Kentucky Registered Agent Service and the County Clerk Copy

Kentucky's agent rules sit in KRS 14A.4-010, and the term is registered agent at a registered office. The Secretary of State's Division of Business Filings in Frankfort keeps the record. Article II of the Articles of Organization, Form KLC, takes the registered office street address in Kentucky and the initial registered agent, and the form says street address only, with no post office box numbers.

The agent's statutory job is to forward to the LLC any service of process, notice or demand received on its behalf, and to collect and maintain a communications contact for the LLC (KRS 14A.4-050). State mail is a different channel. The Secretary of State's forms say all of its correspondence is mailed to the principal office. The requirement to maintain an agent stays for as long as the LLC exists. The Articles cost $40, and the fee is waived for a veteran-owned business that is at least 51% owned by veterans.

The forms and statutes cited here are for LLCs, and the same agent service is open to corporations, LPs, LLPs and nonprofits.

Form KLC lists three kinds of agent: an individual resident of Kentucky, a Kentucky entity, or a foreign entity authorized to transact business in Kentucky. The statute adds that the agent's business address has to be identical with the registered office, and the form says the registered office address "shall be the street address in Kentucky where the registered agent is located." The Form RAC instructions say the company cannot act as its own registered agent.

The agent also has to consent. Unless the agent signs the document making the appointment, the appointment is not effective until the agent delivers a written acceptance to the Secretary of State. That acceptance is Form CRA, which has no filing fee.

Commercial agents commonly qualify as a Kentucky entity or as an authorized foreign one.

Here is the part that is specific to Kentucky. Under KRS 14A.2-040, one exact or conformed copy of the Articles of Organization and all amendments goes to the county clerk of the county where the registered office is maintained. The clerk receives a fee under KRS 64.012. Annual reports need not be filed with the county clerk.

Form KLC points to the Secretary of State's website, where you can print a copy from the organization search tool to take to the clerk.

So the registered office address is not only a mailbox. It determines which county holds part of your public record, which is a reason to pick an address you expect to keep.

A Kentucky resident can list a Kentucky street address as the registered office, sign the consent and pay nothing extra. The statute requires the individual's business address to be identical with the registered office. The address is searchable in the FastTrack business database, so a home address is a public address from then on.

Papers come to that address. A contractor on job sites, a consultant who travels or a shop owner on vacation may be away when a process server arrives, and a lawsuit does not wait.

A commercial agent puts its own address on the record. If you move, travel or run the business from out of state, the agent address stays put, and so does the county tied to the registered office.

Form RAC is the Statement of Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office, or Both, and the fee is $10. You can file it through FastTrack or on paper. It takes the LLC's name, the new agent's name and the new registered office street address in Kentucky, and the new agent signs the consent on it. The change takes effect when the Secretary of State files it.

The annual report cannot do this job. The Secretary of State says you cannot make changes to the principal office or registered agent or office on the annual report postcard, and those changes must be made with a statement of change. Waiting for the January to June report window only leaves the old agent on record longer.

Switching to us, we prepare and file the Form RAC, with the $10 passed through at cost. The Secretary of State says filings other than annual reports are usually processed the same day, though it can take up to three business days. Until the change is filed, the old agent stays your agent of record, so keep the old arrangement running.

A Kentucky agent resigns on Form SRA, the Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent, which has no filing fee and is signed by the agent. The Secretary of State mails one copy to the registered office and one to the LLC's principal office. Under KRS 14A.4-030 the appointment does not end at filing. It ends on the earlier of the appointment of a successor or the 31st day after the resignation was filed, so you have about a month to file the $10 Form RAC.

An agent can also resign if the LLC fails to give it a current communications contact, which KRS 14A.4-010 requires the entity to provide and update.

If an LLC has no registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, KRS 14A.4-040 allows service by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the LLC at its principal office. And an empty seat can lead to dissolution: being without a registered office or registered agent for 60 days or more, or not telling the Secretary of State within 60 days that the agent resigned, is a ground for administrative dissolution under KRS 14A.7-010. After notice, you have 60 days to correct it.

With Mainstay the Kentucky agent role is $149 a year, and it renews at $149. It comes with compliance reminders. The annual report, due by June 30 and open for filing from January 1 with a $15 fee, is not filed as part of this service, and neither is the Limited Liability Entity Tax, which is a separate bill from the Department of Revenue. Filing the annual report comes with the $199 formation package, which also includes the agent, the Articles of Organization and your EIN application.

The Kentucky registered office on your record becomes Mainstay's address. When the company is served, we scan and upload the papers the same business day, with no fee. Government mailings come with three free scans each year, then a per-piece scan or shipping fee. None of our tiers forwards physical mail for free.