Iowa Registered Agent
When you choose Northwest as your Iowa Registered Agent, you get instant service, Privacy by Default®, a business address, and free mail forwarding. And if you want more, you can get a domain name, website, email, and phone number for free.
Want to learn more about what a registered agent does in Iowa? We'll explain the Iowa Secretary of State requirements, what your registered agent should do for you, and how to change your registered agent in Iowa.
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
- Free Domain, Website, Email & Business Phone
What is an Iowa Registered Agent?
Your Iowa registered agent is the person or business that is tasked with accepting important legal mail, including potential lawsuits, on your business’s behalf. You can hire a registered agent service to do this job, appoint another individual, or do it yourself. Iowa law requires all registered business to maintain a registered agent.
The legal requirements for your Iowa registered agent are listed in Iowa Code § 489.108. Basically, your registered agent must:
- Maintain physical address in Iowa, no P.O. Boxes.
- Be open during normal business hours.
- Accept important legal documents on your business’ behalf—and get them to you, immediately.
Your Iowa registered agent should do more than just receive mail. At Northwest, we go above and beyond the minimum to ensure top speed, security, privacy and support.
How Do I Change My Iowa Registered Agent?
The process to change your Iowa registered agent is pretty straightforward. Start by filing a Statement of Change of Registered Office and/or Registered Agent form with Iowa’s Secretary of State. Or hire us as and we’ll do it for you.
Why Northwest Is the Best Registered Agent in Iowa
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.
And if you want more? Add free trials of any of these options at checkout:
- Domain Name: Choose a domain name from a list of popular extensions (like .com and .net).
- Website: We provide a pre-built business website, customizable using an open source platform.
- Business Email Address: Create up to 10 business email addresses of your choosing. They’ll end in your domain name for branding ease.
- Phone Number: Keep your personal line private by using a business phone number for client communications.
How to Order Iowa 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 Iowa registered agent service once your business registration filing with Iowa’s Secretary of State is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of Iowa 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 Iowa registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with Iowa corporate compliance.
Get a Registered Agent Today!
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Iowa Registered Agent FAQs
Anyone forming an Iowa limited liability company or a corporation in Iowa.
- State law requires all legitimate, registered businesses to appoint one.
- The secretary of state will reject your business filing if you don’t appoint a registered agent.
- A registered agent requirement gives the public and the state a reliable way to contact your business.
We scan all documents locally from our office in downtown Des Moines, IA.
We scan everything in real time at our local office. No forwarding to big processing centers or letting mail stack up for weeks.
- No, that’s not what we do, but we’ll try to help you if at all possible. Call us!
- The postal service might not deliver your mail to us if you don’t have a lease at our office.
- If we happen to get mail for you, however, we’ll scan it to you in real time.
Yes. We’re the only national registered agent that allows our clients to list our address for everything when you’re doing a filing to keep you private address off public records.
- Perform an Iowa business name search.
- Use the name of the company you’re trying to look up.
- Look at the IA registered agent’s name and registered address.
- If you want to legally notify a business through their registered agent, simply send a letter as certified mail to the registered agent at their registered office address.
Serving a registered agent is legal proof that you were notified of an event. It doesn’t matter if the company sees the documents or even gets them from their registered agent. You were notified if your registered agent signs for the documents; this is a responsibility we take seriously.
- A sheriff, process server, or any third party will walk into our office and hand us legal papers (service of process).
- The process server then gives an affidavit to the court stating that they “served” us.
You hire us 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, you’ll find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you sign up.