Washington Registered Agent Service With the Consent on Record

Washington forms an LLC with a Certificate of Formation under RCW 25.15.071, filed either on an unnumbered fillable PDF or online in the Corporations and Charities Filing System, CCFS, as a Certificate of Formation with Initial Report. The Secretary of State's Corporations & Charities Division in Olympia keeps the record.

The Certificate states the name, the registered agent's name and address, the principal office address, a latest dissolution date if there is one, other matters, and the name and address of each person executing it. A UBI number is assigned on filing. The Secretary of State does not record operating agreements or other internal governance documents.

The fee is $180, and online filing adds a $20 processing fee, for $200 in total.

The filing names a commercial registered agent, a noncommercial registered agent with a name and address, or the title of an office or other position within the entity. A commercial agent is a business registered with the Secretary of State to provide the service.

The Secretary of State describes a noncommercial agent as a business or individual who agrees to receive legal documents but is not registered as a commercial agent. It must have a physical street address in Washington, and the instructions say no PO boxes or PMBs.

CCFS asks for an email address for the registered agent and the principal office, under WAC 434-112-045(4).

The statute is specific: a registered agent shall not be appointed without having given prior consent in a record. Nobody can be volunteered into the role. Someone who was named without consent can file a notarized statement, and the name shall immediately be removed from the records.

The Statement of Change form says the Consent of the Registered Agent must be signed, regardless of the type of registered agent. With a commercial service, consent arrives as part of signing up. If you name an individual, get their agreement in writing and make sure they understand what they are accepting, which includes forwarding to the entity whatever is served on them.

The registered agent's address is part of the public record in CCFS, so a home address named as the agent is public.

RCW 23.95.415 and 23.95.410 set no office hours for agents. The Secretary of State's own Registered Agents page, though, says the registered office is the office address where the registered agent must be located during business hours. Using your own address therefore works only if you are reliably there during business hours.

If you are often on job sites, traveling or working odd hours, a missed delivery is a real risk.

The principal office is a physical address that does not need to be in Washington State. The registered agent's address is different. It has to be a Washington street address.

That split lets an out-of-state owner keep the principal office at home base and still meet the state's agent rule with someone local. It also means a move on your side touches one line of the record and not the other.

Editing one line leaves the other as it was, so make sure you are changing the right field before you submit.

The fee schedule lists Change of Registered Agent / Office at no fee. The Statement of Change/Designation of Registered Agent can be filed online in CCFS or mailed to the Secretary of State in Olympia, and the new agent signs the consent on it. Under RCW 23.95.255(6), an initial or annual report that names a different agent counts as a statement of change. The Secretary of State says that inside the annual report window you file the annual report, and outside it you file an Amended Annual Report, which costs $10, or a Statement of Change.

The Secretary of State says standard processing typically takes 7 to 10 business days, and it sells expedited handling for $100. Afterward, check that the new agent shows on the record. When you move to Mainstay we prepare and file the change, and there is no state fee to pass along.

A Washington agent resigns with a Statement of Resignation, and there is no filing fee. It can be filed online in CCFS or by mail. The agent has to send notice of the resignation to the business entity, and under RCW 23.95.445 it takes effect on the earlier of the 31st day after the Secretary of State files it or the designation of a new registered agent. So you have about a month to file the free Statement of Change.

If an entity ceases to have a registered agent, or its agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, RCW 23.95.450 allows service by registered or certified mail addressed to the entity at its principal office. Failing that, a copy can be handed to the person in charge of a regular place of business, and if none of those work, the Secretary of State is an agent of the entity for service of process.

An empty seat can also end the company. Not having a registered agent in Washington for thirty consecutive days is a ground for administrative dissolution under RCW 23.95.605, and you have 60 days to cure after the notice under RCW 23.95.610.

Washington's annual report costs $70 and falls at the end of your anniversary month. It restates the agent, and a $25 delinquency fee applies after the due date. The Secretary of State says an email address is required on all documents submitted to its office, and that existing email addresses will be used for notifications unless replaced through a filing. So keep the email on file current alongside the agent.

A paid report does not fix an agent who is no longer reachable, and a stale agent record is a separate problem from a late report.

Online, you log in to CCFS, choose Create or Register a Business, then I would like to form a Washington State business, and select WA Limited Liability Company. The system requires an email address for the registered agent and the principal office, and it assigns a UBI number on filing.

The Secretary of State does not record operating agreements or other internal governance documents, so those stay with you.

If you start as your own agent and later want privacy or reliability, you can switch to a commercial service at any time by filing the change through CCFS.

Mainstay's Washington agent role costs $149 a year, renewing at $149, with compliance reminders. Filing the $70 annual report is not part of this service. A new Washington company can use the $199 formation package, which files it and also includes the agent, the Certificate of Formation and your EIN application, with the state's $180 fee and the $20 online processing fee at cost.

Mainstay's Washington address would be on the record. Service of process is uploaded as a scan on the same business day, with no fee for it. The first three government mailings each year are scanned free, then a per-piece scan or shipping fee applies. No tier includes free physical forwarding.