Almost every state requires you to designate a registered agent to serve as an official contact for your business. State agencies and courts send your company important compliance information and official correspondence through your registered agent. For most businesses, this correspondence consists of an annual report, tax filing correspondence, and service of process.

Because a registered agent is required by law, failing to have one can cost your company its good standing in that state. This means you could lose the ability to secure loans and initiate lawsuits in your state of business. It might even endanger your limited liability protection.

Service of process is notice that there is a lawsuit filed against the LLC or corporation. Usually, this involves serving the defendant with a summons. In the case of an LLC or corporation, the summons is served on the registered agent. By serving process on the registered agent, the court obtains jurisdiction over the corporation or LLC. In addition to receiving service of process in connection with a lawsuit against the business directly, the registered agent receives other mission-critical documents, such as:

• Notice of garnishment proceedings against an employee
• Litigation documents once the lawsuit is underway, including motions or requests to produce documents
• Legal notices
• Government correspondence, such as notices of annual report deadlines and tax notification other compliance-related documents

Although these documents might be very different, they all have one common element. Each one contains vital, time-sensitive information.