Not only is it prudent to choose a registered agent for your business, it’s absolutely necessary for many business entities in Kansas.
Kansas registered agents are a major part of the business formation process, without which you’ll find it all but impossible to establish your business. And they’re useful when it comes to legal compliance because they issue notifications that help you meet filing deadlines—for things like annual reports—with the Kansas Secretary of State.
But what is a registered agent, how do you choose the best one, and does your company need one?
What Is a Registered Agent in Kansas?
A Kansas registered agent is either an individual or a business entity that is available during standard business hours and present at your business address to accept service of process, legal documents, and mail on behalf of your Kansas business.
It may sound odd to send your mail to another address to be received by another person. Obviously, you need to read your mail and store your business’s documents. The second part of a registered agent’s duties is document delivery, which involves services such as mail forwarding and online document management systems. A lot of the best registered agent services also issue compliance alerts or annual report reminders that notify you about important upcoming filing deadlines with the Secretary of State.
In Kansas, all business entities (such as a Kansas LLC, Kansas corporation, or Kansas sole proprietorship) are required to maintain registered agents. Businesses that operate in other states (called foreign corporations or foreign LLCs) are required to maintain registered agents in each state their business has expanded to, which means they’re required to either designate someone who is already present at each local office or hire a registered agent service.
Many people refer to a registered agent as either a statutory agent or resident agent, so if you see the term resident agent on your formation documents, you’ll know that it refers to the same business service.
What Is the Purpose of a Registered Agent in Kansas?
After reading the definition of a Kansas registered agent, many people briefly wonder whether they can set up a PO box for their business and check it occasionally for service of process and legal mail. Nope—that won’t meet the requirements set by the Secretary of State.
Your registered agent’s address is required to be a physical street address. Because of this, a PO box won’t meet your legal obligations for a physical office. There’s also a lot more that Kansas registered agents do.
Compliance
It can be really hard to remember all the filing deadlines for your Kansas business, which is troublesome because they’re important. Kansas registered agent services can help with this. They send out compliance notifications so you can remain up to date with your filing deadlines.
Think of your registered agent in Kansas as being sort of like a messenger. It delivers information to your company from government agencies and law firms. And part of this job is delivering compliance notifications to you when they notice that your business has received a reminder from the Kansas Secretary of State about compliance filing deadlines.
So, not only does your registered agent prevent your company from missing an important compliance deadline, it can also keep your company from losing its good-standing status as a result.
Management of Important Documents
Your business address is more than just a physical address. Sure, it helps you meet the address requirement and keep your information safe and off the public record, but it has implications for how you run your business as well.
The Kansas office that you list on your formation documents is where your mail, service of process, and other legal documents are sent, and you obviously need those because storing your company’s documents is important.
A lot of great Kansas registered agent services provide online document management services that allow you to view your documents sooner than you mail forwarding typically allows, manage and sort them, and store them conveniently online using an online account.
Having a registered agent scan your documents and correspondence to an online account is far better for business than a messy office with stacks and stacks of obscure and lost paperwork.
Who Can Be a Registered Agent in Kansas?
Most of the requirements for registered agents are pretty standard in the United States. Here are some of the requirements that your registered agent in Kansas will have to fulfill:
- State laws. Some states have laws that pertain exclusively to registered agents, so you should brush up on Kansas state law to make sure that your registered agent in Kansas meets the eligibility requirements.
- 18+. Your Kansas registered agent must be at least 18 years of age.
- Physical address. The Kansas office you list must have a street address. PO boxes aren’t permitted.
- Who you can designate. You can designate anyone as your registered agent in Kansas, as long as they meet the requirements. You can designate a close friend, family member, trusted employee, your lawyer, etc. Just make sure that whoever you choose is someone that is not only available during regular business hours but is also reliable.
What Happens If My Business Operates Without a Registered Agent?
If a process server comes to deliver service of process to your company’s business office during normal business hours and discovers that a registered agent isn’t posted there, they will deliver the service of process to the Kansas Secretary of State instead. This is bad news for your business.
