Registered Agent Services FAQ
What is a Registered Agent?
A Registered Agent (RA) is the person or entity that a corporation designates to receive important business-related documents, such as service of process for lawsuits, tax filings and any other paperwork that may be necessary for filing renewals for the business.
Who can be a Registered Agent?
A Registered Agent (RA) can be an individual or an entity as long as it has a physical address. Some states allow a business to be its own RA, while other states require that the RA be a third party.
Am I required to have an RA?
Almost all states require that corporations and LLCs designate a Registered Agent, also know as a Statutory Agent in some states. Even if your state does not, it is beneficial to have one designated to ensure that your business stays up to date on all filings and for receiving important documents.
Should I use a Registered Agent Services?
Using an Registered Agent Service has become much more popular as they have developed the expertise and systems to easily maintain all of your business’ filing needs and some will also even do your business filings for you. There is no limitation as to how many businesses a company can serve as an RA for. Many Registered Agent services act as the RA for thousands of companies, all over the country. This is also helpful if your business has filings in many states as it can become complicated and time consuming to manage filings in multiple states and to keep up to date on state laws and requirements. The cost of having a service take care of this can definitely be well worth the time and resources it would take for your business to take on this task since failing to maintain compliance can endanger your status as corporation and impose penalties.
What are other benefits of using an RA Service?
If your business has multiple locations, it is easier to have one central address for everything of importance to go to. Also, if your business changes locations, the RA address will stay consistent, offering peace of mind that all important documents will be received by your company. Also, since the RA receives service of process for lawsuits, it can prevent employees from witnessing the business being served with a lawsuit.
