Professional registered agent service is a necessity for any company that operates in multiple states or online. The best-registered agents will reliably notify you of legal mail, protect your information, and help you comply with state requirements.
While you could be your own registered agent, you should consider using a professional service like Northwest Registered Agent instead. It will keep things streamlined for you by keeping your paperwork in one place and offering discounts.
Discounts
A registered agent service can be helpful if you do business in multiple states. You are required by law to have a physical address in each state where you operate, and these services can help you meet this requirement. A registered agent can also save you time by sorting through junk mail on your behalf and delivering important documents to you.
A good registered agent service will be familiar with all the requirements of each state, and they will work to stay up-to-date on any changes. They will also provide a reliable, easy-to-use online portal for you to access your documents.
Many of the best-registered agent services offer discounts for businesses that use their other services, such as LegalZoom. However, these companies do not actually serve as their own registered agents – they hire third-party specialist companies to receive service of process and other official notifications at dedicated offices across the country. In addition, these companies are often not as fast or efficient as their competitors.
Convenience
When you hire a top registered agent service, you will be removing one more item from your to-do list. While it’s possible that you could serve as your own registered agent, this is not practical for many businesses, especially multistate or online business operations. The leading services will handle important paperwork on your behalf, ensuring that your personal information remains private and that you are notified of any legal action taken against your business.
Those are the major benefits of working with an experienced registered agent service. The best online registered agents will also make it easy for you to scale as your business grows. They will send all your paperwork to a single location, scan and upload documents to an online portal, forward any service of process or official mail received on your behalf, and notify you about compliance filing deadlines so that you can keep your business in good standing with the state.
Reliability
A reliable registered agent service should be able to keep up with all the laws and regulations of every state where your business operates. You should also make sure that they have a large network and that their services are affordable. Choosing a registered agent that can meet your current needs and will be able to expand with you into additional states is important for long-term success.
ZenBusiness is an example of a company that offers registered agent services in all 50 states for a reasonable price. They are an excellent choice for businesses that want a fast and accurate filing experience. They are also a public benefit corporation, which means they have a legal obligation to do good things in the community.
Another great option is Harbor Compliance, which provides nationwide agent service at one of the lowest prices on the market. They also provide additional features, such as a compliance calendar and privacy protection.
Flexibility
If you plan to expand your business into multiple states, you can get great flexibility with a multi state registered agent service like ZenBusiness. This public benefit corporation has premium pricing, excellent customer support and an easy-to-use online dashboard. They also offer a few other great features such as mail forwarding and tailored notifications.
While it is legal to serve as your own registered agent, this is not something most business owners want to do. It requires being diligent and staying at your place of business during regular business hours, which is not realistic for most small businesses. Plus, missing important state documents or service of process can lead to serious consequences.
Another option is Harbor Compliance, a reliable specialist company that offers a full range of registered agent services at the best price on the market without any fancy bells and whistles. They also provide a discount for purchasing multiple years of service at once.