How to become a registered agent

In general, a registered agent can be any person who is at least 18 years old and has a physical address (not just a P.O. box) in the state where your LLC is formed. An agent can also be a business that provides registered agent services to LLCs and corporations.

Registered Agent Fees and Tax Deductions

The fees paid to a registered agent are tax-deductible expenses of the business. This includes the fees paid for the basic services of the registered agent as well as any additional fees for supplemental services.

A corporate director, attorney, or CPA within the company can serve as a registered agent, or you can use a third-party organization. Keep reading to learn the basics of what a registered agent does and some factors to consider as you search for an agent for your business.

Using a professional registered agent ensures you receive any Service of Process both promptly and privately. Your business is home-based. The address of a company’s registered agent is a matter of public record. That means anyone, including marketers, can access it.

There is absolutely no reason why you need Legal Zoom to be your registered agent for service. They low ball the organization cost in the hope that they make money on incidental fees such as agent for service. While most attorneys charge more for the organization they will act as the agent for service for free.

ZenBusiness – $99/year

After researching many other LLC formation services available, we chose to team up with ZenBusiness to design packages that offer the most affordable registered agent services for our users at only $99/year for an existing business.

LegalZoom Registered Agent Pricing & Features

LegalZoom’s registered agent service has a straightforward $299 annual fee with no optional features or additional fees. While many competitors can beat their prices, LegalZoom does provide some additional features beyond simple document forwarding.

Reasons why businesses hire registered agent services

Registered agent services typically cost somewhere between $100 and $300 per year. For some business owners, it’s well worth the fee to not have to track the official notices and annual report due dates with the state.

Risks of being your own Registered Agent in California

They are not extremely likely to occur, but if they do, you could lose your liability protection and the California Secretary of State has the power to administratively shut down your California LLC if you’re not in compliance with the state laws.

You can act as your own Registered Agent for a corporation or LLC as long as you have a physical street address in the state where your corporation or LLC is formed. The actual corporation or LLC being formed, however, cannot name itself as its own Registered Agent.

Q3 Do you automatically get approval for the business name you’ve requested? Your name reservation does not automatically get approved. If the Secretary of State determines that another business is already using that name, your request will be rejected and you will be directed to select another name.

A dormant company is simply a company that is ‘not trading‘, so if you register your company under your chosen name and don’t start trading right away, you can leave it in its dormant state.

An application in the prescribed manner and on payment of applicable fees is to be submitted with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. After reviewing the application for availability of your proposed company name, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs shall either approve or reject the same.

The basic cost to trademark a business name ranges from $225 to $600 per trademark class. This is the cost to submit your trademark application to the USPTO. The easiest and least expensive way to register your trademark is online, through the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).

Registering a trademark for a company name is pretty straightforward. Many businesses can file an application online in less than 90 minutes, without a lawyer’s help. The simplest way to register is on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Web site, www.uspto.gov.

Filing a trademark for your business name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will cost between $225 and $600, plus legal fees. You can register with most states for $50-$150 if you don’t want protection outside your state.

Filing a Copyright Registration Application

Go to the U.S. Copyright Office website. Select “Electronic Copyright Registration” to fill in the Form VA online for registration of a work of Visual Arts. Name the creator of the logo and include contact information for the owner. Many logos are works for hire.