Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to start a formal establishment entailing the possible development of a limited liability company or corporation could potentially require using a registered agent in order to handle the administrative, legal, and supervisory documentation requirements on behalf of any specific business.
Registered agents may be simply defined as workers of due process, whereby businesses and organizations of all sizes and establishments employ their services in order to be the business’ point of contact with the secretary of state regulations as well as the service of process.
Registered agents, in theory, have the potential to maintain the legal and administrative duties of any specific business and are reliable means of correspondence between business owners and the secretary of state. Simply described, a registered agent is a person or entity that may be appointed to potentially receive service of process and officially mail documentation on behalf of a business.
Depending on various state regulations, different states may or may not require registered agent services. According to the Washington Secretary of State, all corporations, LLC’s and Limited Partnerships are required to have a registered agent together with a physical Washington State address. Registered agents may either be an individual entity or a company-based registered agent who may potentially receive annual reports, service of processes, and legal notices to bring to the attention of the specific business they are representing.
Duties of a Registered Agent for Businesses
Depending on the type of business structure, registered agents may have different duties and responsibilities in accordance with the scale of any specific business they may be dealing with. Overall, the general duties of a registered agent may be similar but are specifically determined and decided by state law and are managed by any particular residing secretary of state office.
Registered agents are required to be legal residents in the state that their respective companies have filed for incorporation and are usually responsible for accepting tax documentation and potentially pressing legal paperwork directly from the state government on behalf of the company.
General types of documentation that registered agents may possibly be responsible for include taxation notifications, deadline paperwork, or annual filings, as well as service of process paperwork for potential business lawsuits. The ultimate obligation of a company’s registered agent is to deliver any specific documentation to their particular business in a timely manner so that it may be handled respectively.
How to Hire A Registered Agent
When it comes to officially establishing any type of business entity, business owners may discover that designating a registered agent may be required in most, if not all, US states of business. Although many states do allow business owners to personally reinstate themselves as registered agents, the issue of privacy and unnecessary administration could potentially be a pressing concern. To most business owners reliefs, there are now online service providers that entail registered agent services whereby business owners may deploy them to handle the business documentation sector.
Online Registered Agent Services
Northwest Registered Agent
Northwest Registered Agent could be assumed to be one of the more popular registered agent services provided in the US since they offer advantages that include local scanning of documents, expert customer support as well as formation services in multiple states.
ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness is formally known as a business formation company; however, they offer what appears to be good registered agent services at a reasonable rate of approximately $99 per year for a standard registered agent service. ZenBusiness may potentially be a prime candidate for business owners who are looking to professionally form their business as an LLC since they offer a full year of a registered agent service for free.
Incfile
Since 2004, Incfile has grown into one of the more favored business formation services, allegedly serving over 500 000 business clients at that specific time. Like ZenBusiness, Incfile offers registered agents free of charge when business owners select any of their LLC formation packages which start at $0.
Final Takeaway: The Importance of a Registered Agent
The importance of a business having a registered agent possibly goes way beyond the matter of convenience. Registered agents allow for the maintenance of a consistent and legal physical address where any specific company is incorporated or doing business, consequently allowing for business owners never to miss a delivery. By handling governmental and legal correspondence between the state and the company, registered agents fulfill a noteworthy responsibility in professionally managing the task as experienced and trained individuals, making it more possible for documentation to get into the right place at the right time promptly.
