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Why Small Business Owners Need Registered Agent Services

By Jessica Thompson


Starting a small business involves tending to hundreds of details.You will need the help of several professionals in order to get all your legal paperwork filed and taxes and insurance forms completed properly. Most states require that business owners use registered agent services. Even if you are a business owner living in a state without this requirement, you should seriously considering employing one of these agents.

An agent can be an individual or a company that you designate to accept certain documents and communications on your behalf. Documents can come from attorneys, the Internal Revenue Service, or various government entities. Agents have to be located in the same state your business is registered in.

States use agents as contacts for business owners. This kind of service can be especially helpful if you don't have your own physical address in the state where your business originated. Failure to appoint a representative to receive information for your company could have serious consequences.

Agents are third party individuals or companies business owners employ to receive all kinds of official documents on their behalf. The agents are located in the state where the business was registered. Owners authorize them to receive documents from process servers, the Secretary of State and any other government entity, lawyers, and the Internal Revenue Service.

States want to know how to reach business owners. Most of them require that the owner have an entity in their state that can be contacted at all times. If you don't have a physical presence in the state where the business was started, it is even more important. States require that the contact representative have a physical address. They do not accept post office box addresses.

You should consider your representative more than a convenience for the state. He also plays an important part in the success of your business. When you have satellite offices, you could miss important legal and tax notices, and fail to respond in a timely manner. You certainly don't want a notification that you are being sued to go unanswered because you didn't get the information until a deadline had passed.

There are owners who try to save money by acting as their own agents. While it may be legal to do this, it has drawbacks. Agents must be accessible all the time in order to receive notifications. That means if you have to leave the office for the day or take a vacation or a sick day, you have to make alternative arrangements. You will probably find that the convenience of paying an official representative is worth the cost.

Having an official representative means you will not have to deal with a sheriff knocking on your business door to deliver notification of an IRS inquiry or court summons. If you decide to move your business, having a representative with the state will cut down on the paperwork. States have the authority to fine you, revoke your licenses, and keep you from the court system when you fail to comply with this regulation. The procedure to reinstate your business will be costly and time consuming.




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