South Carolina Registered Agent

A South Carolina registered agent is an individual or business entity that acts as the point of contact for your business for: 

• All communication with the State of South Carolina, such as the South Carolina certificate of good standing 
• Receives all service of process for the business in any lawsuit

Every formal business in South Carolina eg LLC, corporation, etc is required by law to have a registered agent. 

For more information on the role of registered agents, read our What is a Registered Agent guide.

For help forming your LLC, use our How to Start an LLC in South Carolina guide.

Yes, any owner or employee of a business can be its registered agent in South Carolina as long as they are over the age of 18, and have a street address in South Carolina.

You could also choose to elect a member of your LLC, or even a friend you trust, as long as the person meets these requirements too.

Though many businesses prefer to use a professional registered agent service. To learn more about the Best Registered Agent Services of 2023, read our guide.

Many businesses choose to use a registered agent service when they form an LLC, here are some of the major reasons why:

Compliance

A registered agent service maintains a compliance calendar and will remind you when annual reports or other filings are due, and help you file them. 

This helps you to avoid fines and keeps your company in good standing, which is important to maintain your limited liability protection.

Legal complications, fees, or any other issues can arise if you do not respond quickly to service of process. A registered agent will scan your documents, share them with you online, and notify you when they are available.

Privacy

If you work from home, or even a private office, and act as your own registered agent, your address will be published publicly on the South Carolina Business Name Search.

If you value your privacy, a registered agent service will use their own address in place of yours.

Discretion

Receiving service of process for a lawsuit at your business can be a sensitive situation to have happen in front of your employees and clients. 

To avoid having this issue a registered agent will receive any service of process and other documents at their office, and discreetly deliver them to you online.

Flexibility

If you are your own registered agent, you must be available at all normal business hours, every working day of the year. 

Registered agent services run physical offices and have staff to cover those hours, so they can be available at those times

Hiring a registered agent service allows you to be more flexible in the hours and locations you work. So, take a vacation, work from home or the office, or travel the world, knowing they’re around to take your paperwork.

Online Storage

A good registered agent service will scan your documents as soon as they are received, storing a digital copy of all your business documents and any service of process available on a convenient dashboard.

Typically, if you’ve used an LLC formation service, you will also use them as a registered agent. This means that a copy of your formation documents will also be available online.

Having all of this information, available as PDFs, is very helpful when you need to do things for your business, such as opening a business bank account, applying for a business credit card, applying for small business loans, and many more things that require a copy of your documents.

National Coverage

If you plan on expanding your business into other states like if you’re hiring an out-of-state employee or opening a new sales office, a registered agent is necessary for your foreign LLC or other entity.

Most registered agent services operate in all 50 states and Washington D.C. Just pay a little extra for the new state you operate in, and they will deliver all those documents to the same online dashboard.

Northwest is the best registered agent service based on overall quality and transparent pricing. Northwest offers a seamless user experience and best-in-industry customer service and privacy protection. 

When you choose Northwest as your registered agent service, you'll get an online account to access essential documents, mail forwarding, and business address services. 

Northwest’s virtual mailbox service will scan your mail and forward it to you electronically. This means that you can keep track of your mail no matter where you are in the world.

In South Carolina, you will be required to elect your registered agent when you complete your LLC’s Articles of Organization. The Articles of Organization is the main LLC formation document in South Carolina.

Electing a Registered Agent Online

You can form your LLC online on the South Carolina Secretary of State website ($110 filing fee required). Your registered agent’s name and contact information will be requested when you file your LLC’s Articles of Organization online:

Electing a Registered Agent by Mail

To form your LLC by mail, download the Articles of Organization form ($110 filing fee required), fill out the required fields, and submit a physical copy to the South Carolina Secretary of State. You’ll be asked to provide your registered agent under the number 3 on page 1:

To change your South Carolina registered agent, simply fill out a Notice of Change form and submit it to the South Carolina Secretary of State along with the $10 filing fee paid by check, money order, or credit card (online).

South Carolina has different forms for different types of business structures:

• Corporation
• LLC
• Limited Partnership (LP)
• Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
• Nonprofit
• Benefit Corporation

These can be filed online, by mail, or in person:

Online

Mail or In Person:
Secretary of State
Attn: Corporate Filings
1205 Pendleton St., Ste. 525
Columbia, SC 29201

• South Carolina Registered Agent Statutes
  
• South Carolina Registered Agent