Tennessee Registered Agent
When you choose Northwest as your Tennessee 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 Tennessee? We'll explain the Tennessee Secretary of State's requirements, what your registered agent should do for you, and how to change your registered agent in Tennessee.
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 Tennessee Registered Agent?
A Tennessee 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 Tennessee state statutes (Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-15-101) registered agents are legally required in Tennessee. 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.
How Do I Change My Tennessee Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in Tennessee:
- 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 Tennessee Department of State, Division of Business Services.
Why Northwest Is the Best Registered Agent in Tennessee
Our Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee registered agent service once your business registration filing with the Tennessee Secretary of State is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of Tennessee 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 Tennessee registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with Tennessee corporate compliance.
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Tennessee 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.
You should hire us first and then form your Tennessee LLC or corporation because the Secretary of State will reject your business registration filing if you don’t list your registered agent. You’ll find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you place an order.
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in Tennessee. 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 Tennessee 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 accept and scan all of our Tennessee clients’ documents on-site at our registered office in Knoxville, TN.
Absolutely! 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.
In Tennessee, the Secretary of State sends annual reports to the mailing address you specify. Domestic Tennessee corporations cost $20 if there are no changes and $40 if there are. All other entities cost $300 if there are no changes and $320 if there are. Reports are due April 1st, or the first day of the 4th month after your fiscal year ends. Annual reports for Tennessee LLCs get mailed out at the end of December or beginning of January.
Yes! We don’t mind if you put our address on your filing with the Secretary of State. We’re the only national registered agent service that allows clients to use the registered office address and keep your own address of the public record.
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.
Serving a registered agent is legal proof of notification. Whether you receive the documents your Tennessee registered agent signs for or not, once they accept the documents, you’ve legally been notified. This is a serious responsibility and we don’t take it lightly. Here’s how it works:
- A process server, the county sheriff, or any third party will walk into our Tennessee office and hands us the documents (service of process), then we sign for them.
- The process server then gives an affidavit (a receipt of service) to the court which states that they “served” us.
- If you’ve hired us, long before the server hands in their affidavit to the court, you’ve received your documents because we scanned them to your online account within minute of having been served
If you want to legally notify someone through their registered agent, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name and registered office address.
- You can do a Tennessee business name search on the state’s website
- Type in the company name you are trying to look up.
- Look at the TN registered agent name and registered office street address.
In Tennessee, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent (and the $20 fee for processing) to the Tennessee Secretary of State. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in Tennessee.