A registered agent is not a virtual mailbox. We do not score mailbox suites, virtual offices, or Google Business Profile eligibility here. If you need scans of catalogs, that is a different product on a different site.
What North Carolina actually requires
A registered agent is the person or company who can be handed a lawsuit. Service of process means handing over those papers. The Secretary of State keeps the list. G.S. 55D-30 says each limited liability company keeps a registered office and a registered agent in this State. The agent is an individual who lives here, or a domestic or authorized foreign corporation, nonprofit, or limited liability company. The agent’s business office is identical with the registered office. The only duty is to forward notice, process, or demand to the last known address. The agent must agree to act. The change form says the new agent is other than your own entity, and it includes written consent.
A street is a place a person can walk up to. A P.O. Box is a mailbox at the post office. The agent keeps a physical office in North Carolina where papers can be handed over. A mailing address may be a P.O. Box. A P.O. Box is not the physical office. Update the agent’s name and office within 60 days of a change. Missing that update gives grounds for administrative dissolution. The company change form is $5.
The annual report is due April 15 of each year after the year of creation. Paper is $200. Online by card is $203. Filing it is not the job of taking the lawsuit. A resignation ends on the 31st day, not on the 60-day update. The sources disagree. This page does not pick one. G.S. 55D-33 says papers may be served on the agent. If no agent is kept, or the agent cannot with due diligence be found at the office, the Secretary of State becomes an agent.
Related guide: Can I be my own registered agent? You may be your own agent if you live in North Carolina, and your business office must match the registered office.
Related guide: What is a registered agent for an LLC? The duty is to forward a lawsuit and official notices. The April 15 report is a different filing.
Related guide: How much does a registered agent cost? The company change form is $5. The annual report is $200 on paper, or $203 online by card.
Related guide: How to change a registered agent on an LLC File a statement of change with the new agent’s written consent, or put the change on the annual report.
Related guide: What is a commercial registered agent? North Carolina does not run a ten-company register. A company agent must already be authorized here, with a matching office.
Related guide: Service of process: what it means for an LLC Papers go to the agent first. The Secretary of State is a fallback, not the everyday agent.
Related guide: What is a registered agent address? The physical office is a North Carolina street. A P.O. Box may be the mailing line, not that office.
Related guide: Best registered agent service A hired company still needs a physical North Carolina office identical with the registered office.
Related guide: What is a certificate of good standing? The certificate is a different paper from the agent filing.
The contact page lists desk hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Those are the Secretary of State’s hours, not the agent’s clock. The statute does not print a clock. Someone has to be at a North Carolina street to accept hand-delivered papers. A software login is not that street.
Full requirement and citations
In plain language. North Carolina wants a person or company who can take court papers at a North Carolina street. That person is the registered agent. The street is the registered office. The agent’s business office must be the same street as that registered office. A P.O. Box may be a mailing line. It is not the physical registered office. If the agent is a person, that person must live in North Carolina. If the agent is a company, that company must already be on the North Carolina Business Registry and authorized here. You must update the registered-agent name and office within 60 days of any change. Not updating is grounds for administrative dissolution. The LLC annual report is due April 15 each year after the year of creation. Paper is $200. Online is $203 when you pay by card. That report is not the registered-agent job. Check the live name on the Business Registration search before you file.
G.S. 55D-30 is North Carolina’s registered-agent rule. Each domestic corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, and limited liability partnership, each foreign limited liability partnership maintaining a statement of foreign registration, and each foreign corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, and limited partnership authorized to transact business or conduct affairs in this State must continuously maintain in this State a registered office and a registered agent. The registered office may be the same as any of its places of business or any place where it conducts affairs. The agent must be an individual who resides in this State and whose business office is identical with the registered office; a domestic corporation, nonprofit corporation, or limited liability company whose business office is identical with the registered office; or a foreign corporation, nonprofit corporation, or limited liability company authorized here whose business office is identical with the registered office. The sole duty of the registered agent to the entity is to forward to the entity at its last known address any notice, process, or demand that is served on the registered agent. That is the sentence this page is built on. Georgia wants the registered office at the same street as the agent. Illinois also wants the agent’s business office identical with the registered office. Colorado will not take a commercial mailbox or a P.O. Box as the street. Florida files a written acceptance and posts a 10–noon / 2–4 clock. Delaware bans a virtual-only agent. Nevada makes a commercial agent register at ten companies. Wyoming bans UPS stores and virtual addresses. New York already names the Secretary of State as the agent. Pennsylvania files a registered office, not a registered agent. New Jersey wants a street and will not take a P.O. Box alone. Ohio files a written acceptance and cancels the articles if you miss the 30-day statutory-agent notice. Arizona waits on a signed acceptance. We print that contrast once. We did not retrieve a North Carolina written-acceptance form.
