Registered agent and filings disclosure

1. What a registered agent is

Every US state requires a company to name a registered agent — sometimes called a statutory agent or resident agent — before it will register the company and for as long as the company exists. The agent is a person or company that:

• has a physical street address in the state where the company is formed, which is the registered office (a PO box is not enough);
• is available at that address during normal business hours; and
• accepts service of process — lawsuits and other legal papers — and official mail from the state on the company's behalf.

The point of the rule is that there is always a known address where a court, a creditor or the state can reach your company.

2. How our service works

Register Quick LLC is a service of Quick LLC. We arrange registered agent service and a registered office address for your company through our US filing and registered agent partner. That partner is the appointed agent of record in the state; we manage the relationship, your account and your documents.

When something arrives for your company, it is scanned and uploaded to your account, and we notify you by email at the address on your account. Please keep that address working and check it.

We relay what we receive. We do not interpret it. We cannot tell you what a legal document means, what it requires you to do, or how long you have to respond, and we cannot answer it or appear for you. Service of process is urgent: deadlines in a lawsuit run from the date of service, and missing one can lead to a judgment against your company without you being heard. If you receive court papers, contact a US attorney straight away.

3. What the registered agent address is not

The registered office address exists for official service and state mail. Please do not use it as anything else:

• it is not a business mailing address for parcels, couriers, returns or general post;
• it is not an address that qualifies your company for a bank account, and banks apply their own address rules;
• it is not an address for your personal mail, and it is not a residential address;
• it is not a substitute for a real business address where a licence, a marketplace, a landlord, a payment provider or a customer requires one.

Mail sent there for purposes the service does not cover may be refused or returned. Using the address for something it is not meant for can end the agent service and, in some cases, your account — see our terms of service.

4. Your filing becomes a public record

Forming a company puts information into a public state register that anyone can search. That is how company registers work, and it is not something we can undo or opt out of.

In many states the registered agent's address is published instead of an owner's home address, which is one reason founders use an agent. Some states also publish the names of members or managers, the organiser, or the person who signed the filing, and requirements differ from state to state and change over time. Once a state has published something, we cannot remove it. If privacy is a priority, decide what you are comfortable filing before you order, and take advice if you are unsure.

5. Changing your agent, and what happens if you have none

• You must have an agent at all times. There is no gap allowed between one agent resigning and the next being appointed.
• Changing agent takes a state filing. To appoint a replacement, the company files a change of registered agent (or the incoming agent files it) with the state, and the state charges its own fee for that filing. The change takes effect when the state accepts it, not when you tell us.
• If you cancel, appoint the replacement first — or dissolve the company — so the company is never without an agent.
• We give you notice before we end agent service, for example if a renewal goes unpaid or the account breaks our terms, so that you have time to appoint someone else. If service still ends, the agent may resign with the state, which usually starts a short deadline for the company to name a new one.
• If the appointment lapses, the company can lose its good standing. States can charge penalties and reinstatement fees, refuse a certificate of good standing, and in some states administratively dissolve the company. Losing good standing can also affect banking and contracts.

6. Annual reports and franchise taxes

Most states require a recurring filing to keep a company active — an annual or biennial report, a franchise tax, or both. The state sets the deadline and the fee, and the obligation is the company's.

• What we do. We track the deadlines for your company and remind you before them. Where your plan includes it, we prepare the report and submit it using the information you confirm.
• What stays yours. The underlying facts are yours to get right — owners, managers, addresses, business activity and anything else the state asks for. You are responsible for confirming them and for paying the state fee. If you do not confirm in time, or the fee is not paid, we cannot file.
• Figures change. Deadlines and fees change without notice. Our state pages show what the state published when we last synced them; the state's own published figure governs.

Some obligations are outside this service entirely — federal, state and local taxes, payroll, sales tax and anything required where you live. Those remain yours unless your plan says otherwise in writing.

7. EIN applications

An EIN is the company's federal tax number, issued by the IRS. Where you ask us to, we prepare and submit Form SS-4 and act as your authorised third-party designee, using the signed authorisation you give us.

• The IRS decides eligibility, the outcome and the timing. We cannot guarantee a date.
• Where the responsible party has no US Social Security Number or ITIN, the application is handled differently by the IRS and usually takes longer.
• The designee authorisation is limited to obtaining the EIN. It does not let us represent the company on tax matters, receive confidential tax information afterwards, or deal with the IRS about anything else, and it expires once the EIN is issued.
• You must give us accurate details about the responsible party, and tell us if they change before the EIN is issued.

8. Mail, virtual addresses and your own business address

Registered agent service and mail forwarding are different things. What your company gets depends on the plan you bought and what it lists — if a plan does not list mail forwarding, a virtual business address or a phone number, those are not included, and we will not hold or forward general post for you.

If you need a working business address for customers, couriers, licences or a payment provider, arrange one separately. Our business address shown below is the operating company's own address; it is not your company's address and must not be used as one.

9. What we cannot do

• We are not a law firm and we do not give legal or tax advice — see our legal disclaimer.
• We cannot promise that a state will accept a filing, or how quickly it will process one.
• We cannot serve every kind of business. Some activities are restricted by our partners or by law — see prohibited and restricted businesses.

10. Questions

Read this page with our terms of service. Fees and deadlines by state are on our state pages.

Quick LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, USA. Questions about agent service, deadlines or an EIN: [email protected]. If you have been served with legal papers, contact a US attorney first — then tell us, so we have a record.