Finding the right South Dakota registered agent is crucial to the success of your LLC or corporation. Before you form your LLC, knowing which registered agent is the best will save you a lot of time.
The right South Dakota registered agent guarantees that your business, LLC, or corporation will meet all the legal compliance requirements of the South Dakota Secretary of State, and keeps your personal information off the public record.
The wrong South Dakota registered agent will be careless with your information and may miss legal documents and service of process sent to your company, leaving your business, LLC, or corporation vulnerable to hackers and cybercrime, as well as putting your good standing status with the South Dakota Secretary of State in jeopardy.
I’ve researched over 60 different South Dakota noncommercial and commercial registered agents, ranked the top 12 according to the quality of the services they provide, and then wrote detailed reviews about the 3 best. Here are my choices for the best registered agent service in South Dakota:
1. Northwest Registered Agent — 9.13/10 (My Top Pick)
During my investigation and rating process, Northwest Registered Agent quickly rose to the top of my list as the best commercial registered agent in South Dakota. They offer a slew of services that will help your company perform all the legal compliance tasks that are required for LLCs and corporations by the South Dakota Secretary of State, as well as some registered agent services that are truly exceptional.
Pros
You’ll find many reasons to like Northwest Registered Agent.
They provide all the basic business services that a South Dakota registered agent must, such as a name and address and office with a physical address in South Dakota, becoming the point of contact for your LLC or corporation to receive mail, legal documents, and service of process on your behalf during normal business hours, keeping your personal information off the public record, and forwarding mail to your business in South Dakota.
They also provide some services that feel like “extras.” They scan ALL your mail and legal documents (not just your service of process and legal documents) on the day they’re received and upload them to an online portal for you to access 24/7 with an online account.
They issue legal compliance notifications or annual report reminders, as well, so that you’ll never miss the deadline to file the annual report for your LLC, corporation, or other business entity and jeopardize the good-standing and legal status of your company with the South Dakota Secretary of State.
Northwest Registered Agent has an online system that’s easy to learn, use, and navigate. Everyone in your office that is required to use the system will be delighted with how user-friendly it is. You can even sign up for service in multiple states or for multiple years from the same portal with your online account.
Besides being a commercial registered agent, Northwest Registered Agent is also a national registered agent and an LLC formation service. This means that if your LLC, corporation, or other business expands to a state beyond South Dakota, Northwest Registered Agent can support and grow along with your company, and they’ll provide you with filing assistance for all the paperwork necessary to form your LLC.
But the stand-out feature of Northwest Registered Agent’s South Dakota registered agent service is their customer service, which is the best in the entire registered agent industry.
Typically, when you call the customer service team of a South Dakota registered agent, they’ll answer questions about their registered agent service or guide you through technical problems with their system or your online account. But Northwest Registered Agent’s customer service team is different.
First of all, they’ll answer any business question you have about your LLC, corporation, or business in South Dakota, as well as their South Dakota registered agent service and any technical problems you encounter. What’s more, their customer service team is made up of agents who were formerly accountants, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and lawyers, all of whom have experience in the business industry and can provide you with sound advice for your South Dakota LLC or corporation.
Furthermore, their customer service team is always polite and patient. They listen closely to your problem or question and make sure they fully understand it before they offer up advice or suggestions. When they do make suggestions to your problem, they are efficient and you won’t have to call back later.
This sort of business advice can typically cost up to $5,000 per day from other services, but Northwest Registered Agent only charges $125 per state, per year for their registered agent service. So it’s pretty clear that their business advice comes at quite a value to business entities.
Cons
There’s only one drawback to Northwest Registered Agent’s South Dakota registered agent service, and ironically it’s also their best feature: their comprehensive customer service.
There were a few times that I called their customer service team and they asked so many questions that I didn’t have time to answer them all, so I didn’t get a solution to my problem.
