Hawaii Registered Agent
When You Want More
A Hawaii registered agent is a resident individual of Hawaii or a business registered in the state that agrees to accept legal correspondence on behalf of a company registered in Hawaii. Documents such as legal summons, service of process, yearly charter renewals, and tax notifications come to a business’s registered agent, and the Hawaii registered agent is required to pass such documents onto clients in a timely manner. A Hawaii registered agent maintains a registered office in the state, which must be a physical street address kept open during regular business hours.
With our registered agent service, get Privacy by Default®, business address, free mail forwarding, free Phone Service for 60 days, and local Corporate Guides®—only at Northwest.
Everything You Need To Know About Hawaii Registered Agents:
- Get Hawaii Registered Agent Service
- What Do Hawaii Registered Agents Do?
- Legal Requirements for Hawaii Registered Agents
- How To Be Your Own Hawaii Registered Agent
- How Do I Change My Hawaii Registered Agent?
- What Makes Northwest Different From Other Services?
- Hawaii Registered Agent FAQs
- How To Order Registered Agent Service

What Do Hawaii Registered Agents Do?
At minimum, your Hawaii registered agent will accept legal documents (service of process) and official mail on behalf of your business in Hawaii at a location called a registered office. In other words, your registered agent’s address acts as the official place where any service of process and official mail for your Hawaii LLC, Hawaii corporation or Hawaii nonprofit will be sent.
However, the right registered agent service can do much more. At Northwest, we go above and beyond the minimum to ensure top speed, security, privacy and support.
What Are the Legal Requirements for Hawaii Registered Agents?
Per Hawaii Statute §425-19, Hawaii requires the following of its registered agents:
- Must be a resident of Hawaii or a domestic or foreign business entity registered in Hawaii.
- Must maintain a physical street address (i.e. registered office) in Hawaii.
How To Be Your Own Hawaii Registered Agent
If you own a business in Hawaii, you can act as your own registered agent. This means you would be the person designated to accept all official mail on behalf of your business, including service of process, and will serve as your business’ primary contact with the state. There are only a few requirements for you to act as your own registered agent in Hawaii: you must be a resident and have a physical street address in the state of Hawaii where you keep regular business hours (the physical residence can be the same address as the business).
How do I become my own registered agent?
The process for you to act as your own initial Hawaii registered agent is simple—all you must do is put your name and physical address on the formation documents for your business. Formation documents are the forms that you file with the Business Registration Division, and in Hawaii, these documents are called articles of incorporation for a corporation, and articles of organization for a limited liability company.
When filling out these documents, you will see questions asking for the name of your registered agent, as well as the address. This is where your name and your address go. Once you fill out these lines and the document has been filed, you are officially your own registered agent.
Being your own registered agent in Hawaii will cost you $0, however, when you act as your own registered agent, once those formation documents are filed with the state, your name and address become searchable, public knowledge. It’s imperative that you maintain regular business hours at the address you listed, and that it is a regular street address. No PO boxes will be accepted as your registered agent address in Hawaii. If you value your privacy and hate getting junk mail, you’d be better off hiring a service like Northwest Registered Agent.
What if I already have a registered agent?
If you’ve already formed your business in Hawaii, and have decided to hire yourself as your registered agent, the process to change your Hawaii registered agent to yourself is straightforward. Hawaii furnishes a form called the Statement of Change of Registered Agent by Entity form. You’ll simply specify your entity type (for-profit corporation, nonprofit corporation, LLC, LLP, etc.), write the name and address of your current registered agent, fill in your own information as the new registered agent, and fill out all additional information. There is a $25 fee when you file the form.
Remember, once this is filed with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, whatever address you use will be on file with the state as public information and this is where the process servers and sheriff deputies will be delivering lawsuits should your Hawaii LLC or Hawaii corporation be sued.
How Do I Change My Hawaii Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in Hawaii.
- Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
- Do it yourself and file a Change of Registered Agent by Entity with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division.
What Makes Northwest Different From Other Services?
At Northwest, we do business the right way. We’re dedicated to getting you your docs fast, protecting your privacy and offering you support. Here’s how:
- Same-Day Scans, Instant Notifications: We accept and scan your docs at our local office the same day. We notify you instantly and reach out to you if your essential mail goes unread.
- Privacy by Default®: We automatically minimize the exposure of and access to your personal data. If we can put our address on a public doc instead of yours, we do. If we don’t have to list your personal info, we don’t. We have tough privacy policies to keep your data safe and private. And we never sell your data.
