You need a registered agent because it’s a requirement for every business entity in Wisconsin, but it’s also a useful business service that you won’t want to be without.
You’ll find that registered agents are such a big part of the LLC formation process that you’re not even able to fully complete your formation documents without listing your registered agent’s name. Because they’re legally necessary, it’s a good thing that the best ones are quite handy when it comes to reminding you about compliance filing deadlines, too.
If you want to learn what a registered agent is, what duties the job entails, and why you need a registered agent in Wisconsin, keep reading.
What Is a Registered Agent in Wisconsin?
A registered agent is an individual or business entity that receives official mail and all the documents for your business, as well as accepting service of process on your behalf at your registered office address during regular business hours.
I understand it seems confusing to send your company’s mail and legal documents to a different address, but that’s where the second half of registered agent duties comes into play: document delivery services.
Your Wisconsin registered agent will deliver your mail and documents to you either through mail forwarding services or an online document-management system. Some of the best registered agent services also send out compliance alerts or annual report reminders for worry-free compliance.
If you own a foreign corporation or other type of business entity that conducts business in multiple states, then you have to keep a registered agent in all those states. Your options are to either hire multiple registered agents (one for each state or office branch) or hire a national registered agent service to cover all your bases.
Some people also call a Wisconsin registered agent a statutory agent or a resident agent. All these terms describe the same type of business service, so don’t let them confuse you.
What Is the Purpose of a Registered Agent in Wisconsin?
Some who read my definition for a registered agent in Wisconsin might decide to open a PO box for their company to meet their legal obligations. In short, that won’t work.
Your Wisconsin registered agent is required to be physically present at your business address to receive official mail and legal notices for your business. The term you should pay the most attention to here is “physically present” because it means you can’t just check for mail and legal documents when it suits you. You have to actually be there.
And another thing: your registered agent’s address is required to be a physical street address in Wisconsin, which unfortunately means you can’t use a PO box as your business address.
Since all these stipulations can be kind of a pain to deal with, it’s nice to know there are several other things that your Wisconsin registered agent can do besides receive mail for you and provide you with a registered agent address to use on your formation documents.
Compliance
Remembering compliance filing deadlines is no easy task. As the name implies, annual reports are due once a year, typically on the anniversary of your business’s establishment. But a Wisconsin registered agent will keep record of these dates for you.
Your registered agent is considered your company’s point of contact, which means they’re in charge of coordinating correspondence between government agencies and your business. Because of this role, your registered agent keeps track of filing deadlines for you.
Some of the best registered agent services even send out compliance notifications so that you won’t forget to file your annual report with the Wisconsin Secretary of State.
Management of Important Documents
If your company doesn’t have a physical location, the requirement of a physical address can be a pain, and it probably seems a bit petty. But there are legitimate reasons why you should carefully consider your registered office address. This is the address where all your mail, legal notices, and documents will be sent, and you need to be sure you receive them.
Some Wisconsin registered agents supply online document-management systems for their clients, which are great for a couple of reasons. They scan and upload your mail and documents on the same day they’re received, and you can view them that same day with an online account.
This means you’re notified about urgent issues and legal notices far faster than you would be with basic mail forwarding.
Another advantage of online document-management systems is that they provide you with a place to digitally store your documents, sort of like cloud storage. With your online account, you can store or delete your files, which means you don’t have to fuss with storage rooms or figure out what to do with stacks of mail scattered around your office.
Service of Process
There’s no good way to explain registered agent duties without mentioning service of process, but it should really just be a mention. Many sites make it sound like you’ll receive service of process with your daily mail deliveries, which is alarming because a service of process is a legal notice that your company is being sued.
It’s certainly not something that you want to happen often! But if your company does face litigation against it, one of your registered agent’s jobs is to receive legal notices and service of process on your behalf.
Who Can Be a Registered Agent in Wisconsin?
Some of the requirements are universal in the US. Here are some of the Wisconsin registered agent requirements your registered agent will have to fulfill:
- State laws. You can make sure that your Wisconsin registered agent meets all of its legal requirements by reading about laws in the state regarding registered agents.
- 18+. Your registered agent in Wisconsin must be at least 18 years of age.
- Physical address. Your Wisconsin registered agent must have a physical address in the state, which means they can’t use a PO Box.
- Who you can designate. As long as the person you choose meets all the other requirements, you’re allowed to designate anyone you’d like as your registered agent in Wisconsin. So feel free to designate a friend, family member, employee, or lawyer. Just make sure that the person you pick is reliable.