There’s no way to call them, ask a one-sentence question, and quickly get a one-sentence reply in return. In these instances when you’re in a hurry, it’s both easier and less time consuming to simply Google your question and get on with your workday.
This is, of course, not a major problem and it isn’t something you’ll encounter often.
Overall
Northwest Registered Agent provides all the services that a South Dakota registered agent must, as well as several other services. They’ll make sure that your LLC, corporation, or other business entity will meet all its legal compliance deadlines with annual report reminders, which will keep your company in good standing with the South Dakota Secretary of State.
When you consider the fact that they only charge $125 per state, per year for their South Dakota registered agent services and that you get lifelong access to their industry-leading customer service team, it’s easy to see why Northwest Registered Agent is at the top of my list.
If you want a registered agent that will keep your personal information safe and off the public record, as well as providing all the services that your company, LLC, or other business entity is required to have to remain in compliance with the South Dakota Secretary of State, along with some extras and the best customer service in the registered agent industry, sign up for Northwest Registered Agent.
2. Harbor Compliance — 7.92/10 (Best Budget Registered Agent)
If your business or LLC needs to save money on your registered agent and you’re okay with trading away Northwest Registered Agent’s luxury services and stellar customer support team to save $26 per year, then Harbor Compliance is a good second choice.
Pros
Harbor Compliance provides your LLC with all the services that a South Dakota registered agent must. They will provide your company with a registered agent’s name and address to use as your business address.
They will become your point of contact, which means that when they list their physical address in the state of South Dakota as your business address, they will receive mail, service of process, and legal documents on behalf of your LLC or corporation at their office during business hours.
They also issue compliance alerts or annual report reminders so that you’ll never forget to file the annual report that your LLC or corporation is required to file with the Secretary of State.
It’s also easy to sign up for their South Dakota registered agent service, and their online system is easy to use and navigate with an online account. Harbor Compliance also offers LLC formation services, so they can offer professional help when filing all the paperwork necessary to form your LLC.
Cons
Harbor Compliance offers many of the services as Northwest Registered Agent, but at a cheaper price. The problem with Harbor Compliance is that while they do a good job of providing their services, there’s no service area in which they excel.
They provide all the services that a South Dakota registered agent is required to provide for your LLC, but they don’t provide any “extras” or go above and beyond. And while their customer support team is adequate, they aren’t on the same level as Northwest Registered Agent’s.
So while their services are good, none of them are great.
Overall
Harbor Compliance offers all the services that a South Dakota registered agent service is required to provide LLCs and corporations, and they do it at the cheapest price on the market.
If you’re more concerned with the cost of your South Dakota registered agent services than the quality of the services themselves, you can read more about Harbor Compliance here.
3. LegalZoom — 6.59/10 (Best Premium Service)
LegalZoom may be third on my list of overall best South Dakota registered agents, but they’re my first choice when it comes to a premium registered agent service.
Pros
If you use LegalZoom as the South Dakota registered agent for your LLC, you’re choosing a successful, well-known company that has a great reputation in the business industry. They’ve been in business for longer than I have, and they’ll likely be around for a long time to come.
Not only will they keep your personal information off the public record, offer you an office address in South Dakota, receive mail, legal documents, and service of process on behalf of your LLC or corporation during normal business hours, scan your legal documents and upload them to their system for you to access with an online account, and forward your mail, but they also offer up to $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance.
Because you rely on technology, it’s always a good idea to consider identity theft protection, which offer LLCs, corporations, and other business entities some peace of mind.
Cons
It appears that LegalZoom uses their name and reputation to charge more for their services than they’re worth.
LegalZoom’s primary business service is providing legal document templates to LLCs and corporations. Because of this, their South Dakota registered agent service is largely overlooked by the company. Their customer service team isn’t knowledgeable about their registered agent services, and their online system is clunky and full of glitches.