The Secretary of State registered-office and registered-agent page, retrieved September 9, 2026, is the street rule this page is built on. The sole duty of the registered agent is to forward any notice, process, or demand to the last known address of the entity. The entity has a duty to keep the registered-agent information updated. A registered agent must agree to act. The agent must reside in North Carolina, you may be your own registered agent if you live here, or be a domestic or foreign corporation, nonprofit, or LLC that is registered on the North Carolina Business Registry, authorized to transact business or conduct affairs here, and whose business office address is identical with the registered office address. Each registered agent must continuously maintain a physical registered office in North Carolina where the agent can receive notices, demands, and service of process. Acceptance of those documents at the registered office is considered legal notice. The agent must then forward the documents to the business in a timely manner. A registered mailing address may be a P.O. Box address. We print that mailing sentence. We do not treat a P.O. Box as the physical registered office.
The same official page is the 60-day clock. Each domestic and foreign business corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, and limited liability partnership on the North Carolina Business Registry must keep a current registered agent and registered-agent office on the Secretary of State record. You are required to update the registered-agent name and office within 60 days of any change in the information. Not updating this information will provide the North Carolina Secretary of State with grounds for administrative dissolution. The Maintaining Registration page repeats that 60-day notice for the registered-agent name, the registered office, and the principal office. We print the office’s own words. The sources do not agree. This page does not add a third clock.
North Carolina also keeps a Public Registered Agent Listing. The Secretary of State page says filers can pick a listed agent from a drop-down during an online annual report, a creation filing, or a paper filing. To see which entities picked a listed agent, use the Business Registration search, choose Registered Agent, and enter the agent’s last name first, then first name. That listing is a convenience list. It is not an endorsement. Confirm the live name and street before you treat a marketing city as current.
G.S. 55D-31 is how you change the office or the agent. An entity may change its registered office or registered agent by delivering a statement of change that names the current street and mailing lines, the new street and mailing lines, the current agent, the new agent, and the new agent’s written consent, either on the statement or attached to it. After the change, the addresses of the registered office and the business office of the registered agent will be identical. If the agent’s own business office moves, the agent may change the registered office of the entities it serves by notifying each entity in writing and filing that same statement. A domestic corporation, limited liability company, limited liability limited partnership, registered limited liability partnership, or an authorized foreign entity of those kinds may also put the same information and consent on its annual report. The official form for a company change is Form BE-06, Statement of Change of Registered Office and/or Registered Agent. The forms table and the registered-agent page both price BE-06 at $5. The BE-06 instructions, retrieved September 9, 2026, say the new registered agent must be a North Carolina resident, an existing domestic business corporation, nonprofit corporation, or limited liability company, or a foreign business corporation, nonprofit corporation, or limited liability company authorized here, “other than your own entity.” We print that form sentence. The form does not describe a one-click self-appointment.
The same official table prices the other registered-agent forms we retrieved. BE-05 is $5: designation of a registered office and/or registered agent when a previous agent has resigned and there is no agent of record. BE-07 is no fee: the agent’s statement of resignation. BE-12 is $5: the agent’s statement of change of registered-office address, and $5 for each entity when the agent uses that form to standardize a list. BE-17 is $10: designation or change of the principal office and the registered-agent name or office. Those dollars are Secretary of State dollars. They are not the vendor’s year-1 card.
G.S. 55D-32 is how an agent steps down. The agent files a statement of resignation and certifies that written notice was mailed or delivered to the entity at its last known address. The agency appointment ends on the 31st day after the statement is filed. That 31-day resignation clock is not the company’s 60-day duty to put a new agent on record. We print both. The sources do not agree. This page does not add a third clock.
G.S. 55D-33 is service of process. Service of process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served on an entity may be served on the registered agent. If the entity fails to appoint or maintain a registered agent, or the agent cannot with due diligence be found at the registered office, or the Secretary of State revokes a foreign entity’s authority, the Secretary of State becomes an agent of the entity. Service on the Secretary of State is made by delivering duplicate copies and the applicable fee. The Secretary of State then mails one copy by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the principal office or, if none is on file, to the registered office. That Secretary of State path is a fallback. It is not the everyday job. New York starts with the Secretary of State on the agent line. North Carolina starts with your appointed agent. A vendor article does not supply a dollar figure for that fallback fee. We cite the statute’s “applicable fee.”
North Carolina also files an annual report. That filing is not the registered-agent job. The official annual-report due-dates page, retrieved September 9, 2026, is the price this page is built on. A limited liability company or L3C files on April 15 of each year after the year of creation. Online is $203.00, and that star includes a $3.00 electronic filing fee for credit cards. The electronic fee for ACH is $2.00. Paper is $200.00. A partnership (LLP or LLLP) uses the same two dollars, but its due date is the 15th day of the fourth month after the fiscal year ends. A business corporation or bank is cheaper: online $21.00 with the card e-fee, paper $25.00, due the 15th day of the fourth month after the fiscal year ends. We print the LLC line first because that is the formation most first-time owners file. We do not treat the $200 report as the registered-agent job. Colorado’s periodic report is $25. New Jersey’s for-profit annual report is $75. Georgia’s annual registration is $60. North Carolina’s LLC report is the expensive yearly filing. It still does not take court papers.
