Enhance Your Privacy By Using a Registered AgentMany small business owners skip hiring an outside company to serve as their registered agent for two reasons: 1. Using an outside company as a registered or resident agent costs about $120 - $200 per year. 2. If you have a home or office in your state of incorporation, then you can use your own home/office address as your registered agent for free.
However, one good use of an outside company to act as your registered agent, even if you incorporate in your home state, is to protect your privacy. The ownership information of all companies is public, including the name and address of the company's registered agent. Most state's Secretary of State have webpages where anyone can search a company or LLC name and find out the address of the registered agent. Also, there are several companies compile the information from Secretary of State pages and resell this information as a mailing list to direct marketers. Once you incorporate or form an LLC, you will find yourself recieving everything from credit card offers to promotional gift catalogs and packaging supply catalogs. These companies got your address from the Secretary of State, or from a middle-man who compiled this public information. Many home business owners, even though they "work" out of their home, they get their mail at a post office box. This gives a measure of privacy--most business owners don't want their home address too public. The problem? Most states don't allow PO boxes to be used as a registered agent location. Most people, particularly those running a business from their home, don't want that information so public. The answer to this problem is to hire a company to act as your registered agent. For $199 per year, the Company Corporation can act as your registered agent. Or, use the Google Search box below and search for "registered agent services": Return to Registered Agent page.
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