What Happens If My Business Operates Without a Registered Agent?
Suppose that a process server does come to deliver a service of process to your business address during business hours and your Wisconsin registered agent isn’t there to receive it. In this hypothetical situation, the server will go on to deliver the notice to the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.
The process server isn’t doing this to spite you or cause problems for you. They’re just following protocol that happens to negatively affect your business. Now you can’t defend your company, or even show up in court to bear witness to the proceedings. In these situations, a judge can issue a default judgment against your company.
In case I haven’t spelled this out clearly enough already: it’s not legal for business entities to operate without a registered agent in Wisconsin. So if you’re found not continually maintaining a registered agent, the Wisconsin Secretary of State can remove your company’s good-standing status. This isn’t good news for your business. It could lose its permission to expand to other states, qualify for business loans or financial assistance, and even be completely prohibited from conducting business in the state of Wisconsin.
An unfortunate side effect of losing your good-standing status is the nullification of your business name reservation. So long as your business name isn’t reserved, other businesses can take it to use for themselves. The sad part is that even if you clear up your legal issues, you may never get your business name back.
If you own a limited liability company, you’ll really feel the sting of losing the company’s good standing. Once a Wisconsin LLC loses its good standing, the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions can initiate “administrative dissolution” and dissolve your company. To put it plainly, if you don’t maintain a registered agent in Wisconsin, your LLC can be automatically dissolved. Yikes!
Can I Be My Own Registered Agent in Wisconsin?
There’s nothing that legally prohibits you from being your own registered agent in Wisconsin. However, you should really take a look at the pros and cons of being your own agent and see how they compare to hiring a professional registered agent service.
Cons of Being Your Own Registered Agent
Liability
As a new business owner, you likely chose the LLC business structure because it guarantees a separation of your personal and business assets and finances. But if you’re your own registered agent, then this guarantee is shaky at best.
Noncompliance with certain legal obligations, like maintaining a registered agent in Wisconsin or filing your annual report, is grounds for administrative dissolution from the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, and that nullifies limited liability protection.
Without this protection, the owner of your Wisconsin LLC becomes legally and financially responsible for the business. This means that if the company is sued, all your hard-earned money and personal assets could be on the line.
If you don’t own an LLC, don’t think you’re safe. Missing a service of process or not filing annual reports could result in serious legal and financial repercussions for foreign and domestic corporations, sole proprietorships, and limited liability partnerships as well.
Lack of Privacy
One of the trade-offs of being your own registered agent is that your personal information will be listed on public record. If you don’t have a street address for your company, then your private address will be listed on public records, along with your name and phone number.
You have no control over who accesses your information once it’s listed, which means that cybercriminals and hackers can use it to steal your identity theft or commit other crimes in your name, or to rack up thousands of dollars worth of transactions in your name.
Plus the fact that anyone, no matter how creepy they are, can access your phone number and home address is just scary.
Time
Any way you cut it, the average business owner doesn’t have the time to be their own registered agent. The Secretary of State requires that every Wisconsin registered agent must be present at their office address during normal business hours to receive service of process, legal documents, and mail on behalf of your company.
Your business is most likely open during normal business hours, a scheduling conflict of epic proportions. There’s no way to adequately perform both jobs at the same time.
Pros of Being Your Own Registered Agent
The only advantage of being your own registered agent in Wisconsin is that you won’t be required to pay fees to a professional registered agent service.
But when you think about all the legal liabilities that can come from missing a service of process, and all the time involved with being your own agent, you might discover that it’s worth it to you to pay fees for a Wisconsin registered agent service.
Most registered agent services are pretty inexpensive, anyway.
Should I Use a Registered Agent Service?
You’re the only one that can answer that question, but here are a few reasons that business owners choose to use a Wisconsin registered agent service:
- A registered agent service that issues compliance alerts can prevent you from forgetting to file annual reports.
- Using a registered agent service means you aren’t likely to miss a service of process, or lose your company’s good-standing status.
- If you have a company that conducts business in more than one state, you can use a national registered agent service to make sure all your legal bases are covered.
- If you own a business that operates outside of normal business hours (gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, etc.), using a registered agent service can help you get some rest during the day after managing your business all night.
- If you use a Wisconsin registered agent service, you can list your registered agent’s name and address on the public record in place of your own.
- Some registered agent service companies offer special commodities for businesses that might be a good idea for your company, like identity theft protection or paying for state fees.
