Registered agents are people who work for their clients as the go-between to provide few vital functions like hosting meetings, handling invoices, and checking mail, just to name a few. Basically, because they live in the physical world where corporations are created instead of just existing online.
An agent is usually an attorney or an individual who’s legally authorized to receive communications on behalf of the company. For example, if the company gets sued, law enforcement officials have to go directly to a person in charge of any legal proceedings – which happens to be the registered agent. According to the law, a corporation or LLC is not an actual person. They need an authorized person who is legally allowed to act on their behalf in order to receive certain corresponding letters and documents. Note that the agent won’t be responding to these messages but can pass them on to the person who is.
The individual designated as the company’s registered agent is responsible for ensuring that all state and federal filings and reports are completed and submitted on time. Leaders for business owners will need to determine which person or entity is best suited for this role. The registered agent’s address must be a physical street address at which the agent can be found, meaning that a PO Box is not eligible. Keep in mind that this address will be available to the public via the LLC or corporation records listed on the Secretary of State website. If you have a physical address you can list it as the agent, but what if you work from home? You may prefer to keep your full address private for safety reasons. It may be possible to use the same attorney who helped you create your LLC or corp. to act as your registered agent for this purpose. If you are not eligible to serve as a registered agent, this can be done by companies that provide the service. If so, any official documents will be delivered to the office of an attorney and can then be forwarded to you.
Attorney Hiten H. Patel can help you decide who to list as your registered agent when we work with you to form a new business entity. Give us a call (901) 300-6249, or contact us online to find out how we can help you.
