Why Should I Hire a Registered Agent Service?

Missouri business owners are required to have a registered agent on file. The requirements for this are simple to meet, and business owners can be their own registered agents. However, this is not recommended. Instead, it is highly recommended that business owners opt to work with a registered agent service. The service is available to provide all of the benefits of a registered agent without the business owner having to do it all on their own. Some of the benefits of hiring a registered agent service include the following. 

Covers State Requirements

In Missouri, all businesses are required to have a registered agent that can accept legal paperwork for the business, handle customer complaints, collect mail, and perform other services. It is not required for the registered agent to work for the business or to be the business owner, so hiring a service is possible under state laws. Business owners who work with a registered agent service can make sure the state requirements are covered for the business without having to do all of the work on their own or worry about other issues, like making their name and address public. 

Have Someone Handle it All

Running a business is a lot of work. Whether the business is just getting started or it has been around for years, the owner has a significant amount of work to do on their own, even if they have delegated a lot of the everyday tasks to employees. Who wants even more work to do? By hiring a registered agent service, business owners can delegate all of the tasks a registered agent handles to the service. The business owner will not have to worry about any of these tasks and will know they’re all done right, so there’s nothing to oversee, either. Doing this can save the business owner quite a bit of time and prevent potential concerns. 

Helps Keep Ownership Private

Some business owners will not worry about personal privacy when it comes to their name being connected to the business. They may not mind anyone knowing they are the owner or being contacted by others for business-related concerns. For other business owners, however, privacy is a significant concern. Many business owners across various industries will want to keep their names private, which is not possible if they are the registered agent for the business. 

According to state laws, the registered agent’s name must be on file, which means it’s viewable by anyone. By being the registered agent for their business, the owner’s name will become public. Hiring a registered agent service prevents this, as the registered agent service will be named on the paperwork, not the owner. The owner’s name can be kept out of the public paperwork, meaning the owner is able to remain private and keep their personal identity and their business separate. 

Keep the Owner’s Address Private

Along with the name, the registered agent’s address must be included on the paperwork required by the state. This, like the name, will be public information. The goal here is to make it possible for anyone to access the address if it’s needed. It may be needed to serve legal paperwork, for mailing anything to the business, or for customers to reach out when they have a complaint. For many business owners, allowing their address, especially their home address, to be public is a huge privacy risk, so it should be avoided. 

Hiring a registered agent service means the owner’s home address can remain private. Business owners won’t have to worry about anyone showing up at their home or finding out where they live. This can help protect the owner and their family, prevent interrupted dinners or days off, and a lot more. The service’s address will be located on the state paperwork, so anyone who needs to contact the business will do so through the service instead of by going to the business owner’s home. 

Important for Out-of-State Owners

No matter where a business is located, if they offer services in Missouri or open a storefront in the state, they are required to have a registered agent. The registered agent must be local to allow for legal documents to easily be served and for other purposes. When a business owner is located out of state, they must have a registered agent within Missouri to handle these tasks for them. Instead of having an employee handle the work and potentially make mistakes that can have serious repercussions, working with a registered agent service located in Missouri is a great idea. 

Avoid Being Served Papers Publicly

At some point, a business will be served with legal documents. This could be due to an issue with a vendor or supplier, an unhappy customer, or for any other reason. Legal documents must be served in person to the business’s registered agent. If this is the owner of the business, it may mean the documents are served at the store or at the business owner’s home. Either of these can lead to an embarrassing situation and potentially impact the public’s perception of the business permanently, even if the lawsuit has no legal standing.

By working with a registered agent service, the business owner doesn’t have to worry about an embarrassing situation. The registered agent service will be able to receive legal documents on behalf of the business owner, so no one will show up at the store or the owner’s home. Once the documents are received, the registered agent service will contact the business owner and forward the paperwork to be reviewed. The business owner can pick up the documents on their own schedule to avoid an embarrassing situation and make sure the documents are properly handled. 

Avoid Issues With Legal Documents

Issues can arise when legal documents aren’t handled properly. If the registered agent is someone who does not know how time-crucial the legal documents are, it’s easy for the paperwork to be forgotten about or lost. By the time the owner finds out about the legal documents, it may be too late to defend against the lawsuit, and the business may end up losing automatically. It’s also easy to miss deadlines, not to know what needs to be done when documents are served or to have other issues because of the legal documents. A registered agent service will make sure the business owner receives the documents in a timely manner and provide reminders of deadlines to ensure none are missed. 

Prevent Any Penalties or Fees

If a business owner is sued, or their business is, and they do not appear in court, they could lose the case. This could happen if the business owner isn’t properly served or not served in a timely fashion, but it can also happen if a business owner forgets about the court date or doesn’t take the case seriously and show up to defend against the complaint. If a business owner loses because they don’t show up, they may end up owing a significant amount of money to the plaintiff. 

Business owners who work with a registered agent service can be sure they won’t miss any deadlines or end up with penalties and fees because they didn’t know about a lawsuit or didn’t appear in court to defend against the case. A registered agent service can also help with state requirements and other concerns that could lead to a fine if they’re ignored. By working with a registered agent service, business owners may be able to save a significant amount of money that would have otherwise gone to penalties or fees. 

Deal With Complaints Easier

Complaints are something every business will experience, no matter how much they focus on excellent customer service. When a customer, vendor, or anyone else has a complaint about the business, they must have someone to contact. Missouri requires businesses to have a registered agent available during standard business hours to receive any complaints for the business. Many business owners will not want to do this on their own, whether it’s a time concern or because they don’t want to be available during all regular business hours. 

A registered agent service is already available during normal business hours, so they are there to accept any complaints about the business and will be in close contact with the business owner to make sure any complaints are handled. This meets the requirements of the state without requiring the business owner to be in the office five days a week in case there are any complaints. 

Business owners already have a lot to do, so why not let someone else help with the registered agent tasks? From protecting privacy to making sure everything is done right, a registered agent service can help business owners save a significant amount of time and money. Ready to look into a registered agent service for your business?