The $35 Florida Registered Agent

What Is a Florida Registered Agent?

When you form a Florida LLC or start a Florida corporation, you are required to appoint a Florida registered agent to receive service of process, legal notifications, and other official state documents for your business. You can appoint an individual Florida resident to be your Florida registered agent (including yourself), or you can hire a commercial registered agent service to do it for you. Either way, your Florida registered agent must:

• Maintain a physical address in Florida (not a PO Box or Florida virtual address);
• Be available at that Florida address during normal business hours; and
• Promptly forward any significant legal or state documents to your business.

At Sunshine Corporate Filings LLC®, we provide the fastest, most inclusive commercial registered agent service in Florida for $35 a year.

Our Building Can Be Your Florida Business Headquarters

Most Florida registered agent services just rent an office space in Florida, while their real headquarters might be on the other side of the country. Many also rely on third-party processing centers to handle their clients’ mail because they don’t have the infrastructure or staff to do it themselves. None of that is true for us. We own our building in St. Petersburg, which is where our full-time staff scan and upload our clients’ mail the same day it’s received. But that’s only one of the perks we offer.

Owning Our Building Lets Us Offer More

• Security. Your important mail will only be handled by our vetted full-time staff, never passed through third-party processing centers.
• Privacy. When you hire us as your registered agent, you can use our address for free on your public filings to keep your personal address off the public record.
• Stability. Changing your business address requires filing paperwork with multiple agencies, and you might lose important mail. Since we own our building, our address (and yours) will stay the same for years to come.
• Establishing Florida Business Presence. Get a unique suite number and month-to-month office lease with our Mail Forwarding and Virtual Office services, helping you firmly establish your business presence in Florida.
• Office & Conference Room Rentals. With our Virtual Office service, you can rent office space and conference rooms in our building, giving you a private, professional space to work and meet with your business partners.
• Local Expertise. Florida is where we live and work, and we know all the quirks of forming a business in the Sunshine State. When you call our customer service number, a real, knowledgeable Floridian will be happy to help.

Why settle for less? We provide local, professional registered agent service for just $35 a year.

Free Mail Forwarding for Your Florida Business

We know that receiving your mail at an in-state address is a major concern for LLCs and corporations operating inside and outside Florida, which is why we offer three Florida mail forwarding service options to suit your needs:

• Our free limited mail forwarding option is already part of our $35 Florida registered agent service, and it includes forwarding up to 3 pieces of non-state mail per year for free;
• Our Deluxe Florida mail forwarding package, which includes 10 more non-state mail scans for $49 a year; and
• Our Premium Florida mail forwarding package, which includes 25 more mail scans for $99 a year.

Included with each of the above packages is a free 90-day trial of Florida Phone Service. This is a secure, private VoIP phone line that you can use to call, text, and check your voicemail from your mobile device using our free Android or iOS app, available for download in US app stores. (Not sure if you need a secondary phone line for your business? Try it out for 90 days with no obligation, and cancel anytime).

Our paid Deluxe and Premium Florida mail forwarding packages also include with a unique suite number for your business, and you can even upgrade to our Florida virtual office service for only $19 a month to get:

• Florida Phone Service
• A unique suite number
• An office lease
• Unlimited opened and scanned mail
• The ability to reserve a private & secure office space

With all of our Florida mail forwarding services and Florida virtual office options, you can use our address, and we’ll scan and upload your mail to your client account on the day it arrives!

Benefits of an LLC in Florida

Key benefits of starting an LLC in Florida include:

• Cheap annual maintenance
• No state income taxes
• No capital gains taxes or death taxes
• Low property taxes
• Fewer formalities than a Florida corporation

That’s not to mention the personal asset protection and management flexibility you get when you register your Florida business as an LLC. Check out our Florida LLC page to learn more!

Benefits of Starting a Corporation in Florida

Whether you’re looking to form an LLC or start a corporation in Florida, Sunshine Corporate Filings LLC® has you covered. Some business owners opt for incorporating in Florida because it combines the best of Florida’s low corporate tax rates with the benefits that come with corporations (namely, attracting investors and the promise of scalability). Learn about the benefits of starting Florida corporation today!

How Does a Florida Registered Agent Service Work?

As your Florida registered agent, we receive service of process, legal notifications, and other official state mail for your business at our registered office in Florida. Then we forward those documents to you—either digitally by uploading them to your client account or physically through the mail (depending on the option you choose).

That probably seems like a pretty simple job—until you consider what it really means. Your Florida registered agent receives and handles the most significant legal documents your Florida business will ever receive. That’s why it’s so important to choose a Florida registered agent who takes their appointment as seriously as you take your business.

We’re Floridians, and we know the Florida business world. Our years of experience dealing with the Florida Division of Corporations and making filings for our clients means you can relax knowing that if your business ever gets sued, you’ll have a Florida registered agent with the tools and the know-how to get your important documents to you in the shortest possible time.

