junk mail and other abuses of public information can only help your bottom line.
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a limited liability company, from finding the perfect business idea to formation documents
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