Hire a Registered Agent in Rhode Island

A registered agent — called a "resident agent" in Rhode Island's LLC Act — is the person or company named to accept legal papers and official state mail for a Rhode Island LLC, at a physical Rhode Island street address called the registered office. It is required by R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-11.

Yes. Every Rhode Island LLC must appoint and continuously maintain a registered agent under § 7-16-11, from the day it files its Articles of Organization.

Yes, if you are a Rhode Island resident at least 18 years old with a physical Rhode Island street address where you can accept deliveries during normal business hours. Many owners hire a service instead to keep that address off the public record.

No. The registered office must be a physical Rhode Island street address; a P.O. box does not qualify.

LLC Register charges $99 a year. Commercial registered agent services generally range from about $99 to $249 a year, based on published pricing checked 9/30/2026.

File a statement signed by an authorized person of the LLC with the Rhode Island Secretary of State under § 7-16-11, for a $20 filing fee. It can be filed online or by mail.

Under § 7-16-11, if no valid registered agent is on file, its authority has been revoked, or it cannot be located, the Secretary of State becomes the LLC's agent for service of process by default. Separately, falling behind on the LLC's annual report adds a $25 penalty and can eventually put the LLC's good standing at risk.

Rhode Island's LLC Act does not require a separate statutory consent form. The LLC designates or changes its registered agent by filing a statement signed by an authorized person with the Secretary of State under § 7-16-11.

Yes, as long as they are a Rhode Island resident, at least 18, have a Rhode Island street address, and are available during business hours, under § 7-16-11.

Only if that company is itself authorized to transact business in Rhode Island and maintains a Rhode Island street address; an unauthorized out-of-state entity cannot serve as agent under § 7-16-11.

Rhode Island law does not set a specific forwarding deadline for a registered agent, but LLC Register scans and emails any service of process or state notice to you the same day we receive it.

Yes. The registered agent's name and registered office address are part of the LLC's public filing with the Secretary of State and appear on its annual report.

Yes. A registered agent can file a signed resignation with the Secretary of State, together with proof it was delivered to the LLC; the resignation takes effect 30 days after filing unless a different date is stated, under § 7-16-11.

Yes. The annual report, due to the Secretary of State between February 1 and May 1 each year under § 7-16-66, must show your current registered agent and registered office.

This page covers LLCs, which need one under § 7-16-11 for every domestic and foreign LLC registered with the Secretary of State. Corporations and other entity types have their own registered-agent requirements under separate chapters of Title 7.

Yes. Under § 7-16-11, both domestic and foreign LLCs registered in Rhode Island must maintain a resident agent, and a foreign LLC names its Rhode Island agent on its Application for Registration, filed with the Secretary of State for $150 ($156 filed online).

Yes, the same one as any other LLC. An L3C is formed under the same Rhode Island Limited Liability Company Act as a standard LLC, just with the added charitable-purpose requirements of § 7-16-76 and its own Form 400A, so it names and maintains a resident agent under § 7-16-11 like any other LLC.

No. Rhode Island does not offer a separate professional LLC (PLLC) designation; a licensed professional instead typically forms a standard LLC under § 7-16-11 or uses the state's separate professional service corporation statute, and either entity follows its own existing registered agent rule.

Yes. Under the Rhode Island Nonprofit Corporation Act, § 7-6-12, every nonprofit corporation must maintain a registered agent who is either an individual Rhode Island resident whose business office is identical to the registered office, or a domestic or foreign corporation authorized to transact business in Rhode Island with an office identical to the registered office.

It files a statement with the Secretary of State under § 7-6-13 naming the new agent and confirming the change was authorized by a duly adopted board resolution. The statement must also confirm the registered office address is staying the same, or give the new address if that is changing too.

The agent files a written notice of resignation, executed in duplicate, with the Secretary of State. This is a separate process from the one LLC registered agents use under § 7-16-11, since nonprofit corporations are governed by their own chapter, § 7-6, of Title 7.

Yes. Under § 7-13.1-117 of the Rhode Island Uniform Limited Partnership Act, which took effect in 2023, every limited partnership and every registered foreign limited partnership must designate and maintain a registered agent with a place of business in Rhode Island.

Under § 7-13.1-117, the agent must forward to the partnership any process, notice or demand it receives on the partnership's behalf, give the partnership the statutorily required notice if the agent resigns, and keep its own information current with the Secretary of State.

No. Under § 7-13.1-117, naming an agent in the partnership's filing with the Secretary of State is itself a statutory affirmation that the agent has consented to serve — there is no separate consent document to file.

The agent files the required resignation notice with the Secretary of State and must also give notice to the partnership at the address it most recently provided, under § 7-13.1-117.

Search the Rhode Island Department of State's business entity database at business.sos.ri.gov by entity name or filing number; the result shows the entity's current registered agent and registered office address on file.

Yes. Rhode Island's registered agent statutes — § 7-16-11 for LLCs, § 7-6-12 for nonprofit corporations, and § 7-13.1-117 for limited partnerships — set eligibility rules for who can serve as agent but place no limit on how many entities one agent can represent at once.

Yes. The IRS treats an annual registered agent fee as an ordinary and necessary business expense, deductible in the year you pay it.

Yes, as long as your attorney is a Rhode Island resident individual, or belongs to a firm authorized to transact business in Rhode Island with a Rhode Island address — the same eligibility rule under § 7-16-11 that applies to anyone else.

Not in substance — Rhode Island's own statutes just use different labels for the same role. The LLC Act, § 7-16-11, calls the role a "resident agent," while the Nonprofit Corporation Act (§ 7-6-12) and the Uniform Limited Partnership Act (§ 7-13.1-117) both call it a "registered agent." LLC Register uses "registered agent" as the common term throughout.

Rhode Island has no separate "returned mail" rule, but undeliverable mail is strong evidence the agent "cannot be located" at the registered office — one of the § 7-16-11 triggers that makes the Secretary of State your LLC's default agent for service of process, the same as having no agent on file at all.

You have to name one upfront. Form 400, the Articles of Organization, requires your registered agent's name and Rhode Island street address before the Secretary of State will file it.

Your registered office is specifically where your registered agent accepts legal mail and must be a physical Rhode Island street address under § 7-16-11; your principal office is wherever you actually run the business and does not have to be in Rhode Island at all.

No. § 7-16-11 and the Secretary of State's filing rules require a physical Rhode Island street address where someone can accept delivery during business hours; a commercial mail-receiving service or mailbox rental does not meet that rule any more than a P.O. box does.

No. Rhode Island's public filings list only your registered agent's name and street address; no phone number or email address is required or published.

Yes. Nothing in § 7-16-11 prevents an owner, manager or officer from also serving as the entity's registered agent, as long as they meet the residency and physical-address requirements.

No. Rhode Island has no licensing, bonding or separate registration requirement for registered agents beyond the residency (for an individual) or business-authorization (for an entity) rules set out in § 7-16-11, § 7-6-12 and § 7-13.1-117.

No. § 7-16-11 requires an individual registered agent to be "an individual resident of this state"; owning Rhode Island real estate does not meet that requirement if you personally live elsewhere. An out-of-state owner can instead use an entity authorized to transact business in Rhode Island.

No. Section 7-16-11 limits a registered agent's statutory role to serving as agent for service of process — accepting and forwarding legal notices addressed to the entity — with no authority to sign contracts or act on the entity's behalf.

Yes. Nothing requires the two to be different — a small business commonly uses one Rhode Island street address for both, as long as it meets the registered office's physical-address and business-hours-availability rule.