Maryland Registered Agent
When you choose Northwest as your Maryland 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 Maryland? We'll explain state requirements, what your registered agent should do for you, and how to change your registered agent in Maryland.
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 Domain, Website, Email & Business Phone
What Is a Maryland Registered Agent?
As your business’ official point of contact with the state, your Maryland registered agent’s job is to accept subpoenas, lawsuits, or other legal documents. Your registered agent will also be responsible for receiving any official mail from the Maryland State Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT). You can act as your own registered agent, appoint someone you know, or hire a professional registered agent service like Northwest.
The requirements for a registered agent in Maryland are outlined in MD Corp & Assn Code § 7–205. At a minimum, your registered agent must:
- Have a physical address (no P.O. Boxes or virtual offices) in the state of Maryland.
- Keep regular business hours at that address.
- Accept legal mail and correspondence from the state on behalf of your business and get those documents to you fast.
A registered agent can do so much 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 Maryland Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in Maryland.
- Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
- Do it yourself and file a Change Resident Agent form with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), Charter Division. The filing fee is $25.
Why Northwest Is the Best Registered Agent in Maryland
Our Maryland 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, 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.
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 Maryland 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 Maryland registered agent service once your business registration filing with the state is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of Maryland 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 Maryland registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with Maryland corporate compliance.
Get a Registered Agent Today!
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Maryland Registered Agent FAQs
- 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.
Big data. If you’ve heard of the phrase “big data,” you’re probably afraid of it and should be. But you need not fear it in connection with Northwest. We don’t store your credit card information. We don’t sell your data to others to make money.
We are the only national registered agent that locally scans everything for you in real time. Through our Online Service Manager, we’ll scan everything for you in real time. Your Maryland registered agent service is going to be your point of contact for serious legal notices. We maintain our own registered offices in each state, and when you hire us for Maryland registered agent service, we’ll scan everything from our office in Oakland, MD. And we don’t just email you a copy of your notice. Our Online Service Manager utilizes the most sophisticated calendaring response and tracking system of any Maryland registered agent service to help make sure you, and whoever you want to be notified don’t just get a notice but that you’re actually reviewing the documents.
This shouldn’t be a whimsical decision. When the general public or a government official wants to know who owns your company, your registered agent is who they’ll contact. We have tough privacy policies to keep your data private, trained staff who will not give away your information, and in-house data security professionals who stress test our own systems regularly. We also prosecute those who try to hack our system.
Billing policy. We pick up new clients switching registered agent services every day because they’re annoyed by their current registered agent’s billing policies. We don’t send our clients to collections. If you don’t want to pay us, don’t. We’ve never sent a client to collections. Our trademarked slogan is “We’re just not annoying.” This isn’t just a saying, it’s a motto we live by.
This is all we do. When you hire us for service, you’re actually hiring Northwest Registered Agent. Registered agent service isn’t a line item on a profit and loss sheet. It’s not a dividend payment to our owners. It’s not an idea we hope will work out. And we sure as heck aren’t a massive corporate conglomerate looking for every penny of profit we can grab. This isn’t just a job to us, it’s our passion.
We scan all documents locally from our office in Oakland, MD.
Absolutely! If you own an LLC or corporation in Maryland, you’ll need to complete your MD annual report. As part of our registered agent service, we’ll not only send you a reminder, but we’ll make sure you have access to all the forms and instructions you need to stay compliant.
- We don’t want all of your business mail. It’s not what we do. But we do try to be as helpful as possible in the rare event that we receive your regular mail.
- If you don’t have a lease at our address, the US Postal Service might not deliver your mail.
- As your registered agent in Maryland, things come directly to us, Northwest Registered Agent Service Inc., care of you.
- If it happens that we receive any mail for you, though, we’ll scan it to you in real time, in minutes.
Yes, but the address must not be a post office box. Maryland registered agents must have a physical address located within the state. This address is officially referred to on the SDAT formation documents as the resident office address.
Your business could suffer greatly if your registered agent loses important legal documents. A lost legal document could result in legal actions being taken against your business with you knowing about it.
In this scenario, a judge may rule a default judgment against your business. If annual reports aren’t filed, the state could dissolve your business, and again, you might not know about it until it’s too late. But if you hire our registered agent service, you can rest assured that you’ll be notified immediately if your company is served with a lawsuit or needs to file a report with the state of Maryland.