Every LLC in Tennessee must designate a registered agent. The registered agent is the LLC’s point of contact for any official business. This could include correspondence from the state of Tennessee and well as legal documents such as a notice of a lawsuit. The items will be delivered to the street address of the registered agent, and the state will assume that the business has in fact received the correspondence and is aware of its contents.
If you are a Tennessee resident with a Tennessee street address, you may name yourself and act as your own registered agent. However, this option is not without its difficulties, and many LLC owners choose to engage a professional registered agent service. Here is information about what a Tennessee registered agent is, why an LLC must have one, and why a registered agent service is a wise choice for many small businesses.
Your registered agent is the party that receives official Tennessee state correspondence on your behalf. They also receive legal documents such as service of process or notice of a lawsuit. These are documents that you, as a business owner, are required to know about. They could include:
If the registered agent is someone other than yourself, it’s their job to notify you of anything they receive on your behalf. Failure to receive and act on this documentation could cause serious problems for your business. That’s why a registered agent is a critical component of your LLC, and you need to be prudent in making your choice.
A registered agent can be an individual or a commercial registered agent provider. If it’s an individual:
If the registered agent is a professional service, they must have a physical address in Tennessee and in every other state where they operate.
Whether it’s a person or an organization, a registered agent’s address is a matter of public record, and anyone can look it up. The agent must be consistently available at the designated address during business hours. Someone who travels or is frequently absent from the address will be hard-pressed to fulfill a registered agent’s responsibilities.
If you are a Tennessee resident who is at least 18 years old, and if you maintain a street address within the state, you may designate yourself as your LLC’s registered agent. The address you name can be a home address or a business location. Doing so saves you the fee that a registered agent service. Some business owners prefer this option because it keeps potentially sensitive documents out of the hands and eyes of a third party. If you do this, however, you need to be aware of the drawbacks.
The big disadvantage is that you are expected to be consistently available during business hours. If you need to take a day away, even occasionally, you run the risk of missing out on something you need to know about. For example, if someone notifies you of a lawsuit, and you don’t become aware of it, the suit could proceed without your knowledge, and a court could rule in favor of the other party by default.
You appoint your LLC’s registered agent when you file your Articles of Organization. You may do this either by mail on online. The Articles of Organization Limited Liability Company PDF contains both the instructions and the form. There are fields on the form for the registered agent’s name and address, including street address, city, zip code, and the county where they’re located. The completed form goes to Business Services Division Tre Hargett, Secretary of State, State of Tennessee, 312 Rosa L. Parks Ave, 6th Fl. Nashville, TN 37243-1102. The Articles of Organization can also be submitted at the Secretary of State Online Services.
If yours is a foreign, i.e. out-of-state, LLC, you name your registered agent when you file your Certificate of Authority to transact business in Tennessee. There is no online facility for this submission. You must download and complete the PDF and mail it to the Secretary of State’s office at 6th FL – Snodgrass Tower ATTN: Corporate Filing, 312 Rosa L. Parks AVE, Nashville, TN 37243.
Many business owners are perfectly happy with their registered agents and have no desire to make any changes. Some situations, however, may call for adjusting this role. For example, if a previous registered agent is no longer available during business hours, a new agent should be selected. Some South Dakota business owners may initially select individuals to serve as registered agents but may later discover the value of working with a commercial registered agent service.
No matter why a new registered agent is needed, it is important to notify the Secretary of State. This typically involves a Statement of Change, which details the name and address of the registered agent on file (otherwise known as the ‘old’ registered agent) along with the name and address of the new registered agent. Statements of Change can be filed electronically or through the mail. This calls for a filing fee of $25, payable to the Secretary of State.
Tennessee law allows you to act as your own registered agent, and it is certainly possible to do so. However, many LLC owners will find this at best inconvenient and at worse an unacceptable risk to the business. There’s no need to incur this risk, because there are many reputable companies that have the capacity to serve as your registered agent. Here are some reasons that you should strongly consider engaging one of them.
A small business owner has enough to think about without worrying whether they are receiving every piece of critical correspondence from the state and from other parties. With a registered agent service, you never need to worry that this sort of critical information might slip through the cracks. Your registered agent service never takes a business day off. They always have someone on duty to receive official documentation. If something comes along that you need to know about, you can rely on a service to make sure that you do.
It can be difficult for an LLC owner to keep track of and fulfill all their legal requirements. There are filing requirements to be dealt with and deadlines to meet. A registered agent service can help keep you in compliance by prompting you concerning action you need to take. Many will take time-consuming and time-sensitive tasks off your hands, and some will store copies of critical documents that you are required to maintain.
If you act as your own registered agent, you have to be consistently at one address, and it’s hard to be flexible. If you engage a registered agent service, you can be wherever your business requires you to be without worrying about what vital documentation might arrive on any given day. If you have an LLC that does business in Tennessee and other states, you can use a nationwide registered agent service. All correspondence will be delivered to their office in the appropriate state, and you will be informed of it wherever you happen to be.
Every LLC owner must deal with paperwork, and that task can eat into time that would be better spent directly serving customers. Any of this work that you can offload is a win for you and your business. Your registered agent service has the time and the expertise to deal with paperwork reliably and accurately and to free you up for more important tasks.
The State of Tennessee requires that every LLC has a registered agent, and you can designate yourself, but there are a number of good reasons to let a registered agent service take this job off your hands. They not only satisfy your legal requirement; they also give you the peace of mind that comes with knowing that every piece of critical correspondence will be received and brought to your attention. If you are organizing a new LLC, you’re likely to find that a registered agent service is worth the minor expense. If you’ve been acting as your own registered agent for an existing LLC, it may be time to simplify your life by turning this job over to a professional service.
Most providers charge between $50 to $300 per year for this service. The cost may vary based on what is provided beyond basic registered agent coverage.
Many of these organizations provide a full gamut of services for LLCs. For example, they may offer LLC formation services, document storage, mail forwarding for other documents, and compliance tracking. Some of these may be included with the basic registered agent service, while others might be available at an additional annual cost.
You should know who your registered agent will be before you file your Articles of Organization or your Certificate of Authority to transact business in Tennessee. You’ll have to name the party of those forms. You can’t legally do business as an LLC unless you’ve designated a registered agent.
If you fail to maintain a valid registered agent, you could jeopardize your LLC’s good standing and ultimately render your LLC unable to legally conduct business in Tennessee.
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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