New York Registered Agent
When You Want More
A New York registered agent is a resident, LLC, or corporation that maintains a physical address in New York and is willing to accept service of process and official mail on behalf of a business. According to the New York state code (N.Y. LLC. LAW § 302), the agent must be able to accept any notice, demand, or service of process required by law to be served on the business.
With our New York 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 New York Registered Agents:
Get New York Registered Agent Service
Instant Online
Service
Sign up & immediately get a secure account where you’ll find:
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New York business forms
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Biennial report reminders
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All your scanned & stored documents
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Easy access to all our business services
Do Business
the Right Way
See why the pros choose Northwest:
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Same price every year
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Free limited mail forwarding
- Free 60-day trial of Phone Service
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Privacy by Default®
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Lifetime support from our Corporate Guides®
New York Registered Agent Service
$ 125 Per Year
Hire Us What Do New York Registered Agents Do?
Per N.Y. Limited Liability Company and Business Corporation Law (Article 3: Section 302 for LLCs and Section 305 for corporations), at minimum, a New York registered agent will:
- Accept documents on behalf of your business in New York.
- Have a registered office in New York. That means they need to have a physical address (no P.O. boxes) in state where they can accept legal documents (service of process) and official mail.
- Keep normal business hours.
That’s all just a fancy way of saying your registered agent’s address acts as the official place where any service of process and official mail for your New York LLC, New York corporation or New York 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 New York Registered Agents?
Whether your business is a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation, the state of New York requires the same from a registered agent:
- An NY registered agent must be a state resident or an LLC or corporation that provides registered agent services.
- New York registered agents must maintain a registered office (a physical address in New York).
- NY registered agents must accept legal documents (service of process) during regular business hours.
How Do I Change My New York Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in New York.
- Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
- Do it yourself and file a Certificate of Change form with the New York Department of State.
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.
New York Registered Agent FAQs
Why Do I Need A New York Registered Agent?
- The state requires all registered businesses to appoint one.
- The registered agent requirement exists so the general public and the NY corporations division have a reliable way to contact your business.
Important note: New Yorkers love us because we save them thousands in publication costs every day. That’s because there’s a New York LLC publication requirement. When you form an LLC in New York, you must publish a summary of their articles of organization in two newspapers in the county of their principal office address. When New York clients hire us, they can use our Albany location as their principal address so they can publish in the Albany newspapers, which are much cheaper than New York City newspapers. Clients can later change their principal address by filing an amendment or certificate of change and spend far less than they would have paid for publishing in any NYC newspaper.
Can I Be My Own Registered Agent In New York?
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in New York. 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 New York 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 New York?
We accept and scan all of our New York clients’ documents on-site at our registered office in Albany, NY in Albany County.
Will You Let Me Know When My NY Biennial Statement Is Due?
Absolutely! If you own an LLC or corporation in New York, you’ll need to file your biennial statement every two years during your business’ anniversary month. 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.
Can I Use Your New York Registered Office Address For Everything On My State Business Filing?
Please do! We love our New York City clients, and if we can help you save money, we want to. 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. If you use our Albany address, you can meet the NY LLC publishing requirement and publish in Albany newspapers instead of an expensive one in NYC.
Can I Have My Business’s Mail Delivered To Your New York Office?
While you can use our address, we are not a return depot for online or Amazon sellers, though we’d love to accept your foosball tables. 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.
Do I Hire A Registered Agent Before Or After I Start My Business In New York?
The NYS Division of Corporations will reject your business registration filing if you don’t designate a registered agent. As we mentioned, you may designate the Secretary of State as your agent for service of process, but there are so many benefits to choosing Northwest! You’ll have a reliable registered agent, you can publish in Albany, and you’ll find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you place an order.
How Do New York Registered Agents Get Served?
Serving a registered agent is legal proof that you were notified. Regardless of whether you receive the documents your New York registered agent signs for on your business’ behalf, once they accept the documents, you’ve been notified. You need a New York registered agent you can trust. Here is what happens when we are served with a lawsuit in NY:
- A process server, sheriff, or third party will walk into our Albany office and hand us the documents (service of process), which we sign for.
- We scan the document to your online account, immediately triggering our notification system.
- The process server then gives an affidavit (a receipt of service) to the court as confirmation that they “served” us.
How Do I Search For A New York Registered Agent?
- Perform a New York business name search with the Department of State, Division of Corporations.
- Type in the name of the company you’re searching for.
- Find the registered agent’s name and registered office street address in the search results.
If you want to legally notify a business through their New York registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent at their registered office address.
How Do I Resign From Being A Registered Agent In New York?
In New York, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Certificate of Resignation of Registered Agent to the New York Department of State. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in New York.
How To Order New York 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 New York registered agent service once your business registration filing with the New York Secretary of State is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of New York 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 New York registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with New York corporate compliance.
Information Your New York Registered Agent Should Help You Understand:
New York’s registered agent requirement is odd. All domestic and foreign businesses (LLCs, corporations, LLPs, nonprofits, etc.) must designate the Secretary of State as their registered agent. It is free to do so, and in theory may cut down on costs, but if your business is sued, do you really want to rely on the Secretary of State to deliver sensitive documents in a timely fashion? Even if your answer is yes, and you have formed a limited liability company in New York, you are required to publish a notice in a local paper. This can easily be a $1000 in NYC. If you hire us, you can use our address to form your company and publish at a much cheaper rate in Albany. It’s a no brainer.
At Northwest, we can also form your LLC or form your corporation in New York 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®.