Washington DC Registered Agent

Yes, you can be your own registered agent in Washington DC. However, after considering the registered agent requirements most business owners elect to hire a registered agent service instead. Why? Well although being your own registered agent will cost you $0, a Washington DC registered agent’s name and address become part of the public record.  Additionally, the registered agent is required to be available to accept service of process during normal business hours 5 days a week.

Absolutely! If you own an LLC or corporation in Washington D.C., you’ll need to file your Washington D.C. biennial report every other year (April 1). As part of our registered agent service, we’ll not only send you a reminder, but we’ll give you the form you need to file and show you how to file it.

Yes! We’re the only national registered agent service that allows our clients to list our address for everything when you’re doing a filing to keep your private address private and off public record.

We don’t want ALL of your business mail. It’s not what we do. And it wouldn’t serve you well. You wouldn’t have unique address or suite number. Any mail we receive on your behalf would come to to Northwest Registered Agent, care of you.

But we understand that businesses and clients sometimes reach out to you through your registered agent. Through us. That’s why we give you 5 FREE scans of regular business mail a year. You can request any additional documents to be forwarded at a per document rate of $15.

Yes, you should sign up for registered agent service first. The Washington D.C. Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP) will reject your business registration filing if you don’t have a registered agent. You can find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you hire us.

This is how it works:

• A process server, county sheriff, or third party will walk into our office and hand us the documents (service of process), then we sign for them.
• The process server then gives an affidavit (a receipt of service) to the court as confirmation that they “served” us.

Note: Regardless of whether or not you receive the documents your Washington D.C. registered agent signs for on your business’ behalf, once they accept the documents, you’ve been legally notified. This is a serious responsibility that we do not take lightly. Serving a registered agent is legal proof that you were notified. If you hire Northwest, long before the server submits their affidavit to the court, you will have received your documents because we scan them into your account within minute of signing for the documents.

• Do a District of Columbia business name search.
• Type in the name of the company you’re searching for.
• In the results, you’ll find the registered agent’s name and registered office street address.

If you want to legally notify a business through their Washington DC registered agent service, send a letter through certified mail and address it to the registered agent name and registered office address.

Yes, the FCC requires most telecommunication providers to list a Washington DC agent for service of process on FCC form 499‑A. Your DC agent accepts service of process and official notices for the company in the nation’s capital. Check out our FCC License page for information on the requirement and how we can help.

In the District of Columbia, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit two copies of the Statement of Registered Agent’s Resignation with the District of Columbia Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP).

For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in Washington DC.