They also charge $299 per state, per year for their registered agent service. You’d probably think that the expensive price tag is due to the identity theft insurance, but you would be only half right. There’s a $176 difference between LegalZoom’s fee and Northwest Registered Agent’s, which is far too much to pay for identity theft insurance. You could use Northwest Registered Agent’s excellent services for your LLC or corporation and purchase identity theft protection from a third party for less than LegalZoom’s fee for their premium registered agent service.
Overall
LegalZoom is a name known throughout the business world, and they’re a good option if you care more about your registered agent’s name and address than you do about the quality of the services they provide. LegalZoom may be a good idea if you’re already using their other services (legal document templates) and want to minimize the number of invoices your company receives. Otherwise, they’re hardly a cost-efficient option for your LLC and their registered agent services are subpar when compared with Northwest Registered Agent’s.
If you’re comfortable with spending more to get less, you can read about LegalZoom here.
Here are descriptions of the other South Dakota registered agents on my list in less detail.
4. ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness is not only a South Dakota registered agent service, but also an LLC formation service. They charge a premium rate for their basic registered agent service.
The Pro Package is $199 per state, per year and covers the services that South Dakota registered agents must provide, such as an office address or street address in the state of South Dakota, keeping your personal information protected, receiving service of process, mail, and legal documents on behalf of your LLC or corporation and mail forwarding. They’ll even help you file the annual report for your company, and provide compliance alerts to remind you when it's time to file your official documents.
This services are $74 cheaper in Northwests Registered Agent's basic service package. This probably has something to do with the fact that they’re primarily an LLC formation service. No matter the reason, they don’t offer South Dakota registered agent services that exceed Northwest Registered Agent’s.
If you want to know all about ZenBusiness's services, read my full ZenBusiness review.
5. IncFile
IncFile is a South Dakota registered agent service that provides little more than the basics that a registered agent South Dakota must provide to keep LLCs and corporations out of trouble with the South Dakota Secretary of State. They’ll give your LLC an office address in the state, receive mail, service of process, and legal documents during business hours on behalf of your business, and provide mail forwarding.
But you won’t get notifications about form deadlines that your LLC is required to meet (like filing annual reports). And since they charge $119 per state, per year for these bare-bones registered agent services, I can’t recommend them.
If you’d like to pay expensive fees for minimal services, you can read about IncFile’s South Dakota registered agent service here.
You can also read my full IncFile review to learn more about their services.
6. Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer is a South Dakota registered agent service that seems to be a cheaper version of LegalZoom.
They provide LLCs and corporations with all the services that a South Dakota registered agent must, including a street address in the state of South Dakota and mail forwarding, and they’ll receive mail, service of process, and legal documents on behalf of your company during normal business hours. But as you can see, they don’t offer nearly as many services as Northwest Registered Agent, and they charge $149 per state, per year.
If you’d like more information about Rocket Lawyer’s products and online legal services, check out my full Rocket Lawyer review.
7. Sundoc Filings
Sundoc Filings is another South Dakota registered agent service that provides only what a registered agent must in order to comply with the legal requirements of the state of South Dakota. They will provide your business, LLC, or corporation with a street address in the state, receive mail, legal documents, and service of process on behalf of your business during normal business hours, and forward your mail. But they charge $159 per state, per year for these dismal service offerings.
If you’d like to learn more about Sundoc Filings’s South Dakota registered agent service, click here.
8. InCorp
InCorp is a registered agent in South Dakota that provided me with an interesting conundrum when it came to ranking it on this list. See, they charge the same $99 per state per year rate as Harbor Compliance, which is my top budget registered agent pick.
But while they cover all the services that a registered agent service in South Dakota must, like a street address in the state for your LLC, being available to receive mail, legal documents, and service of process on behalf of your business, LLC, or corporation, and mail forwarding, they provide little else. So their services aren’t on par with my budget option, even if their price is.
But the main reason that InCorp is down here in the “don’t bother” section of my best registered agents in South Dakota list is their online system. Their online system is a nightmare to navigate, clunky and so glitchy that it’s sure to cause an office-wide headache. Northwest Registered agent is a better choice for your registered agent in South Dakota.
