North Carolina Registered Agent
When you choose Northwest as your North Carolina Registered Agent, you get instant service, Privacy by Default®, and a business address. 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 North Carolina? We'll explain the North Carolina Secretary of State's requirements, what your registered agent should do for you, and how to change your registered agent in North Carolina.
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 North Carolina Registered Agent?
A North Carolina 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, North Carolina’s state statutes (NC state statute § 55D-30), registered agents are legally required in North Carolina. 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.
What Are the Legal Requirements for North Carolina Registered Agents?
According to NC state statute § 55D-30, the sole duty of a registered agent in North Carolina is to forward to the entity at its last known address any notice, process, or demand served on the registered agent. And that’s all cheap registered agent services will do, and maybe not very well.
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.
How Do I Change My North Carolina Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in North Carolina.
- Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
- Do it yourself and file a Change of Registered Agent form with the North Carolina Secretary of State.
Why Northwest Is the Best Registered Agent in North Carolina
Our North Carolina 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.
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 North Carolina 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 North Carolina Secretary of State is complete, we’ll become your North Carolina registered agent.
About a year later, we’ll send an invoice for another year of North Carolina 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 North Carolina registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with corporate paperwork formalities like the North Carolina annual report.
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North Carolina 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.
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in North Carolina. 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 North Carolina 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.
We provide a commercial registered office location in Raleigh, NC.
Absolutely! We’re the only national registered agent service that allows our clients to use our address for filing with the Secretary of State. This means you get to keep your private addresses off of 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 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.
Always hire a registered agent before you do the business registration filing. This is true for domestic and foreign business in North Carolina. You can’t registered with the NC Secretary of State if you do not list a registered agent. It is also smart to hire us first because you will find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you place an order.
- A process server, the sheriff, 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 that they “served” us.
- The registered agent should forward the documents to the business.
NOTE: Serving a registered agent is legal proof that the business was notified, regardless of if the company looks at the docs or even gets them from the North Carolina registered agent services. You were notified. This is a serious responsibility that we do not take lightly.
- You can do a North Carolina business name search.
- Type in the company name you are trying to look up.
- Look at the NC registered agent name and registered office street address.
If you want to legally notify someone through their North Carolina registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name and registered office address.
In North Carolina, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent to the North Carolina Secretary of State. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in North Carolina.