- Free Limited Mail Forwarding: Of course we’ll get you your state and legal mail. That’s our job. But what if we get some of your regular business mail? It happens a lot—clients and businesses trying to connect with you via your registered agent. We scan 5 documents per year for FREE. We can also scan additional mail at a per document rate of $15.
- Corporate Guides®: Have questions? We have answers. Our guides are business experts whose sole job is to provide phone and email support for all your toughest business questions.
Hawaii Registered Agent FAQs
Why Do I Need A Hawaii Registered Agent?
The state requires all Hawaii registered businesses to appoint a Hawaii registered agent. The Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs – Business Registration Division will reject your business filing if you don’t appoint a registered agent. Basically, the registered agent requirement exists so the state of Hawaii and general public have a reliable way to serve or contact your business.
Can I Be My Own Registered Agent In Hawaii?
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in Hawaii. 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, an Hawaii registered agent’s name and address becomes 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.
Where Is Northwest’s Registered Office In Hawaii?
Aloha! Our downtown Honolulu office is blocks away from the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. We charge $125 a year for registered agent service in Hawaii.
We locally scan all items we receive at our registered agent office in Hawaii, a local Honolulu address, for no charge. One of the nice things our Hawaii resident agent clients enjoy is being able to log into their online registered agent account and see when their next Hawaii report is due. We appreciate the chance to be your Hawaii agent. Mahalo!
Will You Let Me Know When My Hawaii Annual Report Is Due?
Yes! We send all of our registered agent service clients reminders when the annual report is due. Hawaii annual reports are especially confusing…
Annual reports will get mailed to your main business address not your registered agent’s. They are all due based on the anniversary date of your filing. They are due quarterly, not on the exact filing date, according to the federal quarter dates. There are 4 possible due dates, so if you filed in the middle of the quarter, your first annual report is due at the end of that quarter the next year. They cost $12.50 online, and $15 if you mail them in.
Can I Use Your Hawaii Registered Office Address For Everything On My Business Filing?
Definitely! 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 off public records.
Can I Have My Business’s Mail Delivered To Your Hawaii Office?
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.
Should I Hire A Registered Agent Before Or After I Start My Business In Hawaii?
You should hire us first and then form your LLC or corporation because the Hawaii BREG will reject your business registration filing if you don’t list your HI registered agent. You’ll find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you place an order.
How Do Hawaii Registered Agents Get Served?
Service on your registered agent is legal proof that you were notified. Regardless of whether you actually receive the documents your Hawaii registered agent signs for, once they accept the documents, you’ve been notified. This is a huge responsibility and we take it seriously. Here’s how it works:
- A process server, the county sheriff, or any third party will walk into our office and hand us the documents (service of process), which we sign for.
- The process server then gives an affidavit (a receipt of service) to the court as confirmation that they “served” us.
Note: If you’ve hired Northwest, you’ve received your documents long before the process server hands in their affidavit to the court, because we scanned them to your online account within minutes of having been served.
How Do I Search For A Hawaii Registered Agent?
Use our Hawaii business name search tool to search the Hawaii BREG Division’s records.
- Type in the name of the company you’re searching for.
- In the results, you’ll find the company’s registered agent and registered office street address.
If you want to legally notify the business through their Hawaii registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name and registered office address.
How Do I Resign From Being A Registered Agent In Hawaii?
InHawaii, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in Hawaii.
How To Order Hawaii Registered Agent Service:
You sign up online, clicking on one of the buttons or links that says “HIRE US.”
We collect the first year of the registered agent service fee up front.
For new businesses, we’ll become your Hawaii registered agent service once your business registration filing with BREG is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of Hawaii registered agent service. If you want to keep using us, great; if you don’t, you can easily cancel.
With offices in every state, we make it easy to add registered agent services anywhere in the country. We don’t farm out work (or your info) to other companies—wherever you are, WE are your registered agent.
We make your account a real go-to resource for you, not just for Hawaii registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with Hawaii corporate compliance.
Information Your Hawaii Registered Agent Should Help You Understand:
- In Hawaii, business filings are submitted to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division. Many filings, including formations and registrations are also subject to a State Archive Fee of $1.
- The filing fee for domestic and foreign LLCs and corporations is $50 (plus the archive fee).
- Domestic and foreign nonprofits pay $25 to file (plus the archive fee).
- LLCs and corporations must file an annual report each year. The fees is $12.50 online ($15 paper). Nonprofit reports are just $2.50 online ($5 paper).
At Northwest, we can also form your LLC or form your corporation in Hawaii for $100 plus state fees. As part of our commitment to Privacy by Default®, we put our business address on your filings to better protect your privacy. And you always have the support of our Corporate Guides®.