If you’d like more information about InCorp’s South Dakota registered agent service, click here.
9. Swyft Filings
Swyft Filings is yet another registered agent service in South Dakota that provides the basic services that a registered agent must for your LLC but charges extravagant prices for dismal services.
You’ll get a street address in the state of South Dakota, and a registered agent who is available to receive mail, service of process, and legal documents on behalf of your LLC during business hours, and mail forwarding if you use Swyft Filings as your registered agent service. But they’ll charge you $149 per state, per year for these lackluster services.
Click here to learn more about Swyft Filings’s registered agent service, or read my full Swyft Filings review.
10. CSC Global
CSC Global is the second “premium” registered agent in South Dakota on my list. I’ll explain why I call them “premium” services in a moment.
Of course, they provide all the services that a registered agent service must, like a street address in South Dakota, receiving mail, service of process, and legal documents for your LLC or business during business hours, and mail forwarding.
But the only “premium” service that they offer is to cover the state fees your company will be charged when changing your registered agent. Here’s the catch: they charge a fee of $299 per state, per year. That’s $176 more than Northwest Registered Agent charges. You’d save money and get better services if you choose to use Northwest Registered Agent and then just pay the state fees for changing your registered agent on your own.
To read about CSC Global’s South Dakota registered agent service, click here.
11. Registered Agents Inc.
Registered Agents Inc. is the only registered agent in South Dakota that specializes in registered agent service. So you would think that means their registered agent service should blow all the other registered agents out of the water, right?
They cover the basic services required of a registered agent in South Dakota, like a street address in South Dakota, receiving mail, legal documents, and service of process on behalf of LLCs and corporations during business hours, and mail forwarding. They also provide compliance alerts and a multistate discount on their registered agent services. However, they charge $200 per state, per year for these services and there’s really nothing that justifies this price.
If you want to pay high rates for a subpar registered agent service, you can read more about Registered Agents Inc. here.
12. Jumpstart Filings
Jumpstart Filings is another registered agent in South Dakota that only provides the services it’s required to by the state of South Dakota.
You’ll get a street address in the state and mail forwarding, and they’ll be available during business hours to receive service of process, mail, and legal documents for your LLC or business entity. But they charge $129 per state, per year for these services. That’s $5 more per state, per year than Northwest Registered Agent charges, and Jumpstart Filings doesn’t offer any “extras” for your LLC to make it worth paying that price.
If you’re comfortable with throwing money away, you can learn about Jumpstart Filings here.
Registered Agent Review Summary
I investigated over 60 different registered agents in South Dakota, rated the top 12, then wrote in-depth descriptions of the best three registered agents in the state. My top choice for the best registered agent in South Dakota is Northwest Registered Agent.
Northwest Registered Agent offers all the registered agent services that your South Dakota LLC or business entity needs to meet its legal requirements, as well as a few extra services that feel luxurious. Unlike some of the other registered agents on this list, they provide far more than an address in the state and someone who is available to receive service of process for your LLC or business. And they only charge $125 for their extensive service offering.
They don’t offer some of the premium services for your LLC that other registered agents in the state do, but they do have the best customer service you can get for your business, and when you use Northwest Registered Agent as the registered agent for your business you get lifelong access to their customer service team.
If you want the best registered agent in South Dakota for your LLC or you’ve been thinking of changing your registered agent service, sign up for Northwest Registered Agent today.
Best Registered Agent Review Methodology
My investigation of the 60+ registered agent services I found took countless hours to refine into this list. This was my process for finding the best registered agent.
Why You Should Trust Me
You should trust me when it comes to finding the best registered agents in the state of South Dakota because I’ve gone through this process before, for my own two businesses. When I needed to find my own registered agent, there wasn’t any sort of guide or trustworthy advice available to help me narrow my search.
