Finance

What is a California Registered Agent? And Do You Need One?

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LLC at work

Photo : courtesy

An LLC is a Limited Liability Company and it can protect your business assets. In order to be able to apply for an LLC, you have to have a company that is a mixed partnership, along with a traditional corporation. You can be the sole member of an LLC, or you can have additional members; there is no limit.

When getting an LLC, there are 5 steps that you need to consider first. One of those steps is getting a registered agent. You can hire a registered agent from a different state, for example if you are based in Illinois, you can hire a California registered agent.

One way is to get a California registered agent  who is given the responsibility to look into your legal paperwork and tax documents for your LLC. It is the same in every state and they need to be a resident of the state or company that is meant to legally represent your company. When you hire a registered based agent, you can actually save money and time in many ways, for they take on the heavy load for you and take care of you and your business in every way that they can.

However, if you don't want to hire an agent you can always register as yourself. There are things that you need to consider first, such as being 18 and over, and having a physical address for where you are working and working normal government hours of 9-5pm. A registered agent also handles lawsuits, which means that you would need to be served in front of your family and friends if your company gets sued.

So how do California registered agents help?

Well, to start with, if your company is sued, the California registered agents are meant to accept the service of process sent by the court. How they do this is by scanning and uploading it onto the client portal, thus giving you an immediate notification and giving you time to give a response to the lawsuit.

They can protect your reputation

It is the responsibility of a California registered agent to go through the legal documents, tax paperwork and handle the lawsuits. This then protects your reputation as a company by saving you from being served in front of your family and friends, as well as your business assets.

They can give you a good filing system

As an LLC company owner, it is necessary for you to file an annual report that you need to provide to your federal state and local government state. When you have a california registered agent, they can save you the time and trouble and do it for you. They are responsible for handling all of your legal paperwork, which can include the annual filing or you can use an easy online system that they provide, in order for you to fill them out yourself.

You don't need to be living in California

In some states it is required for you to provide an address for your LLC, where you are applying for. However, if you do hire a California based agent, they can provide the business address for you, which grants you the opportunity to be able to set up an LLC right away. It will also be private, which is another beneficial factor for hiring a California registered agent.

It's all about expansion

Another benefit about hiring a California registered agent is that you can expand your business in different states, since they will automatically do all of the paperwork for you and expand your services for you.

What else do I need to consider?

When you do hire a California registered agent, it can be a bit more expensive in comparison to other agents from other states. You need to calculate all of your costs first before you commit to hiring an agent.

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