Colorado Registered Agent Service With Same-Day Scans

Colorado uses the plain term registered agent. The Secretary of State's registered agent FAQ is the main source of the rules, and the Articles of Organization are filed online only, with a $50 fee. The Articles ask for the agent's name, Colorado street address, mailing address and consent.

The agent is where a lawsuit against your company is served. Colorado law requires the registered agent to have a physical address in Colorado. Colorado allows only one agent per entity, and it cannot be the Secretary of State.

The rules below come from the LLC guidance, while the same agent service is open to corporations, LPs, LLPs and nonprofits.

An individual agent must be over the age of 18. The person needs a primary residence or usual place of business in Colorado. And the person must hold a current, valid Colorado driver's license or ID card, or verify their residency status with the Secretary of State's office. The Secretary of State attributes that last rule to recent changes in Colorado law in 2024. A filing that names an individual without a Colorado ID goes to review.

The other kind of agent is an entity in good standing with the Colorado Secretary of State, with a usual place of business in Colorado. That is the category a commercial agent falls into.

Consent is required either way. The registered agent must consent, and when you file a change online you check a box to affirm it. Naming a friend who has not said yes is not an option.

The FAQ states that Colorado law requires the registered agent to have a physical address in Colorado. It adds that commercial addresses or P.O. box addresses cannot be used as a registered agent's physical street address. If you list an individual, the address has to be their primary residence or usual place of business.

The FAQ describes a usual place of business as a physical street address in Colorado where the place is customarily open during normal business hours. That is the state's definition for the individual route.

You can list a separate mailing address. It may be a commercial or P.O. box address, but it must also be located in Colorado. The physical address is where process is served.

Colorado handles the "LLC cannot be its own agent" question differently from many states. The Secretary of State says an LLC may serve as its own registered agent after registering. It takes a two-step process: name another agent in the Articles, then file a change naming the LLC once it exists.

The catch is that the LLC would still need a physical Colorado address. An LLC with members who live elsewhere has nothing in the state to list.

You personally can be your LLC's agent from the first day if you meet the individual requirements. Either way, the Secretary of State's filing page says the public will be able to see any information or documents you provide, so the address you give is public.

Colorado's form is a Statement of Change Changing the Registered Agent Information, and the online fee is $10. The statement names the new agent and the agent's Colorado street address, which cannot be a post office box, and the filer checks a box to affirm the agent's consent. It takes effect immediately or on a delayed date up to 90 days out.

There is a second route. You can update the registered agent in your periodic report, which is filed online every year for $25.

Move to Mainstay and we prepare and file the Statement of Change, passing the $10 through at cost. Colorado's e-filing FAQ says online documents are processed in real time and available immediately after payment, so the change is usually on the public record right away. An individual who cannot be matched to a Colorado license or ID can trigger a review first.

Name the replacement in the same filing that removes the old agent. Never leave the record without one.

A Colorado agent resigns by filing a Statement of Change Regarding Resignation or Other Termination of Registered Agent, which costs $10 online. The agent has to deliver notice of the change to the entity, and the statement says that notice was delivered. The resignation takes effect on the 31st day after the statement is filed, or on a delayed date up to the 90th day, or on the effective date of a statement appointing a different agent, whichever comes first. So you have about a month, and the replacement goes in on the $10 Statement of Change.

If an entity has no registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, section 7-90-704 allows service by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the entity at its principal address.

A missing agent can also cost you good standing. Failing to comply with the registered agent requirements is a ground for delinquency: the Secretary of State makes a determination, you have 60 days to correct it, and then the entity becomes delinquent. A domestic entity must keep a registered agent even while delinquent, and the Statement Curing Delinquency costs $100.

The price is $149 a year for your Colorado registered agent, and the renewal is the same $149. That pays for the agent role plus compliance reminders. The periodic report is a separate job: it falls due in the periodic report month shown on your entity's summary page, can be filed two months early or two months late without penalty, and costs $25 at the state. The $199 formation package files it, and it comes with the agent role, the Articles of Organization and your EIN application.

Your registered agent address on the public record becomes Mainstay's Colorado address. Service of process is scanned and uploaded the same business day, and it is free. The first three government mailings of the year are scanned at no charge, a per-piece scan or shipping fee covers the rest, and free physical forwarding is not available on any tier.

Legal advice is outside what we do.