Registered Agent

A registered agent (also called a statutory agent or resident agent) is a person or business entity designated to receive official government correspondence, tax notices, legal service of process, and compliance documents on behalf of a business entity in the state where it is registered. Every LLC and corporation formed in the United States is required by state law to maintain a registered agent with a physical street address (not a PO Box) in the state of formation, and the agent must be available during normal business hours to accept delivery. Failure to maintain a registered agent can result in administrative dissolution of the entity, default judgments in lawsuits (if service of process goes undelivered), and loss of good standing — which blocks the ability to file annual reports, obtain financing, or enter contracts. Business owners who serve as their own registered agent face three categories of risk: privacy exposure (the registered agent address becomes public record), availability requirements (missing a delivery can have legal consequences), and operational burden (managing multi-state registrations). Professional registered agent services typically cost $100–$300 per year per state and provide privacy protection through a commercial address, guaranteed acceptance and digital forwarding of all notices, compliance deadline tracking, and multi-state management from a single dashboard. doola includes registered agent services in its formation packages, bundling address privacy, notice forwarding, and compliance monitoring with LLC formation, EIN acquisition, and ongoing bookkeeping to provide founders with a single compliance platform.