While a business owner can choose to serve as their own registered agent, there are a number of compelling reasons why business owners choose a registered agent service provider to assist with this important requirement.
What is a registered agent?
A registered agent is a designated individual or service provider responsible for receiving legal and compliance documents on behalf of a business. This article explains the top reasons why using a professional registered agent, one provided by a corporate service provider like BizFilings, is beneficial for business owners.
Related resource, What is a registered agent and why does my business need one?
Key benefits of using a registered agent service provider
Every business situation is different, and not all of the reasons will apply to all businesses, but if only one of the reasons below matches your situation, having a professional service provider like BizFilings as your registered agent may be the best choice for your business.
1. Save time and focus on your business
Compliance requirements can be both time- and labor-intensive, often requiring the completion of lengthy and sometimes confusing forms using information from various sources. Most business owners prefer to have an expert source to deal with the compliance details so they can focus on building and running their business. BizFilings cannot only help you comply with the registered agent requirement, but with other compliance requirements your company will have to deal with such as filing an annual report and more.
2. Avoid compliance risks and penalties
Let’s be honest, keeping up with compliance probably isn’t your favorite part of running your business. That’s where BizFilings comes in. We know the ins and outs of state and federal regulations (which can change at any time). We’re here to help you stay on track, steer clear of costly penalties, and make sure your company remains in good standing wherever you’re registered.
And speaking of compliance risks, some states place compliance requirements on registered agents beyond just receiving and forwarding process – such as requiring the registered agent to maintain certain information. This is an additional compliance burden registered agents must keep track of.
3. Ensure private receipt of lawsuits
When a company is served with service of process, it is often delivered by local law enforcement. If you act as your own registered agent, process servers will come to the address you list, whether it’s your business’ address or your home address. Most business owners do not want sheriffs, or other process servers, showing up in front of customers, employees, neighbors, or family, to serve them notice that their company is being sued. If you use a professional registered agent, it is their address you list as the registered agent’s address and that’s where process servers will go. That ensures you receive service of process both promptly and privately.
4. Maintain privacy when running your business from home
The name and address of a company's registered agent is a matter of public record. That means anyone, including marketers, can access it. Using a registered agent service provider will reduce the amount of unsolicited mail you and your business receives. And remember, anyone can search the name of your company on the filing office’s website and find the registered agent’s name and address – and not only people legitimately looking to serve process, but people looking to harass, steal identity, or for other less than legitimate purposes. Using a professional registered agent means there is one less place your name and business or home address is publicly listed.
5. Get critical notices, even when not available
The registered agent for a business must be available during normal business hours to accept important documents as they are delivered. If you set your own hours, you may wish to consider using a professional registered agent service provider, so that you never miss these important, and often time sensitive communications.
6. You are incorporating in a state other than where your business is located
You are legally required to have a registered agent with a physical address in the state where your company is incorporated. If you formed a Delaware corporation or LLC, for instance, but your company is physically located in another state, you could use BizFilings as your registered agent in Delaware to satisfy this requirement.
7. You travel frequently
If your business requires you to be out of the office frequently, for instance, if you're a real estate agent or an electrician who makes service calls, using a registered agent service provider ensures that important documents will still reach you and your business. And if you’re unable to be at the office for an extended period of time because you went on vacation or were sick, your absence could be a problem for your company. If the process server cannot find the registered agent after a few tries, the serving party can ask a court to serve your company another way, which may not result in you getting actual notice of a lawsuit filed against your company, and that can mean a default judgment against your company if you don’t respond in time.
8. Your company does business in several states
When you register your company to transact business in states other than your state of formation (foreign qualification), you need a registered agent in each of those states. By using a registered agent service provider like BizFilings, one company handles this important service for you in each state. This is a particularly good option if your company is doing business in a foreign state but doesn’t have a physical office or employee there.
9. You use a Post Office Box as your business address
You cannot serve as the registered agent for your business if you have a P.O. Box or a private mailbox as your only address. The registered agent must have a physical address.
10. Your address is likely to change
The address on record with the state for the registered agent must be current. States can penalize companies that have an out of date address for their registered agent. And having an out of date address also means those important documents are being mailed or delivered to the wrong place. Changing the address requires a formal state filing and often a fee to be paid to the state. (It also requires you to remember to do it!) When you use a registered agent service provider, if the address you would have used as your registered agent’s address changes, you never have to worry about updating the address with the state. (You also don’t have to worry if your registered agent service provider changes its address. They’ll update the state records for you.
How registered agent services differ
Not all registered agent service providers are created equal, nor do registered agent providers offer the same level or quality of service. When choosing a professional registered agent, look for a company with a long history of providing compliance services to companies of all sizes, and one that operates its own nationwide network of offices, thereby providing compliance expertise in all states.
