Minnesota Registered Agent
If you’re starting an Minnesota corporation or LLC (or moving one in from outside the state), you’re required by law to have an in-state registered agent. When you work with a professional Registered Agent like Northwest, we take care of the state’s bureaucratic compliance requirements for you, so you can focus on the real work of running your business. We provide a real Minnesota address for your legal mail—and we’ll forward those documents wherever you are. And if you want more, Northwest is the only registered agent that can provide your business services from domains to DBAs easily, and all in-house.
When You Want More
$125 a Year Every Year
Northwest is the choice of professionals for registered agent service.
- Same-Day Scans, Instant Notifications
- Privacy by Default®
- Business Address & Free Mail Forwarding
- Instant Domain, Website, Email & Business Phone
What Is a Minnesota Registered Agent?
A registered agent is a person or company you designate to receive legal mail (like service of process) on behalf of your business. Registered agents give the state and the public an official and reliable way to contact your business.
If your business is ever served with a lawsuit, the process server will deliver the paperwork directly to your registered agent. At that point, your business is legally considered served. The registered agent should then forward you your mail, quickly and securely.
Per Minnesota Statute §5.36, Minnesota has the following restrictions for a registered agent:
- The address of the agent must be within Minnesota state lines. You need a registered agent in each state where your business operates.
- The registered office must be a physical address; a P.O. Box won’t cut it.
- In Minnesota, a registered agent must be a resident of Minnesota or a business entity authorized to conduct business in the state.
- Your registered agent must be available to accept services of process on behalf of your business during normal business hours, at the address listed on your company’s formation documents.
At a minimum, your registered agent must list a physical address on the public record and be present at that address during business hours. But ideally, your registered agent should do more.
How Do I Change My Registered Agent in minnesota?
Changing your registered agent is a straightforward process:
- You’ll file a change of agent form with the Minnesota Secretary of State, Business Services.
- If you place an order with us, the form will be available instantly. We’ll even pay and file the change of agent filing for you.
- It’s a simple change, but for more info, see our guide on how to change your registered agent in Minnesota.
Why Northwest Is the Best Registered Agent in Minnesota
Our Registered Agent Service includes the tools you need to keep your business running without a hitch. When you hire Northwest as your registered agent, you get:
- Same-Day scans: We scan your legal docs the same day we receive them, and reach out if your essential mail goes unread.
- Privacy by Default®: We list our business address on public docs to keep your personal info safe. And unlike those other guys, we never sell your data.
- Corporate Guides®: Have questions? We have answers. Our guides are business experts whose sole job is to provide support for all your business questions.
As the nation’s top choice for starting businesses easily and affordably, we also offer in-house services to build your business’s online identity:
- Domain name: Pick a domain name for your business with your choice of extension (like .com and .net).
- Website: We provide a pre-built business website for you to customize using an open source platform, so it’s yours to own whether hosted by us or anyone you choose.
- Business email address: Create up to 10 business email addresses. For branding ease, they’ll all end in your chosen domain name.
- Phone number: Keep your personal line private by establishing a business phone number for client communications.
- Web hosting: Our web hosting service includes SSL security at no additional cost.
How to Order Minnesota Registered Agent Service
You sign up online, clicking on one of the buttons or links that says HIRE US.
We collect the first year’s fee for Registered Agent Service up front.
For new businesses, once your business registration filing with the Minnesota Secretary of State is complete, we’ll become your registered agent.
About a year later, we’ll send an invoice for another year of Minnesota Registered Agent Service. If you want to keep using us, great; if you don’t, you can easily cancel.
It’s easy to add registered agent services in other states if your business expands. We have offices in every state. 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 Registered Agent Service or paying a bill but for keeping up with corporate paperwork formalities like the Minnesota Annual Renewal.
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How Do You Find a Minnesota Company’s Registered Agent?
You can do a Minnesota business name search on the state’s website. Type in the company name you are trying to look up.
Find the Minnesota registered agent’s name and registered office street address.
If you want to legally notify someone through their Minnesota registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name at the registered office address.
Minnesota Registered Agent FAQs
- If your business is web-based or doesn’t have a physical presence within Minnesota, the business still needs a registered agent located inside state lines.
- Some Minnesota business owners hire registered agent services because they don’t keep regular business hours where service of process or official mail can be delivered.
- Privacy. Many business owners don’t want their home or business address listed on public record as a point of contact, so they hire a registered agent.
- Avoiding distractions. Listing an employee or family member as your registered agent could be a huge mistake, as that may be the last person you want knowing the intimate details of lawsuits your business might become entangled in. Worse, just having a process server hand them a document is proof that you got it, regardless of whether they actually get it to you in a timely manner. You could miss a court deadline before realizing it.
- If you don’t want the added responsibility of tracking mail and notices from the Minnesota Secretary of State, you can hire a registered agent service to track the important paperwork for you. Having an online account to help maintain your business is often worth the nominal registered agent fee.
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in Minnesota. However, after considering the registered agent requirements, most business owners elect to hire a registered agent service instead. Why? While being your own registered agent costs nothing, a Minnesota registered agent’s name and address becomes part of the public record. Additionally, a registered agent must be available to accept service of process during normal business hours five days a week.
When we receive a notice from the state or a service of process for your business, we scan the documents within minutes at our Minnesota office in Owatonna, then we upload them to your account.
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, so you can keep your private address off public records.
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 a unique address or suite number. Any mail we receive on your behalf would come to Northwest Registered Agent, care of you.
But we understand that businesses and clients sometimes reach out to you through your registered agent. That’s why we give you five FREE scans of regular business mail a year. After that, additional documents can be forwarded for $15 per document.
Definitely! If you own an LLC or corporation in Minnesota, you’ll need to file your Minnesota Annual Renewal each year. 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 instructions on how to file it.
You can’t form your LLC or corporation in Minnesota until you designate a registered agent, so you should hire one before forming your business entity. Also, your registered agent should be able to help you file with the state.
A process server will deliver a summons form and a complaint form to your registered agent. The agent will sign the process server’s documents acknowledging receipt of the lawsuit. If you’ve hired Northwest, we’ll then scan the documents, upload them to your account, and notify you within minutes.
You can do a Minnesota 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 Minnesota registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name and registered office address.
In Minnesota, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent with the Minnesota Secretary of State. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in Minnesota.