I wanted to avoid the hassles and legal trouble associated with the Secretary of State’s office, not worry about missing an important document or service of process. This meant I had to invest a significant amount of my time finding the right registered agent. I needed to know which service would allow my business to grow and not hinder my success.
I devoted far more time than I really had available to wading through promotional materials, reading online reviews, and dealing with customer service teams in order to find out which registered agent services were truly the best.
Since my website’s launch, I’ve also helped thousands of people just like you save the hundreds of hours it took me to find out which registered agent service was the best for their businesses. Many of these people were even family and close friends I had made along my own business adventures, and they’ve all found the right registered agent using this list.
How I Selected the Best Registered Agent
These are the four investigative stages I used to select the top 12 registered agents in South Dakota:
Stage 1: Reviews
This process begins with online reviews. Even though these often represent extreme cases, it’s a great place to start when looking for the right South Dakota registered agent. I spent hours scouring TrustPilot, Facebook, Google, the Better Business Bureau, and many other review sites in order to see what the customer experience of each registered agent service was like.
This stage of the process allowed me to cull nearly 50 commercial and noncommercial registered agents that were engaging in a pricing tactic that I found to be ethically dubious.
Stage 2: Website Analysis
Once the obvious scams and bad deals had been eliminated, I was left with a rough version of the list I presented above. The next stage of the process was to see how well the offers of each company compared to each other.
I did a deep dive and investigated the “About Us” sections, sales pages, and promotional offers of each registered agent in order to see what exactly each service was offering. Did they cover state fees for changing your registered agent? Did they provide compliance alerts or filing reminders? Or did they simply provide a registered office address and accept service of process?
This stage allowed me to create a simple 13-column, 24-row spreadsheet that broke down each registered agent service into their basic offerings.
Stage 3: Speaking with Real Customers
After the website analysis and online reviews, the next stage was to reach out to other customers of each service and see what their experience was.
As previously mentioned, online reviews are often quite polarized. Many of the reviews I read online were either overwhelmingly positive “10/10” scores, or they were all ones and zeroes. There wasn’t much of an in-between.
By reaching out to the customers directly, I was able to see what the average person's experience with each company was. I accomplished this by contacting several people I had already helped find registered agent services and see what kind of feedback they had to offer. This allowed me to get a feel for what the average customer’s experience would be like, and also see how well each company delivered on promised services.
Stage 4: Speaking with Their Sales Teams
The final stage was to reach out to each South Dakota registered agent service’s sales team.
As you surely know, sales teams are notorious for giving biased information or exaggerating certain aspects of a company’s service in order to entice customers. It happens in virtually every industry, noncommercial or commercial registered agents are no exception. Knowing what to ask and seeing how well they respond to criticism can tell you more than the sales teams want you to know.
I took note of how well (or poorly) each sales team responded to criticisms and feedback I had gathered from the reviews and customer interviews. Some teams would take the feedback and work hard to improve the customer experience, whereas others would pass the blame onto other representatives, their competitors, or even the customer.
This allowed me to get a clear picture of which companies valued improvement and which blamed their shortcomings on others.
Rating Factors
Once I had reduced the list down to the 12 best South Dakota registered agents for your South Dakota LLC, it was time to rank them according to these five factors:
Factor 1: Offerings
With such a wide variety of products and services available, the search for the best South Dakota registered agent can be overwhelming. This is why what services are offered is an essential factor when ranking the top 12 registered agents in the state of South Dakota.
It’s important to rank each South Dakota registered agent based on what services they provide. Some services only covered the basics, like providing your business with a registered office address or being available to receive service of process during normal business hours. Others went above and beyond, offering compliance alert systems and even assistance with LLC formation services.
Other registered agents provided premium services, including identity theft protection and/or covering state fees, and others didn’t provide a service as basic as mail forwarding. The range of services and products available was incredibly vast, and the range of quality for those same services was equally vast.
This is why “offerings” is an important factor to consider when ranking which South Dakota registered agents were the best.
