Minnesota Registered Agent

A Minnesota Registered Agent or Minnesota Registered Agent Service is required by law for every business entity in the state of Minnesota. A registered agent is an individual or business entity that will accept legal papers (documents) on your behalf if it is sued. The registered agent or registered agent service must have a physical street address in Minnesota and be available during regular business hours.

In my Minnesota Registered Agent guide, I’ll walk you through the detailed process of when you should get a registered agent or registered agent service for your Minnesota business, how to pick one, if they are required and how to change one if needed. Typically you’re getting a registered agent when you setup your Minnesota LLC. Check out my guide on how to setup a Minnesota LLC so you can make sure you’re following all the right steps in the process. If you are just looking for the professional service to help you – use Northwest Registered Agent or ZenBusiness.

Best Minnesota Registered Agent Service

ZenBusiness will be the best option for setting up a registered agent service in Minnesota. They can also help you with getting your LLC formed so if you’re looking for the best option, check them out today!

Get Details

The best option for you that’s a registered agent service is ZenBusiness. They do a fantastic job making sure that you’re going to have the registered agent you need that will provide what’s legally required and make you and any of the other business owners you work with satisfied. Typically they are going to include the first year of your registered agent service with your LLC formation. They are a national provider and have the services built into their ability to offer something like this. The other big thing to consider is making sure they have and are working with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office and will operate in the way the state requires them too.

Whether you’re looking for a new registered agent service for your newly formed LLC or if you’re looking to change your registered agent from something else that you’re unhappy with, ZenBusiness is the way to go.

I have been using a service out of Oregon where my LLC was formed and I love what I picked. It’s really important that you do too. You’ll have options with Northwest whether or not you’ve put together a domestic LLC, foreign LLC or just a standard Limited Liability Company. You’ll need a registered agent service like ZenBusiness to get you started.

What is a Minnesota Registered Agent?

A Minnesota Registered Agent is no different than any other state that’s out there. All states are required to do three primary things for you:

Maintain a physical street address in the state of Minnesota
Be available during regular business hours
Accept legal papers on your behalf

A registered agent can be an individual or a business entity, but they must have a physical address in the state where your company is headquartered. The role of the registered agent is to receive and inform you of the legal papers that have been served. They are also there to help you deal with legal compliance and understanding what needs to happen on an annual basis.

This is not a service about going to get a UPS Store mailbox or some type of virtual mailbox service. You can still do that of course but remember this is not a business service to help you with mail. This is a service that’s required by the state to legally make sure you’re covered and have that legal coverage needed so there is a bit of legal protection.

Why do I need a Minnesota Registered Agent?

The biggest reason you need a registered agent is because it’s legally required for you to have one associated to the business entity you’ve forming in Minnesota.

It’s also important to understand that your registered agent’s name and registered agent’s address associated to the business will be on public record. This means that if someone goes to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website and does a business name search here they will be able to pull up any business’s registered agent info. The implications of this are pretty big in Minnesota because if you decide to try and do this on your own and be your own registered agent, it will show up in the public record.

This means that if you try and be your own registered agent, your address and name will show up and anybody can then (by law) show up during normal business hours to serve you legal papers. This is the reason why we have registered agent service (along with the other items above) so keep in mind what you really are thinking about when acting as your own registered agent.

When should I obtain a Minnesota Registered Agent?

The most important time to obtain a registered agent is when you are forming your LLC in Minnesota or whatever type of business it is you’re forming in Minnesota. If you don’t do this while you’re forming your business, you may be in violation of what Minnesota’s Secretary of State requires from you. You should use a Minnesota Registered Agent service to help you get your business formed and have a service associated to it so you’re not worrying about this as you’re starting your business journey.

If you use Northwest Registered Agent, you’re going to most likely have the first year of the registered agent service included with your LLC formation. This is important to realize when trying to figure out the costs associated.

We haven’t talked too much about this but it’s also a major thing to think about the annual compliance you’re going to be responsible for related to your business entity. There are compliance deadlines on an annual basis in Minnesota that you’ll need help keeping track of. When you’re forming your Minnesota LLC, having to remember the compliance deadline dates and annual reports required is the last thing on your mind. You really should use a service that can help you with this.

Can I Be My Own Registered Agent In Minnesota?

Yes. You can be your own registered agent like we’ve discussed but remember that it’s not about whether you can or not but more about whether you should. The key thing here is that you are most likely trying to do this to save some cash, which I understand. Every dollar counts when you’re starting a new business entity and it’s no different for you in Minnesota.

If you play this out and think about the long game when it comes to what might happen if you decide to be your own registered agent, there are a few things you’ll need to deal with. You’ll be responsible for:

Being at a physical address in Minnesota during business hours
Accepting all legal paperwork on your businesses behalf if you’re served with it
Having a physical address in Minnesota – not a virtual mailbox service

You’re also going to need to remind yourself of renewing this service too. Typically the registered agent service you use is going to remind you of what’s required vs. you having to keep track of it all. When I think about my business, I want to focus on building it and not the legal mumbo jumbo that’s required to follow in order to stay in compliance and therefore not have a dissolved business.

How Much Does a Registered Agent Cost?

The cost can range pretty substantially between $0 and $300 per year depending on the direction you go. If you decided to go the route of being your own registered agent, that cost (monetarily) is $0 but as we’ve talked about there are going to be many other costs that are more than just money. If you decide to go with a national service like Northwest Registered Agent, you’re going to get the first year included in your LLC formation and typically after that it’s $125 per year. Check with them on the latest but that’s the standard range.

If you decide to go with a Minnesota law firm who has the registered agent services you can use, they are typically less than a national provider but have less of the service you’d expect from a larger organization.

How Do I Elect A Registered Agent In Minnesota?

In order to elect a registered agent in Minnesota, you’re going to need to do this through the standard process the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office has for forming a business through the Articles of Organization. This is the main document that Minnesota recognizes for the LLC formation.

How Do I Elect A Registered Agent Online in Minnesota?

The first step of what you’ll need to do is create an account that’s through the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office here and from there you’ll be able to access the Articles of Organization doc that you can fill out electronically.

How Do I Elect A Registered Agent by Mail, Fax or In Person in Minnesota?

If you’d prefer to elect the registered agent by mail or in person, you can do so by filling out the Articles of Organization document and submit it to the Secretary of State’s office. The filing fee is $155 for expedited service in-person and $135 if you’re doing it by mail.

At the time of writing this, the location you’d need to go drop this off at is:

Minnesota Secretary of State – Business Services

First National Bank Building

332 Minnesota Street, Suite N201

Saint Paul, MN 55101

(Staffed 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday – Friday, excluding holidays)

Phone Lines: (9 a.m. – 4 p.m., M-F) Metro Area 651-296-2803; Greater MN 1-877-551-6767

How Do I Change My Registered Agent In Minnesota?

If you’d like to change your registered agent in Minnesota – it’s not that complicated. You’ll need to complete a Notice of Change of Registered Office/Registered Agent form and send it into the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office and include the filing fee.

If you’re looking for other business forms related to this, you can do so at the Minnesota Business Forms section here.

Once you’ve filled out the PDF form above, you can mail it back directly to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office to the address above.