Now you don’t have an important legal notice, you have no idea it even exists, and you can’t defend your business in court as a result. A court can proceed with legal actions without you and can even issue a default ruling against your company.
A business entity that doesn’t maintain a Kansas registered agent or meet filing deadlines isn’t complying with Kansas state laws, and because of that the Kansas Secretary of State can revoke your company’s good-standing status. Some of the detrimental results of losing your company’s good standing include no longer qualifying for business loans, not being allowed to expand into other states, and even being forbidden from conducting business in the state of Kansas.
Limited liability companies are particularly unprotected after losing good-standing status. Any limited liability company that has lost its good standing may experience administrative dissolution. This is the forced, automatic dissolution of an LLC by a government agency due to the company’s noncompliance with various filing or other regulations.
It can be hazardous to operate your business without the protection of an LLC. Without limited liability protection, all the personal and financial assets of the business owner are vulnerable if the company is sued.
The fallout of losing good-standing status isn’t limited to LLCs. Any business entity that loses its good-standing status can experience many of the consequences discussed here.
Can I Be My Own Registered Agent in Kansas?
US law does not prevent you from being your own registered agent. But before you rush off to find out how to be your own agent, you should know about the pros and cons of that and weigh them against the benefits of hiring a Kansas registered agent service.
Cons of Being Your Own Registered Agent
Liability
The biggest fly in the ointment of being your own registered agent is the devastating outcome of missing a service of process. Your company could have default judgments issued against it or lose its good standing, neither of which is good news for your business.
Lack of Privacy
Any owner of a business entity without a street address will be required to list their home address on formation documents, which means their information will be listed on the public record. Adding your information to the public record means that everyone, even nefarious characters and ne’er-do-wells like cybercriminals and hackers, can access it. This leaves you vulnerable to cybercrime and identity theft. Besides all of that, there’s just something innately creepy about everyone being able to access your name, address, phone number, and other personal information.
Time
Being a registered agent in Kansas is a time-consuming gig. Most business owners simply don’t have the time to take on another job, and that’s what being your own registered agent essentially amounts to.
To be a registered agent in Kansas, you have to be available during normal business hours to receive service of process and mail for your company. The problem with that is that your business probably has the same hours of operation as a Kansas registered agent. Most people can’t do both of these jobs (or at least not adequately) simultaneously. At least not well.
Pros of Being Your Own Registered Agent
The only bright side of being your own Kansas registered agent is that you won’t have to pay fees to a Kansas registered agent service.
However, once business owners find out about the aftermath of missing a service of process, as well as the massive amount of time that being a registered agent takes up, they usually choose to hire registered agent services. They’re typically inexpensive.
Should I Use a Registered Agent Service?
There are several reasons to choose a Kansas registered agent service:
- You won’t miss compliance filing deadlines with the Secretary of State because you’ll receive compliance alerts to keep you on track.
- Your Kansas registered agent or statutory agent will be posted at your listed street address during business hours to receive documents, so you won’t miss a service of process from a process server or deal with any of the legal repercussions of missing a service of process.
- You’ll be able to efficiently run your business without the stress of also acting as your own registered agent in Kansas.
- Unlike a domestic limited liability company, domestic corporation, domestic limited partnership or domestic business trust, Kansas businesses that operate in other states must have a registered agent in each state in which it conducts business—not just the one. This can easily be remedied by hiring a national registered agent service.
- Businesses operating outside of regular business hours (like bars, restaurants, theaters, etc.) can benefit from Kansas registered agent services because they won’t have to be present during normal business hours, when the business owner would ordinarily be asleep.
- If your business doesn’t have a physical location, a Kansas registered agent service can remedy that situation and also keep your information off the public record.
- If you don’t choose a registered agent service or resident agent, you’ll have to deal with the maddening amount of junk mail sent to your business at your home address. A registered agent service will not only receive this mail, but will also dispose of it for you.
- You can choose a registered agent service with premium registered agent services. Some of these include things like paying for state fees and providing identity theft protection.
- You can choose a registered agent or resident agent that also supplies LLC or business formation services. This is beneficial if you’ve yet to establish your business because you can get deals like a free year of registered agent service when you sign up for their formation services.