Factor 2: Value for Money
Product and service variety isn’t the only major factor that I use when ranking the 12 best registered agents in South Dakota. The value provided by each registered agent for the services they provide is almost more important than the services themselves.
Some commercial registered agents charge as much as $299 plus state fees and brand themselves as a “premium” registered agent, but the actual service package they provide hardly justifies that price. Other registered agents advertise prices as low as $39 per year but are unclear about what services are included at that price.
This is why value is such an important part of the ranking process.
During this part of my investigation, I found that many noncommercial and commercial registered agents in the $39–$59 range were being vague and unclear when asked about their offerings and provided services. After further investigation, I discovered that while the advertised price was true at first, getting even the basic and essential services from any of these registered agents would end up costing additional fees per year (sometimes over $120).
This type of deceptive marketing is something I find highly unethical and, as a result, any registered agent service using this method was purged from the list.
Factor 3: Ease of Sign-up
A frustrating or confusing sign-up process can deter customers from some of the best deals, so ranking the top 12 South Dakota registered agents on how easy their sign-up process is was another important factor.
When investigating each service, I made sure to take note of how complicated their onboarding process was. How many pages did I have to fill out? How much information was required? Were there frustrating technical issues? Did I receive a confirmation email?
Those were all important things to take note of when dealing with each South Dakota registered agent’s sign-up process. The longer, glitchier, and more complex sign-up processes resulted in lower rankings on this list.
Factor 4: Ease of Use
Almost as important as the sign-up process is the user-friendliness of each agent’s system.
Ease of use can make or break your customer experience. No one wants to use a poorly designed or confusing online system, nor does anyone want to have any attempt to use that system be halted by a horde of bugs, glitches, or technical issues. Some of the systems that the South Dakota registered agents I investigated provide are well designed, and others are so confusing or buggy that they are completely unusable. What good is an online document repository if it crashes every time you try to access it?
All these reasons are what made ease of use an essential factor for ranking each South Dakota registered agent service.
Factor 5: Customer Service
The deal breaker for many customers when it comes to a registered agent is the customer service team.
Bad customer service can ruin your customer experience, so ranking each South Dakota registered agent according to how helpful their customer support teams are is a major factor for this list. Many companies available have adequate support teams, but it’s the outstanding teams that can make your business adventures great.
Good customer support teams will never leave you frustrated or confused. They often go above and beyond to ensure you get the answers you need. Bad customer support teams can not only leave you frustrated or confused, but they can also make you want to change services entirely.
I investigated how well each of the registered agent services customer support teams responded to fairly standard questions and took note of how courteous and efficient each team was. Some teams were able to answer my questions almost as quickly as they were asked, and others were less helpful. Less efficient and more frustrating teams brought companies' rankings down.
The Best South Dakota Registered Agent Results Summary
After investigating over 60 noncommercial and commercial registered agents and ranking the top 12, these are my top 3 choices for the best registered agent in the state of South Dakota.
Best Overall Registered Agent — Northwest Registered Agent (9.13/10)
The #1 recommendation that I can give you for a South Dakota registered agent is Northwest Registered Agent.
They raise the bar on service quality and provide every possible service and quality enhancement you need from a commercial registered agent service, and on top of that will make staying in good standing with the South Dakota Secretary of State a walk in the park.
In addition to providing you with a registered office address in South Dakota, Northwest Registered Agent provides you with an online account to access uploaded copies of all your important mail and documents the same day they are received.
They’ll also cover all the necessities, such as receiving service of process and being your legal point of contact during regular business hours, and they provide a compliance alerts system to ensure you never miss an important filing date for your LLC.
The icing on the cake is Northwest Registered Agent’s exceptional customer support team. This US-based team of Corporate Guides comprises former lawyers, accountants, and business owners, and they’re available to help you with any business dilemma you could possibly encounter.
