Rhode Island Resident Agent Service With Same-Day Scans and Reminders

Rhode Island's statute, R.I. Gen. Laws section 7-16-11, says every LLC shall have a resident agent for service of process. The agent's address is the resident office, and the Division's web pages also say registered agent. The Department of State's Business Services Division in Providence keeps the record, and the Articles of Organization on Form 400 name the resident agent and its Rhode Island street address, which the form says is not a P.O. Box. Filing costs $150, plus a $6 enhanced access fee online.

The agent accepts service of process, and Form 642 says other important correspondence from the State is sent to the agent's address. That includes the courtesy annual report reminder the Division mails each January. Section 7-16-11 is the LLC provision, and the service also covers corporations, LPs, LLPs and nonprofits.

Nothing on the Articles names the owners. The Department of State does not keep a record of who owns any registered business.

Section 7-16-11(a) allows an individual resident of this state, or a corporation, limited partnership or limited liability company, in each case either domestic or authorized to transact business in Rhode Island.

The Division's filing guide is direct about availability. An agent should be reachable at the address provided during regular business hours, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the guide lists an owner of the business among the common agents. The Division's registered agent page says the same about normal business hours.

It also says P.O. boxes, shipping or postal company addresses and virtual business addresses are not allowed. An agent address has to be a Rhode Island street address.

The guide warns that everything on the Articles is publicly searchable in the Corporate Database. If you plan to be your own resident agent and work from home, you will need to list your home address.

That is the privacy cost of self-service: a home address listed there is public.

A commercial agent substitutes its own Rhode Island address, and a move on your part does not change the agent's address.

A Rhode Island resident who is reliably at a street address during business hours can name themselves, with no separate state fee. If you are out on a job or traveling, a delivery can be missed.

A trusted person who lives in Rhode Island, such as a partner, an employee or an attorney, can serve. They take on the same availability duty and their address becomes public.

A commercial service puts its own Rhode Island address on the record in place of yours.

Naming a different agent is a Change of Agent on Form 642, and it costs $20, plus $2 when filed online. If the same agent stays and only its address, the resident office, changes, the address-only form, 642A, is free. The Division's guide says updating the resident agent name costs $20, while updating the agent's address is free.

An authorized person of the LLC signs the statement, and the form has no signature line for the agent. Under section 7-16-11(b) it is effective when the Secretary of State accepts it for filing. Filing works through the online business portal, by mail, or in person at the Division's Providence office, 148 W. River Street. The Division's filing guide says it processes all filings within two business days, and mailed filings add postal time.

When you move to Mainstay we prepare and file the Form 642, and the state's fee is charged at cost. An individual agent who leaves Rhode Island no longer meets section 7-16-11, so that move also calls for a new agent.

A Rhode Island resident agent resigns by filing a counterpart or photocopy of the signed resignation with the Secretary of State, together with a statement that the resignation has been delivered or sent to the LLC. Under section 7-16-11(d), unless a later time is specified, it is effective 30 days after it is filed. The fee schedule's LLC page lists no resignation form or fee. So you have about 30 days to file the $20 Form 642 naming a replacement.

If no resident agent has been appointed, the agent's authority has been revoked, or the agent cannot be found or served after reasonable diligence, section 7-16-11(e) appoints the Secretary of State as the LLC's agent for service of process. Form 642 also warns that failing to maintain a registered agent or office will result in revocation proceedings.

The Division mails its courtesy annual report reminder to the registered agent each January, ahead of the February 1 to May 1 filing window. If that reminder goes to a stale address, you can miss the window and owe the $25 penalty that applies on June 1. The Division also says that if the reminder comes back undeliverable, it begins revocation proceedings for failure to maintain a registered office.

Entities lose good standing when they fail to file an annual report, pay taxes or a required fee, or maintain a registered agent or office. Reinstating a revoked LLC means first getting a $50 Letter of Good Standing from the Division of Taxation, and then filing the Department of State's forms and penalty fees together.

A revoked LLC is still obligated to meet its annual obligations until it formally dissolves.

Form 400, revised in March 2026 under section 7-16-6, also asks for the LLC's federal tax treatment, whether a disregarded single-member entity, a partnership or a corporation, and for the principal office if it has been determined. The purpose and a perpetual duration are pre-printed.

Optional provisions come next, then whether members or managers manage the company, with manager names and addresses listed only for a manager-managed LLC. The effective date can be on filing or up to 90 days later, and an Authorized Person signs.

The filing guide's rule of thumb is to leave the owners off the Articles.

Mainstay's resident agent service for Rhode Island is $149 a year and renews at the same $149, with compliance reminders. The annual report, which falls in the February 1 to May 1 window with a $52.50 state fee, is yours to file under this service, and so is the $400 minimum annual tax paid to the Division of Taxation. A new Rhode Island company can use the $199 formation package, which files the report and includes the resident agent along with the Articles of Organization and your EIN application.

Mainstay's Rhode Island address takes the place of yours on the public record. We charge no fee to scan and upload service of process the same business day it is received. Three government mailings a year are scanned free, then a per-piece scan or shipping fee applies. No tier includes free physical forwarding.