Tennessee Registered Agent Service With a Verified Street Address

Tennessee's term is registered agent at a registered office. The Secretary of State's FAQ describes the agent as a person or company who agrees to accept legal mail on behalf of your entity, and says Tennessee requires all entities except general partnerships to maintain a registered agent and office in the state at all times.

The Articles of Organization, Form SS-4270 under T.C.A. section 48-249-202, ask for the registered agent as an individual or an organization, with a Tennessee street address, the county and an email. The Division of Business and Charitable Organizations in Nashville files it, and all information on the form is public record.

The fee is $50 per member in existence on the filing date, with a $300 minimum and a $3,000 maximum, so $300 covers one to six members.

The instructions say a post office box is not acceptable for the registered agent and office address, and that the address will be verified. The FAQ adds that the registered office must be a physical Tennessee address, and that it cannot be a post office box, route number or box number alone.

The form gives the agent a choice of being an individual or an organization. The change form, SS-4534, says the street addresses of the registered office and the business office of the registered agent will be identical. The official pages do not say whether the LLC itself may serve.

An out-of-state address does not work. The registered office has to be in Tennessee.

The agent accepts legal mail for the entity, such as service of process.

Annual report reminders travel a different road. Form SS-4270 says all reminders will be sent via email, to the business email you list, and it has a separate item for a mailing address if notifications from the Division should go somewhere other than the principal office. A stale or unwatched inbox is a second way to miss a deadline.

The agent is not a manager, an accountant or a handler of your general business mail.

With a Tennessee street address where you can reliably be found, you can list yourself as an individual agent, at no cost. Your address goes into the public record, and you are tied to that location.

A co-owner, an employee or an attorney with a Tennessee street address can serve. Their address is public as well, and they must stay reachable. If they move or leave, you update the filing at once.

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

The change is a Statement of Change of Registered Agent/Office, Form SS-4534, and the fee is $20. You can e-file in TNCaB, mail the form or bring it in. The form lists the current and new agent and the new agent's business email, and it certifies that the registered office and the agent's business office addresses will be identical. Card or e-check payments add a convenience fee, which a mailed check avoids.

Line up and confirm the new agent before you file, and keep the old arrangement running until the record changes.

When you move to Mainstay we prepare and submit Form SS-4534, and the $20 is charged at cost.

A Tennessee agent resigns on Form SS-4420, the Statement of Resignation of Registered Agent, which carries a $20 fee. The form says the agent will mail a copy of the statement by certified mail to the affected entity, and it asks whether the registered office is continued or discontinued. A 2025 law, Public Chapter 97, changed T.C.A. section 48-249-111(a) to require written notice of the registered agent's resignation.

The form's timing is the part to notice: the resignation takes effect on the date it is filed by the Secretary of State. There is no 30-day runway like some states give you. So the moment you learn an agent is resigning, name a replacement with Form SS-4534.

Being without a registered agent is a ground for administrative dissolution, which is the next section.

The FAQ lists the reasons for administrative dissolution, including failure to file an annual report and being without a registered agent. Reinstatement uses Form SS-9410, which costs $70, and tax clearances from the Department of Revenue are required.

An agent who has moved, an address that no longer receives mail or a service you stopped paying are routes into that position.

The FAQ lists no separate late fee for a missed report.

The agent is one line on a longer form. Form SS-4270 also asks for the name and a name-consent box, any professional or series designation, a fiscal year ending month that defaults to December, the duration, and the principal office, which cannot be a post office box, along with a mailing address. It asks how the LLC is managed, by members, managers or directors, and how many members it has. An organizer signs.

The form takes up to three NAICS codes and lets you delay the effective date by up to 90 days.

Of everything on it, the business email does the most work after filing, since all reminders will be sent via email. If you change the agent later, check that address too.

Your LLC needs a valid agent at every moment, so confirm the new agent first, file Form SS-4534, look the LLC up in the business entity search to see the update recorded, and only then end the old arrangement.

A short overlap costs almost nothing, while a gap leaves the entity without a registered agent, which is a ground for administrative dissolution.

If a formation company acted as your agent and is winding down its service, treat that as a resignation and start the change before it ends.

In Tennessee the agent role is $149 a year with Mainstay, renewing at $149, with compliance reminders. The annual report is not part of it. It is due on or before the first day of the fourth month after your fiscal year ends, which is April 1 with a December year end, and it carries the same $50 per member fee, $300 at minimum. Most Tennessee LLCs also owe franchise and excise tax to the Department of Revenue. For a new Tennessee company, the $199 formation package files the report, and it also includes the agent, the Articles of Organization and your EIN application.

Mainstay's Tennessee address would be the registered office. Service of process is uploaded as a scan on the same business day, at no charge. The first three government mailings each year are scanned free, then per-piece scan or shipping fees apply, and no tier includes free physical forwarding.