When we receive legal notifications and other official documents for your Florida business, we scan and upload those documents immediately to your online account and notify you right away—and we won’t stop notifying you until we’re sure you’ve received them.

How Do I Change My Florida Registered Agent?

If you are currently serving as your business’s Florida registered agent, or if you already hired a different Florida registered agent service, you can still make the switch to Sunshine Corporate Filings LLC®.

Just click the “Hire Us” button below and sign up for our Florida registered agent service. The Florida Division of Corporations will list us as your new Florida registered agent and Florida registered office in around 2 business days. It’s that easy!

How Do I Form a Business in Florida?

Florida is one of the most business-friendly states in the U.S., which means the filing process for domestic LLCs and corporations is generally pretty simple.

To start a Florida LLC, you must file Articles of Organization with the Florida Division of Corporations. There is a $125 state filing fee, and you can file your Florida Articles of Organization online or by mail.

To form a Florida corporation, you must file Articles of Incorporation with the Florida Division of Corporations and pay a $70 state filing fee. As with the Florida LLC, you can file your Florida Articles of Incorporation online or by mail.

For both domestic Florida LLCs and corporations, it currently takes about 8 business days for the state to process online filings, and it can take several days more for mailed filings.

Can Sunshine Corporate Filings Form My Florida Business?

Yes! Our incorporation service fee is only $35 plus state fees for domestic Florida LLCs and corporations, and when you hire Sunshine Corporate Filings LLC® to start your Florida business, we will also act as your Florida registered agent for an additional $35 a year. This gets your Florida business all of the perks of our Florida registered agent service described above—and we’ll also complete, sign, and submit your articles ourselves.

Altogether, that’s $195 TOTAL to form your Florida LLC or $140 TOTAL to form your Florida corporation.

Do I Really Need a Business Formation Service?

You can definitely start your Florida business on your own, but we don’t recommend it. A lot of entrepreneurs are unaware that when they form a Florida corporation or start a Florida LLC, loads of their personal information can end up in the public record. Your name and address can easily be accessed by unscrupulous marketers, mailing list compilers, spammers and other individuals up to no good.

We’re Florida business privacy experts, and as your Florida registered agent, we will list as much of our own information on your company’s formation documents as the state allows, limiting your exposure. We can also guide you through our unique private LLC option—called the Florida Double LLC™—which will keep your personal information entirely off the public record.

Stay Private: Florida Double LLC™

Signing up for our Florida registered agent service will go a long way toward protecting your business privacy, but we can do far more than simply serve as your Florida registered agent or help you form a traditional business in Florida.

Through our Florida Double LLC™ package, we offer a way to protect your privacy even further. Your name and address will not appear on any public document. Tracing the ownership of your company will only be possible through a court order. This is not possible with a Florida corporation, but it is possible through our special Florida Double LLC™.

Florida Annual Reports & Renewal Service

What is the Florida annual report?

The Florida annual report is a report you’ll file by May 1st each year to keep your company’s information up to date on the state’s records. The Florida annual report filing fee is $138.75 for Florida LLCs and $150 for Florida corporations.

Can Sunshine Corporate Filings file my Florida annual report?

You bet! When you hire us, we provide more than just basic registered agent service. For just $35 a year, you get a secure online account to view your important documents, FREE limited mail forwarding, a 90-day trial of our web and phone services, and unlimited access to our library of business resources.

We also receive annual report notifications and automatically inform you of any upcoming deadlines. Plus, when the time comes, we’ll file your Florida annual report for just $100 plus state fees. Hiring Sunshine Corporate Filings LLC® helps ensure your business remains compliant and avoids state penalties. If you’d rather file yourself, you can easily cancel compliance service inside your client account.

Florida Registered Agent FAQs

Do I Have to Appoint a Florida Registered Agent?

Yes. Florida requires LLCs and corporations to appoint a registered agent with a physical address in Florida. See sections §605.0113 and §607.0501 of the Florida state statutes for details.

What Are the Requirements for a Florida Registered Agent?

A Florida registered agent must keep regular office hours and be available to receive service of process and other official state documents at a physical address in Florida (called a “registered office”).

Can I Be My Own Florida Registered Agent?

Florida allows individuals to serve as Florida registered agents, which means you can do the job yourself, but that’s a decision that comes with a lot of drawbacks. Apart from needing to be available during normal business hours (no non-government holidays!), a registered agent’s information will also appear on the public record. Most businesses are more comfortable hiring a commercial company instead.

What If I Am Not A US Citizen?

Non-US residents are a big part of Florida’s economy, especially when it comes to South American entrepreneurs looking to expand their businesses to the United States. At Sunshine Corporate Filings LLC®, we provide our international clients with:

• Resources on how to do business in Florida as a non-US citizen
• Help getting an EIN without a Social Security number
• Our quick and easy apostille service
• A real Florida address for process of service and mail forwarding