Ultimately, the decision to use a registered agent service is yours alone. But I will say that I always recommend that every new business use a registered agent service.
What Is the Best Registered Agent Service?
There are several criteria that should be considered when trying to choose your business’s registered agent. Here are five factors to use when choosing the best registered agent service:
Service Features
You shouldn’t choose a professional registered agent service that doesn’t offer the services that your business needs. There are plenty of resident agents on the market with comprehensive service lists.
Some agents will only supply you with a compliance calendar that’s pre-filled with filing deadlines. Others issue compliance alerts that ensure you won’t miss a deadline. Some agents only offer mail forwarding—double snail mail. Others supply online document management systems, which is an online service that allows you to view and store your files using an online account.
Choose a registered agent with lots of services that meet your needs.
Value
A good metric to use when determining whether you’re dealing with a quality registered agent is the number of services it offers compared to its price. If it has a small list of services but insists on charging a high price, that’s a registered agent service to avoid.
With that in mind, you should avoid “budget agents.” These sneaky registered agent providers use low prices ($39–$59) to draw in new customers and then start racking up additional fees for essential services like compliance alerts and online document management systems. So, stay far away from all budget registered agent providers!
Easy Sign-Up
No one wants to feel like their time is being wasted, especially during stressful situations, like starting a new business, but in spite of this there are registered agent providers out there whose sign-up process requires you to fill out volumes of paperwork that takes weeks or months to complete. You should choose a registered agent that has a quick and easy sign-up process.
User-Friendly Interface
Have you ever worked for a company that required you to use a slow, glitchy system that never worked and was so complicated that even the company’s IT department didn’t fully understand it? Unfortunately, some registered agent providers have systems that are just as frustrating. You should make sure your registered agent’s system is easy to use, since you’ll be using it so frequently!
Customer Service
You could choose an absolutely stellar registered agent company, and you’ll still eventually have a question about your service or experience a technical problem. And because your registered agent service has the power to make or break your company, great customer service from your registered agent is a must.
I used a combination of these five rating factors and my four-stage investigative process to determine that Northwest Registered Agent is the best registered agent service. If you’d like to learn more about either registered agent services or how to choose the best registered agent service for your business, read my guide on the best registered agent services.
Conclusion
The different types of information that business owners are required to learn nearly immediately is mind-boggling. They have to learn about various types of business software and equipment, business management techniques, laws and regulations, and loads of legal and business terms. On top of all of that, they also have to remember filing deadlines to meet their compliance obligations. A registered agent service can take some of the workload off of business owners’ hands and make their jobs a bit easier.
If you’ve not yet chosen a business structure and would like to learn more about LLC formation, check out my guide on how to start an LLC. If you’d like to learn about formation services that can provide extra assistance and support throughout the formation process, you can read my guide on the best LLC formation services.
Kansas Registered Agent FAQs
What’s the Difference Between a Commercial and a Noncommercial Registered Agent?
The Model Registered Agents Act was an attempt by the American Bar Association to standardize laws regarding registered agent services in the United States, and that’s where the distinction between a commercial registered agent and a noncommercial registered agent was established. A commercial registered agent is one that has registered with the Secretary of State as a commercial registered agent service. Some states require that all professional registered agent services must register as commercial registered agent services.
A noncommercial registered agent is an individual or business entity that hasn’t registered as a commercial agent. That means the sister, cousin, uncle, or other family members you’ve designated as your registered agent is a noncommercial registered agent.
How Do I Change the Registered Agent for My LLC?
You can easily change registered agents in Kansas by filing a Change of Registered Office or Agent form with the Secretary of State. You need to include both your business entity ID number and your registered agent’s name on the Change of Registered Office or Agent form, and you’ll have to pay state fees for filing it. (It’s $35 for paper filing and $30 online.)
How Much Does a Registered Agent Cost?
A registered agent’s cost varies based on factors like the services your business requires and the registered agent provider you choose. In general, registered agent services cost between $39 and $299 per state, per year. If you’d like to learn more about registered agent pricing, you can read my guide to the best registered agent services.
