What Is A Registered Agent Liable For

A resident agent—sometimes chosen a registered agent or statutory amanuensis—serves as the official contact for a business concern entity in the state in which the entity formed and every other country where the entity is formally registered to do business organization. The LLC laws in each state crave a limited liability company to either act every bit its own registered amanuensis or engage a tertiary party located in the state to serve as its registered agent.

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What Practise Resident Agents Practise?

The purpose of a resident agent is to requite the state authorities, private citizens, and other companies a permanent, reliable location to send post and legal documents to an LLC that operates in a state. The kinds of correspondence the resident agent is responsible for receiving include:

Service of procedure, i.east., the pleadings that commence lawsuits and other legal claims
Other litigation documents generated in a lawsuit or legal claim, e.yard., motions and discovery requests
Correspondence from the state government well-nigh tax matters, almanac filings and reports, and other compliance matters
Notices that an employee'due south wages have been or may be garnished

The address of your LLC'southward resident agent is public data that the state and individuals tin can look upwards if they tin can't otherwise locate your concrete place of business. By sending mail to the resident amanuensis, anyone making claims confronting your LLC can fulfill their obligations to notify the LLC about important matters—which might include unpaid taxes, overdue state filings, or litigation.

Who Tin can Be an LLC's Resident Amanuensis?

If an LLC has a concrete business location in a state with employees working at that place, the LLC tin appoint itself to act as its ain resident agent. Information technology is crucial that employees at the location sympathize that the official correspondence that arrives at that accost is important and requires prompt review by a member, manager, or officer of the LLC.

If an LLC'southward office in a land just has a few junior-level employees or salespeople, it may not be appropriate to impose resident agent responsibilities on those workers. Similarly, designating the dwelling address of a board member of the LLC who happens to live in a state is probably not the most reliable way to fulfill the resident agent requirement.

Nigh LLCs use the services of reputable third-party companies that specialize in serving as resident agents. These companies staff their offices during all business hours and very reliably frontwards the correspondence they receive to the members, managers, or officers of their LLC clients.

Resident agent companies typically accuse an annual fee for their services for each state for which your LLC needs coverage. Many resident agent companies have offices in all 50 states, making them convenient for LLCs with locations throughout the country.

What Happens If an LLC Lacks a Resident Agent?

If an LLC doesn't appoint a resident amanuensis at the time it files its initial formation documents, the land simply won't corroborate the initial cosmos of the LLC.

If an LLC fails to maintain a resident amanuensis after forming or registering in a country, at that place tin can be severe consequences, including:

Not receiving crucial correspondence in a timely mode. Unpaid taxes and unanswered litigation can result in fines and default judgments.
Losing skilful standing with the land. If an LLC is not in good standing in a state, information technology may be prevented from commencing a lawsuit in the land or acquiring necessary licenses, permits, or financing.
Fines or penalties for members, managers, and officers. Some states impose monetary fines for noncompliant LLCs.
Dissolution. If a state dissolves the LLC, members may lose the limited liability protection a legal entity affords, thus exposing themselves to personal liability for debts and other claims against the LLC.

Maintaining a resident amanuensis is a crucial part of running your LLC. Be sure to stay on superlative of all the requirements and so that your company remains in good standing.

This portion of the site is for informational purposes merely. The content is non legal communication. The statements and opinions are the expression of writer, not LegalZoom, and have not been evaluated by LegalZoom for accuracy, completeness, or changes in the law.