If you operate a limited liability company in Alaska, you are required to name a registered agent. The registered agent is your LLC’s official business contact for state documents or legal documents. The registered agent’s physical address is the place where vital documents from the state of Alaska and from other parties will be delivered.
If you are an Alaska resident with an Alaska street address, you may designate yourself as the registered agent. However, this can create difficulties for you, and there are many reasons why business owners choose to use a professional registered agent service. Read on for information about what an Alaska registered agent is, why one is needed, and how a registered agent service can provide benefits for your business.
Your registered agent is the point of contact for official Alaska state business as well as for other critical documents. They receive correspondence that is vital for you as a business owner to know about. This might include:
It’s the job of the registered agent to inform the business about any of this correspondence they receive. If there’s no one available to receive this documentation, the state and the law will assume you know about it. They will not excuse you if you fail to take whatever action is required. You can see how important it is to take a great deal a care in designating your registered agent.
A registered agent can be either an individual or a commercial registered agent provider. If the agent is an individual:
If the registered agent is a professional service, they too must maintain a physical street address in Alaska.
Whether it’s a person or an organization, a registered agent must be consistently available at the designated address during business hours. A person who travels or is otherwise frequently away from the address will be hard-pressed to fulfill a registered agent’s duties.
The Alaska Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing is responsible for the regulation of businesses in the state, including tracking LLC registered agents. You name your registered agent when you establish your LLC in Alaska. For LLCs based in the state, you designate the registered agent when you file your Articles of Organization. You can download the Articles of Organization PDF, fill it out, and mail it to State of Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing PO Box 110806, Juneau, AK. There are fields on the form for the name and address of the registered agent. Email is not accepted. However, you can submit your Articles of Organization online.
If you are an out-of-state LLC establishing yourself in Alaska, you will name your registered agent in the Certificate of Registration. As with the Articles of Organization, there are fields for the registered agent’s name and address on the form. You may either download and mail the PDF (to the same address as above) or submit the Certificate of Registration online.
If you designate a registered agent other than yourself, you should of course make the arrangement with that party before you file.
You may change your Alaska LLC’s registered agent at any time. You simply file a Statement of Change with the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business, and Professional Licensing. Alaska does not maintain a facility for make the change online; you must download and submit the Statement of Change Form for Registered Agents. This gets mailed to Corporations Section State Office Building, 333 Willoughby Avenue, 9th Floor PO Box 110806, Juneau, AK. There is a $25 fee required along with the change request.
Yes, you can, if you are an Alaska resident who is at least 18 years of age, and you maintain a physical mailing address within the state. You can use any valid Alaska address, whether it’s your home address or your business address. This saves the fee for engaging a third-party registered agent. Sometimes, business owners will do this to protect their privacy and keep their documents out of the hands of a third party. However, there are drawbacks to this option.
The biggest disadvantage is that you have to be available during business hours all the time. If you travel, or even if you occasionally need to take a day off, you won’t be able to fulfill the duties of a registered agent. You won’t be available to receive service of process notifications. You may miss receiving tax forms or other critical documents. If you fail to receive a notice of a lawsuit and never learn about it, a court might rule in favor of the other party by default.
A few business owners may be able to act as their own registered agent. For most, however, that course of action is not only inconvenient but also entails needless risk. There is no reason to take this risk, because there are many reputable companies that will act as your registered agent for a reasonable annual fee. Here are some of the reasons Alaska small businesses find it worth the small expense to hire a registered agent service.
If you don’t receive a document such as service of process or a time-sensitive tax document, or never become aware of it, the cost to your small business could be significant. When you use a registered agent service, you never have to worry about this kind of critical information slipping through the cracks. A registered agent service never takes a business day off. There’s always someone on hand to receive correspondence. If something comes along that requires your attention, your service will make sure you know about it.
If you use a widely publicized business address, you may not want documents such as notices of lawsuits arriving there. If a service is your registered agent, any such notice will be delivered to the agent’s Alaska address, and you can deal with it confidentially.
A registered agent service can help make certain that you fulfill all your legal obligations. For example, that can prompt you to take any action that official correspondence requires you to take. They can assist you in meeting deadlines in submitting required state reporting. It’s hard for a small business owner to keep track of and fulfill all the requirements for an LLC, and many registered agent services will deal with time-sensitive and time-intensive tasks for you. Some will even store copies of critical documents that you need to keep a copy of.
Acting as your own registered agent puts a crimp on your flexibility. You must be at the designated address business day after business day. If you use a service, you can spend time away or work odd hours, confident that your registered agent service is there to receive correspondence. Also, if you have an LLC that does business in other states in addition to Alaska, you can use a service that operates in multiple states. No matter where you are, correspondence will be delivered in the correct state, and your registered agent service will tell you about it.
You’re in business to serve customers, not to do paperwork. Any detail work that you can offload means more time spent on the tasks that you’re good at and that mean the most to your customers. A registered agent service has expertise (and patience!) at dealing with paperwork that may be aggravating and time-consuming for you.
Every LLC is required to have a registered agent, but fulfilling this requirement doesn’t have to be burdensome. With a registered agency service, you not only take care of the legal requirements. You also can be confident that critical documentation won’t be overlooked even if you aren’t there to receive it. Whether you’re just now forming your Alaska LLC or you’ve been acting as your own registered agent for an ongoing LLC, it’s time to consider a registered agency service. You are likely to find the flexibility and convenience to be worth the cost.
A typical charge for this service in Alaska is between $50 to $300 per year. The exact cost will depend, at least to some degree, on what is provided beyond the minimal registered agent service.
Many companies provide full-service LLC support, and they may offer such benefits as LLC formation services, document storage, mail forwarding for other documents, and compliance tracking. Some of these extras may be included with the basic registered agency service, while others might be available for an additional fee.
You need to decide who your registered agent is going to be before you submit the Certificate of Formation for an Alkaska LLC or the Foreign Qualifications filing for an out-of-state company. You must include the name and address on these documents.
Failure to maintain a registered agent could jeopardize an LLC’s good standing and make it ineligible to do business in Alaska.
This portion of our website is for informational or educational purposes only. Tailor Brands is not a law firm, and the information on this website does not constitute legal advice. All statements, opinions, recommendations, and conclusions are solely the expression of the author and provided on an as-is basis. Accordingly, Tailor Brands is not responsible for the information and/or its accuracy or completeness. It also does not indicate any affiliation between Tailor Brands and any other brands, services or logos on this page.
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