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do i need a registered agent for my llc explained in under 60 seconds do you need a registered agent for your llc the answer is absolutely yes you are required to have a registered agent and that registered agent should also be in the same state where the llc is registered and so do keep in mind the purpose of a registered agent is to receive any sort of illegal documents or legal letters on behalf of your llc you're always welcome to be a registered agent but do keep in mind if you decide you want to be the registered agent your personal information may become public if you want to learn more about llcs and starting businesses make sure you click the subscribe button down below see you in the next video
Thanks for your comment Marvin Attwood, have a nice day.
- Jaqueline Tennill, Staff Member
what in the world is a registered agent and do you need one for your online business that's what we're going to talk about in today's video let's do this hi my name is jim hart i'm the founding attorney here at hawthorne law where we help online businesses to get their legal house in order so that you can focus on what you do best and that is building a business that truly matters in the world today i want to talk to you about the exciting world of registered agents if you're running an online business and have tried to form your own llc then you have reached the point where you were probably asked what the name and address of your registered agent is and then you're probably wondering what that means and whether you even need a registered agent to begin with am i right now if you're like most online entrepreneurs you may run over to your nearest facebook group and start asking questions and chances are you're going to get responses like this gem from people that say things like i agree with such and such it's cheaper to do it yourself and to answer your question yes you can be your own registered agent all it means is that you will be the one in charge of receiving any notification to your resident's business address about any legal action such as a lawsuit or summons that are put against you basically whatever service provider you use just wants you to pay them to be a glorified po box when you can just receive mail yourself to your own address the person that answered this question clearly went to law school and clearly knows what they are talking about nope so what exactly is a registered agent and why should you consider spending a couple hundred bucks a year to hire one first off a registered agent is simply a person or business entity that is designated by your business to accept service of process and official business mail on your behalf and and i realize that's probably kind of a legal answer to what a registered agent is but basically let's just rewind this a second a registered agent is who you designate to receive all the really important mail that you need to get with regards to your business on your behalf all right let's go back a registered agent must have a physical address in the state you do business and must be open during normal business hours as an online business owner it is entirely likely that you started your business so that you could be free to work where you want when you want and how you want and if that means you want to travel or work odd hours or spend lots of time out of the house with your family and kids then you can have the freedom to do that that's why you started the business to begin with but if you serve as your own registered agent then you could run into issues if you aren't available to receive official legal mail this mail could include official federal and state correspondents subpoenas for information from your business tax notices from the irs and local taxing authorities lawsuits summonses to appear in court wage garnishment notices for your employees if you have them and other important legal documents including corporate filing notifications so if it isn't already clear why you should hire a corporate registered agent for your online business here are some other reasons why you might want to do this one privacy when you hire a corporate registered agent on your behalf you don't have to list your home as your address in the public records number two when you have an online business you may not have a physical location and you can't use a po box for your registered agent so you can use a corporate register agent to serve in that role number three you're free to live your life knowing that someone is always available during normal business hours to take care of all these issues on your behalf and finally multiple locations you can expand to multiple states without having to actually have a physical presence in those states which is a huge benefit if you're looking to take your business national now that being said there are some downsides of failing to hire a registered agent number one you may not receive the information that you need in a timely fashion this could get you into problems which leads to number two you risk your legal standing in your state for your llc or corporate entity number three you could be assessed fines or penalties for your non-compliance for failure to have an appropriate registered agent number four your entity could be administratively dissolved without you even knowing it and finally and probably this is the worst possible situation you could find yourself in you could be notified of a lawsuit failure to get that notice and you then could be held in default which means that you could sustain a huge money judgment against you for failing to properly appear in that lawsuit i realize that's probably worst case scenario but hey it could happen if you don't have an appropriate registered agent so should you be your own registered agent it really depends do you have a physical office where employees are located where they're working during normal business hours and they could get all this mail for you then maybe not but if you are a solopreneur who wants to live a life on your terms where you want when you want how you want then i would advise you to consider hiring a corporate registered agent for the one or two hundred bucks a year it's gonna cost you to do it you're gonna be glad you did if you like this video here's another video right here that covers some additional mistakes that people make when setting up their own llc's thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next video take care folks
Thanks Otha your participation is very much appreciated
- Jaqueline Tennill
About the author
I've studied east asian religions at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Chattanooga and I am an expert in algebraic geometry. I usually feel stressed. My previous job was legal secretary I held this position for 6 years, I love talking about medical science and tennis. Huge fan of Michael Bloomberg I practice cycling: road and collect stamps.
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