Owning and operating a business puts you in the public eye. You’re registered as the owner on many documents, and your company website might even have a staff page with your photo.
Some business owners even include their name in their company name, further aligning them with the business they own and operate.
Despite your prominent association with your company, that doesn’t mean you don’t value your privacy.
When the time comes to choose a registered agent for your LLC, you might not be eager to take the title yourself, knowing your address would become a public record.
In that case, you might be curious about your options. Fortunately, you can use a registered agent service. While this service costs money, you might consider utilizing it for some of the following reasons:
To Keep Your Home Address Private
According to LLC University, all registered agents must have a physical street address. As a result, you can’t use a PO Box address or a mailbox rental service for a registered agent. This is because your state wants to ensure legal mail and court documents are easy to track.
When you’re your own company’s registered agent, this generally leaves you with the option of using your home address. When you’re the face of your company, this can be a daunting prospect.
You likely don’t want everyone to know where you live, yet your address will be published on multiple public record websites.
Using a registered agent service gives you the freedom not to divulge your home address. Instead, a commercial registered agent can list their address throughout your Certificate of Formation. This can provide much-needed peace of mind.
You’re still fulfilling your LLC obligations, but you’re not having to give up your right to privacy at the same time.
You’re Worried About Missing Important Documentation
The average business receives a significant amount of important and unimportant mail. It can already be a hassle to sift through the junk mail, and now you’ll have to worry about possibly missing important documentation your business needs to action to fulfill your legal obligations.
In that case, using a registered agent service can offer much-needed peace of mind. Their job is to receive state and federal communications on your behalf.
You can then rest assured that you’ll receive all necessary documents for your LLC to remain compliant in your state.
Your Business Is Expanding
Business expansion into another state can be exciting. You can now tap into a new market and grow your business beyond your wildest dreams. As exciting as expanding into a new state can be, it also means you won’t be able to be your own registered agent anymore.
A registered agent for an LLC must be located in the same state as the business. This means that while you might be your own agent in your current location, you’ll need to find someone else to act as your agent at your new business location. A registered agent service can fulfill that requirement.
Your At-Work Schedule Is Unpredictable
Registered agents are required to be at the listed address during regular business hours. This is so you are guaranteed to receive important legal documents that you need to take action.
If your work schedule is unpredictable, seeing you away from the office for hours or days at a time, there’s a chance you’ll miss those important communications.
Registered agent service providers remain at their offices during business hours. As a result, they can receive correspondence for your business without any trouble.
You Want to Maintain Privacy
Maintaining privacy isn’t always about wanting to keep your home address private. It can also be about wanting to receive legal documents in a private space.
If your LLC is being served and your business address is listed, you can receive these papers in front of employees and customers. If local law enforcement officers deliver them, that can be even more troubling for business owners.
Using a commercial registered agent means you still receive those papers but not at a location where customers and employees are present.
Your Business Is Home-Based
Some business owners have no problem being their own registered agent because they have a physical business address. All correspondence can come directly to your company mailbox, and you don’t mind it being on public record.
However, you might not feel the same way if your business is home-based, as many are. Acting as your own registered agent for a home-based business or LLC means your home address will be published on the internet on multiple platforms.
Not only might you consider this a safety risk, but it might also mean that you risk receiving a great deal of unsolicited mail for your business at your home.
You’ll Be Changing Your Address
Your current business address won’t necessarily be the one you have forever. In all the chaos of relocating, it’s easy to forget to update your address for your registered agent.
It might not seem like a big deal, but failure to change your address might mean you don’t receive important documents. Serious repercussions might follow.
Using a registered agent service takes care of that problem. You don’t have to go through the arduous process of changing the registered agent address for your LLC when you’ve hired a company to receive correspondence for you.
Your Work Address Isn’t Permanent
Many people own companies that see them on the road more often than not.
You might travel around consulting at other businesses or spend several months in different states and countries. This can see company owners spending more time in business lodging than their own home or business.
With such a work style, you can be nearly unreachable for the delivery of essential documents. If you were to miss correspondence like annual state filings or lawsuits, your business could face serious repercussions, such as losing the right to operate your business.
While you might not want to spend money on a registered agent service, it can be worth it for many different reasons.
By handing over control to someone else, you no longer need to worry about missing the delivery of documents that your company must take in a timely manner.