- You can choose a registered agent service that also offers LLC formation services, and take advantage of promotions like free registered agent service for the first year.
Ultimately, you’re the business owner and you have the final say, so no one can force a registered agent service on you. But I will say that I always recommend new businesses use a registered agent service.
What Is the Best Registered Agent Service?
Picking the best registered agent service is complicated business. Here are a few of the things you should be thinking about while choosing your company’s registered agent.
Service Features
I can’t think of any reason that you should choose a Wisconsin registered agent service that doesn’t supply all the registered agent services that your company needs.
Some registered agent companies supply compliance alerts and worry-free compliance guarantees so that you won’t forget to file an annual report and land yourself in hot water with the Secretary of State.
Others will just give you a compliance calendar which comes filled in with the dates of important filing deadlines, which is a nice gesture, but can be tossed in the back of a filing cabinet and forgotten about.
Some registered agent companies provide online document-management systems that not only get you access to your documents and mail faster than snail mail allows, but also provide you with a digital space to store your documents online. Others only offer basic mail forwarding services that rely on the postal system.
Check out the services of each registered agent carefully and then choose a Wisconsin registered agent that provides everything you need.
Value
When it comes to choosing a registered agent service, a good way to determine its quality is to compare the services it offers with its fee. A registered agent company with a lackluster list of services and a big price tag isn’t worth your time.
With that in mind, steer clear of “budget agents”. These shady businesses will promise fees of $39–$59 and then rack up a small fortune in additional fees for services you need, like online document-management systems or compliance alerts. I understand trying to save some money, but budget agents definitely aren’t the way to do it!
Easy Sign-Up
You don’t want to deal with a company wasting your time, and especially not during the formation process. That’s stressful enough all on its own!
Some registered agent services not only require you to fill out loads of paperwork, but it also takes weeks or even months to complete their sign-up process. Find a registered agent company that has a quick and easy sign-up process.
User-Friendly Interface
If you’ve ever used a frustrating system on a daily basis, then you’ll understand why it’s so important to choose a registered agent with a simple user interface.
Some registered agent companies have systems with complicated navigation systems and confusing layouts, ancient servers, and so many bugs and glitches that it randomly locks up and prevents you from working on it.
Find a registered agent service with a user-friendly interface.
Customer Service
Your registered agent can literally make or break your company, so it’s important that you choose one that has good customer service. After all, you’ll eventually have a question about your services or run into a technical issue!
I combined all these factors with my four-stage investigative process to determine that Northwest Registered Agent is the best registered agent service. If you’d like to find out more about registered agent services, or how to choose the best one for your company, read my guide on the Best Registered Agent Services.
Conclusion
Starting a new business means that you’ll be responsible for learning tons of new information and have loads of new responsibilities thrust upon you. But a registered agent can help make life as a business owner a little easier.
If you haven’t chosen a business structure yet and would like to learn more about LLC formation, check out my article on How to Start an LLC. If you think you’d benefit from some additional guidance throughout the formation process, then read the Best LLC Formation Services.
Wisconsin Registered Agent Service FAQs
What’s the Difference Between a Commercial and a Noncommercial Registered Agent?
A commercial registered agent is a registered agent that has registered itself as a commercial registered agent with the Secretary of State. In some places, every professional registered agent must register as a commercial registered agent.
A noncommercial registered agent is any individual or business entity that hasn’t registered as a commercial registered agent. So, if you’ve chosen a family member, like your recently retired dad, as your registered agent, then you’ve given him something to do with his free time, and he's officially a noncommercial registered agent. Cool, right?
How Do I Change the Registered Agent for My LLC?
You can change your registered agent by filing a Change of Registered Agent form with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. You need to enter your registered agent information (registered agent name, address, etc.) and then submit it online, by mail or in person. You can also change your registered agent on your annual report.
There’s no charge to change your registered agent, however there’s a $10 charge to change your registered office, and you can get expedited filing for $25. You also need to make sure that you check out the Wisconsin registered agent resignation page to ensure that your former registered agent’s duties come to a full stop.
How Much Does a Registered Agent Cost?
The cost of your registered agent in Wisconsin can vary according to a number of things, such as which company you choose, which services you need, and more. In general, a registered agent in Wisconsin can cost anywhere from $39–$299 per state, per year, plus state fees.
You can learn more about registered agent pricing in my guide on the Best Registered Agent Services.
