Vermont Registered Agent
When you choose Northwest as your registered agent, you get instant service, Privacy by Default®, a business address, and free mail forwarding. Want more? Northwest is the only registered agent that can provide your business services from domains to DBAs easily, and all in-house. Want to learn more about what a registered agent does in Vermont? We'll explain the Vermont Secretary of State's requirements, what your registered agent should do for you, and how to change your registered agent in Vermont.
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When You Want More
Our registered agent service gives you access to:
- Local Business Guidance
- 1 Year Free Domain Use
- 90 Day Free Website Hosting
- 90 Day Free Business Email Account
- 90 Day Free Business Phone Number
- Registered Shelburne Office Address
What Is a VT Registered Agent?
A registered agent is a person or company that you designate to receive legal mail (like service of process) on behalf of your business. Registered agents exist to provide 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 Vermont’s state statutes (11 V.S.A. § 4007), registered agents are legally required in Vermont. 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.
Legal Requirements for Registered Agents in Vermont
According to the Vermont state code (11A V.S.A. § 5.01), a registered agent must:
- Be able to accept legal documents.
- Have a physical, registered office address located within the state. No P.O. Boxes.
- Must be a Vermont resident or a business that provides registered agent services.
Be Your Own Registered Agent
If you have yet to start a Vermont business, then you can put down your own name and address in the space provided for registered agent information on the formation documents. The documents ask for the name of the registered agent, as well as the street address.
If you already operate a business in Vermont, you can still be your own registered agent. You will just need to change your registered agent by filing a Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent form with the Vermont Secretary of State. On this form you will write your own name and address where it asks for registered agent information, sign the form, and send it in along with the $20 fee ($5 if you are a nonprofit corporation). It takes Vermont about one week to file your paperwork, and once it has been filed you will officially be the registered agent for your Vermont LLC or Vermont corporation.
What do I need to know about being my own registered agent in Vermont?
First of all, it is required for registered agents to have a physical street address in Vermont—not just a P.O. Box. Second, you must keep regular business hours at this street address for as long as you act as your business’s registered agent.
Also, be prepared for process servers to come knocking on your door. And, once you put your name and address on record with the Secretary of State as registered agent, your information is public knowledge.
If you can meet these requirements, you are ready to become your business’s own registered agent.
How Do I Change My Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in Vermont
- Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
- Do it yourself and file a Statement of Change of Registered Agent form with the Vermont Secretary of State.
Why Northwest Is the Best Registered Agent in Vermont
Our Vermont 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 Northwest VT 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 registered agent once your business registration filing with the Vermont Secretary of State is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of 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 registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with Vermont corporate compliance.
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Vermont Registered Agent FAQs
- All businesses registered with the state must appoint a registered agent.
- The Vermont Secretary of State’s Corporation’s Division will reject your filing if you do not appoint one.
- So that the state and the general public have a reliable way to contact your Vermont business with legal notices and other types of official mail.
Note: The Vermont Secretary of State sometimes calls registered agents process agents, especially in reference to LLCs. Both terms mean the same thing.
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in Vermont. 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 upfront, a Vermont 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 five days a week.
We accept and scan all of our Vermont clients’ documents on-site at our registered office in Shelburne, VT.
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.
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. Through us. That’s why we give you five FREE scans of regular business mail a year. You can request any additional documents to be forwarded at a per document rate of $15.
Sign up for registered agent service first and then do your business registration filing with the Secretary of State. The state won’t allow you to form an LLC or corporation without a registered agent. Plus, with Northwest you’ll get all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you sign up.
Service on your registered agent is legal proof that you were notified. Regardless of whether you actually receive the documents your Vermont registered agent signs for, once they accept the documents, you’ve been notified. This is a serious responsibility that we do not take lightly. This is 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.
You can do a Vermont business name search on the state’s website:
- Type in the company name you are trying to look up.
- Look at the VT registered agent name and registered office street address.
NOTE: If you want to legally notify someone through their Vermont registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name and registered office address.
In Vermont, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent to the Vermont SOS. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in Vermont.