Jack DonaldAccording to law, it is mandatory for you to have a registered agent if you want to conduct business. However, you may face a situation when you will need to change a registered agent in the future.
If it is your first time dealing with this, the process of changing agents may create some issues. To clarify, we will cover a few simple steps in this article to help you designate a new registered agent and adapt to the changes in a short period of time.
What Does a Registered Agent Do?
When starting a business or obtaining a foreign qualification, each state requires a registered agent. To understand the reasons for this, let’s look at a registered agent’s role in business activities.
As a rule, the first interaction with registered agents is during the preparation of the Articles of Organization, where you must indicate their contact information.
A registered agent is the designated individual or business entity that acts as a mediator or ambassador between the company and the state. The main functions of a registered agent are:
- Receiving legal correspondence and delivering it to the owner. During the business process, the government will send business mail, including important documents such as:
- Federal and state correspondence;
- Service of process;
- Tax notices;
- Corporate filing notifications, etc.
- Monitoring important business maintenance deadlines, like:
- Annual report due dates;
- Franchise tax payments, etc.
- Providing an address for a registered office.
If you have a non-public business and do not want your company’s address to be publicly available, you can hire a registered agent. And all documents will have a registered agent’s office address, to which all correspondence will be sent. This will allow your company to avoid junk mail and unwanted visits from third parties. This will maintain personal privacy intact, and will not jeopardize the reputation of the company in the eyes of its employees and potential partners.
Thus, a registered agent is a significant element of a successful business. They not only deal with a company’s confidential and important documents, but also help maintain its good reputation.
Is a Registered Agent Required?
Every business operating company must guarantee maintaining a registered agent not only at the stage of formation, but also throughout its existence. It is legally required, violation of which can lead to the following consequences, such as:
- Loss of a good name;
- Be administratively dissolved.
Moreover, if your company misses a notice of a lawsuit, then you won’t be informed of the lawsuit and won’t be able to represent it in court.
Reasons for Changing Your Registered Agent
You can change your registered agent at any time, for any reason, no matter what caused you to make such a decision. The most common reasons are:
- The owner of a company may no longer wish to serve as a registered agent;
When forming an LLC, company owners often designate themselves to be a registered agent not to pay a third party. However, the restrictions associated with this can be an obstacle to running a business. Since during business hours 5 days a week a company’s registered agent must be in the registered office, that makes meetings and business trips impossible.
In addition, the address of the registered agent is public information, which is not about confidentiality.
- Resignation of a registered agent;
- Registered agent no longer fulfill the requirement and has lost their status;
- Registered agent ended your business relationship;
If you designate an attorney or accountant to act as an LLC registered agent, you will need to choose another person to assume their responsibilities in the event of termination.
- Expansion of your business;
If you expand the company to another state, you must fill out the paperwork and list the physical address of the registered agent located there. However, if the business’s registered agent is an owner, accountant, or family member, it may cause some difficulties. The best solution is to hire a registered agent service, since most of them provide services in all states.
Can I Change My Registered Agent?
You can easily change your registered agent by following these steps:
- Choose a new registered agent;
- Fill out the form for change of registered agent;
- Terminate your relationship with your current registered agent.
Please note that there may be a mandatory processing fee.
How to Change Your Registered Agent
Most states have a simple procedure for changing a registered agent, consisting of several sequential steps. These are usually as follows:
- Choose your new registered agent;
The first thing to do is to decide on the person who will take over the responsibilities of the registered agent. Make sure that person meets state requirements;
- Form filling;
The form for a statement of change of registered agent is usually publicly available on the Secretary of State website. Download it to your computer and fill it out with the following key information:
- Name of your company;
- Name and Address of current registered agent;
- Name and Address of new registered agent.
- Submit your filling;
In most states you can file the documents to change registered agents online, by mail, or in person. But it is better to clarify this beforehand on the official website. For example, some states prefer electronic documents and others use paper documents.
Do not forget to enclose a check for the mandatory fee payment and written consent of a new registered agent.
When the need to change a registered agent coincides with the time of filing your annual report, you are not required to file a separate application. If state law allows it, you can simply enter a new registered agent in the appropriate line to update the information.
Who Can Be a Registered Agent?
Most states have the following requirements for a registered agent:
- Be 18 years or older and be a resident (for individuals) or have a license to conduct business (for legal entities);
- Have a physical address and a mailing address in the state (cannot be a P.O. box);
- Must be present at the business address during all standard business hours 5 days a week.
The range of people who can carry out the duties of a registered agent is quite wide. But before you make your final decision, you should think carefully about the pros and cons of each option.
Once you designated someone from your company, for example your accountant or attorney, as your registered agent and it’s not working out, because such a combination of responsibilities can have a negative impact on the quality of their implementation.
The next point is about expansion. If you’re expanding your business to other states, and your existing registered agent cannot provide services beyond the state you’re currently operating in, you will need to find a more suitable candidate.
Consider a Registered Agent Service
Most online companies dealing with creating and setting up a business offer also a registered agent service. Working with such an organization has many advantages:
- Extensive experience: a professional registered agent guarantees that the company’s paperwork will always be in perfect order;
- High level of confidentiality: data on the registered agent is public information. Using the address provided by a specialized service will keep your personal information private;
- Freedom to expand your business: many online companies provide services in all states, so when you expand your business you don’t have to look for a new registered agent;
- Additional features: as a registered agent most professional companies will not only receive official correspondence, but they also can:
- Provide you with document templates;
- Help with the annual report;
- Offer user-friendly websites with free information on a variety of business-related topics;
- Give you access to customer support, which specialists are ready to help you with any questions or difficulties you may have, etc.
- Benefit: if you sign a business registration agreement, some online companies provide a free registered agent service for 1 year.
When you are still not sure what company to choose, consider the options below.
Northwest
Their business formation package costs $225 and includes 1 year of free high-quality registered agent services. After that first free year, the service is $125 per year.
The strengths of this company are premium customer support, which is the best in the industry, and local scanning of all documents.
IncFile
If you want to save money, this option is the right one.
The basic starting package from IncFile is $0 and you also get 1 year of a registered agent for free. After that period, there is an annual fee of $119.
ZenBusiness
For $39 this company will fully establish your business, providing a registered agent service at no charge for 1 year.
Wrapping Up
Changes are a part of our lives. Although having to change registered agents may come up unexpectedly, there is no reason to worry. Legislation in most states provides a clear and streamlined process for approving a new registered agent. It does not take long.
If you hesitate or do not want to deal with the paperwork for changing registered agents on your own, you can entrust it to a professional. Just choose a company that provides a registered agent service, and they will take care of all the formalities
