Who’s Handling Correspondence from Your Registered Agent? Here’s What Business Owners Need to Know.
Posted by Emerson Paris
June 25, 2024
Oftentimes, business owners will pass registered agent responsibilities to an office administrator or an executive assistant. This is all well and good, but knowledge gaps still might exist between registered agent and business owner and business owner and executive assistant. Those gaps can have negative effects like the entity falling out of good standing.
The following tips can help close – or even eliminate – those knowledge gaps and ensure that the relationship between registered agent and entity is the way it should be.
Ensure Your Office Administrator or Executive Assistant Knows Who the Registered Agent Is
Equally important, make sure they know what the purpose of a registered agent is and what sort of correspondence they should expect. That includes state notices, federal notices and services of process (legal documents).
Check Spam Settings
This is the single most effective way to ensure that communications from your registered agent get delivered to whoever you put in charge. Make sure that your registered agent’s email/domain is whitelisted.
Communicate Entity Type and Details
Any individual that is handling registered agent engagement should know what type of entity the business is and pertinent details like business address and contact information on file. And be sure they know the entity name! If the business uses a DBA, it’s likely different.
Communicate Tax Deadlines
It’s important that whoever is engaging with the registered agent know tax deadlines. This is especially true in Delaware, as late penalties are assessed and enforced. Delaware corporations must file before March 1. Delaware LLCs must pay their franchise taxes before June 1. (All the more reason to make sure your person on point knows what type of entity the business is!)
Remember to Keep Contact Information Up-to-Date
If your registered agent’s point of contact leaves the company or gets promoted and their contact information is what the registered agent has on file, it’s up to the company to make sure that new contact information is promptly provided. Otherwise, communications will keep sending to presumably an unmonitored or closed inbox. It’s also important that the business update the registered agent with any changes to physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
And don’t forget to update your registered agent in the jurisdiction in which the entity is registered changes!
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