Northwest Registered Agent provides all these services for a rate of only $125 per state, per year and with offices across the US, Northwest Registered Agent will be able to provide you with excellent service anywhere your business goes.
Also note that there are over 3,000 positive Northwest Registered Agent reviews online, so my experience wasn't just a fluke.
If you need a South Dakota registered agent that exceeds expectations and sets new standards for quality, check out Northwest Registered Agent today.
Best Budget Registered Agent — Harbor Compliance (7.92/10)
If you’re working with a limited budget for your LLC or don’t feel the need for the extra services offered by Northwest Registered Agent, then Harbor Compliance is a great choice for your registered agent needs.
Harbor Compliance provides all the necessary services, plus compliance alerts, for a rate of $99 per state, per year. They’ll make sure you have a registered office address in South Dakota and operate as your legal point of contact during regular business hours. Their customer service team is decent, as well, but it pales in comparison to Northwest Registered Agent.
Even though it's one of the cheapest services, there are hundreds of positive Harbor Compliance reviews online to prove they're one of the best.
If you need to reduce costs for your LLC or keep your budget low, consider Harbor Compliance for your South Dakota registered agent service.
Best Premium Registered Agent — LegalZoom (6.59/10)
If you need a premium registered agent that offers identity theft insurance as part of their service, then LegalZoom is the choice for you.
In addition to providing online legal services, LegalZoom provides all the basics your LLC will need from a registered agent alongside a $1,000,000 identity theft insurance policy, allowing you to have some much-deserved peace of mind. LegalZoom provides an online portal that’s available 24/7 and a registered office address in South Dakota like any decent registered agent service.
If you’re already subscribed to LegalZoom’s other services, then they are definitely worth considering. Otherwise, they don’t provide as much value as Northwest Registered Agent. Considering that identity theft insurance is also available at lower rates than the $176 price difference between LegalZoom and Northwest, it may be more worthwhile to consider other options.
If you need a premium South Dakota commercial registered agent for your LLC that includes identity theft protection, then check out LegalZoom today.
In Conclusion
Choosing the best registered agent service for your South Dakota business is essential. Not only will this help you avoid legal trouble with the Secretary of State, it can also be the difference between your business succeeding or failing. As previously mentioned, a good registered agent will not only protect your private information, they’ll make your journey to business success simple and easy.
I have investigated over 60 noncommercial and commercial registered agent services in South Dakota, narrowed it down to the 12 best, and then ranked and reviewed those 12 according to a four-stage process using five factors.
My investigation concluded that Northwest Registered Agent is clearly the top registered agent service in the state of South Dakota.
Northwest Registered Agent provides every possible service you need to allow your business to succeed and remain in good standing with the South Dakota state government, and they set a new quality standard on what you should expect from a commercial registered agent service.
Included in their $125 registered agent service package are the following services:
- A registered office address with your agent’s name and address in South Dakota to keep your information off the public record
- Accepting of service of process and legal documents for your business, office, or LLC during normal business hours
- Scanning and uploading of all your mail and documents from South Dakota state government agencies to an online portal for you to access with an online account 24/7
- Mail forwarding
- LLC Formation Services to help you form your LLC
- A compliance alert system, to keep you notified about important filing deadlines
If you're looking for a registered agent that will not only cover all the basics you need and ensure your personal details are safe, but also provide next-level small business advice, head to Northwest Registered Agent.
FAQ
What is a commercial registered agent?
In South Dakota there are two designations when it comes to registered agents: commercial registered agents and noncommercial registered agents.
The key difference between the two is that commercial registered agents are individuals or business entities that have elected to list themselves as such with the South Dakota Secretary of State. Noncommercial registered agents are still authorized to provide registered agent services, they just choose not to list themselves in this manner.
A commercial registered agent doesn’t offer any special types of service or have any kind of special requirements as compared to a noncommercial registered agent. The distinction between the two solely exists because of how they choose to list and register themselves with the South Dakota Secretary of State.