Confirm the live name and street on the Business Registration search before you treat a marketing city as current. Headquarters is not the registered office. The Secretary of State desk is not a vendor suite. The official contact page, retrieved September 9, 2026, lists the mailing line as Post Office Box 29622, Raleigh, North Carolina 27626-0622, and the street as 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-2903. Desk hours on that page are Monday–Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Those hours and that street are the Secretary of State, not a commercial registered agent.
Cited prices, retrieved September 9, 2026
We print what the company’s official registered-agent page said on the retrieval date. No company publishes a different North Carolina registered-agent price from the national card, except where we note a North Carolina-page renewal line. The page does not publish a separate renewal price.
| Vendor | Year 1 | Year 2 | Letters | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Registered Agent | $125/year standalone; first year free only if you form the entity through Northwest | $125/year (same price; $100/year per state if you have five or more states) | B+ / B / B | Official page |
| Bizee | Free first year when you form through Bizee; standalone registered agent $149/year | Official pages we retrieved say $149/year after the free first year (or $149 from day one if you buy standalone) | C+ / B- / B | Official page |
| LegalZoom | $249/year on the official registered-agent overview (first-time customers) | Official footnote: auto-renews at the purchase rate until you cancel; “The renewal rate is subject to change.” | C / B- / B- | LegalZoom |
| ZenBusiness | $99 + NC state fees for the first year (standalone); North Carolina page says starts at $99 + NC state fees | $199/year renewal on the official North Carolina pages; North Carolina pages say the rate is subject to change | C / B- / B- | ZenBusiness |
- Northwest Registered Agent: official page: “$125 Per Year.” Same price in year two on the national card. Five or more states is $100 a year per state. Retrieved September 9, 2026 from northwestregisteredagent.com/registered-agent and the North Carolina product page. First year free only if you form through them; we do not treat that bundle as the standalone price.
- Bizee: official registered-agent page: free first year with formation; standalone $149/year; year two $149/year. Retrieved September 9, 2026 from bizee.com/business-management/registered-agent. A bizee.com/llc/north-carolina-registered-agent URL returned 404 the same day. A missing page does not supply a North Carolina-only price.
- LegalZoom: official overview retrieved September 9, 2026: “Get registered agent services for $249/year.” Product card: $249/year. Footnote: auto-renews at the purchase rate; “The renewal rate is subject to change.” Retrieved from legalzoom.com/…/registered-agent-overview.html. The North Carolina registered-agent article, updated October 3, 2025 and retrieved the same day, also prints $249/year. The page does not publish a higher year-two number.
- ZenBusiness: official North Carolina page: “Starts at $99 + NC state fees” for the first year. Renews at $199/year, subject to change. That North Carolina page was last updated August 31, 2026. The same national page says they currently do not offer registered-agent service to PLLCs or nonprofits. That is their national exclusion, not a North Carolina statute. Retrieved September 9, 2026 from zenbusiness.com/registered-agent and the North Carolina product page. That North Carolina page publishes no ZenBusiness street or city.
A change of agent is a separate Secretary of State filing. We cite the official forms table and the BE-06 PDF, retrieved September 9, 2026, not company blogs. Form BE-06 is $5. ZenBusiness’s North Carolina page prices that same change at $5 as of August 2026. That matches the official table. We print the official dollars. The LLC annual report is still $200 paper or $203 online. It is still not the registered-agent job.
Who publishes a North Carolina street
A city is not a registered office. We print only the streets the companies publish for registered-agent use. The pages we read do not publish the rest. Confirm the live name and street on the Business Registration search before you file. Headquarters is not the registered office. The Secretary of State’s Raleigh contacts are not vendor suites.
- Northwest. The North Carolina FAQ answers “Where is Northwest’s registered office in North Carolina?” with “Our commercial registered office is located in Raleigh, NC.” The office-locations page lists Raleigh, NC 27609, Wake County, and says they leave the street off this list. No street is published. Same-day local scans and instant notices are vendor-claimed. We have not been to a Raleigh office.
- Bizee. Claims owned offices in all 50 states. The official registered-agent page names no North Carolina street. The North Carolina product URL we tried returned 404 on September 9, 2026. The contact page lists 17350 State Highway 249, Suite 220, Houston, TX 77064 as headquarters. That address is not a North Carolina registered-agent street.
- LegalZoom. The official registered-agent overview does not publish a North Carolina street. The North Carolina article, updated October 3, 2025, says “LegalZoom’s registered offices in Charlotte and Raleigh meet all NC requirements.” Those are vendor-claimed cities. No street is published. The page does not publish a suite. We do not treat a LegalZoom virtual-mail street as the registered-agent street.
- ZenBusiness. The North Carolina product page publishes no ZenBusiness street or city. The product page shows a “North Carolina Secretary of State” contact with mailing Post Office Box 29622, Raleigh, NC 27626-0622, and a physical line at 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601. Those lines are the Secretary of State, not ZenBusiness’s registered office. We do not treat 2 South Salisbury Street as their street. The page does not publish a suite.
If you are your own agent, the street on the public record is often your home. If you hire a commercial registered agent, the agent line is that organization’s name and its North Carolina street. Northwest names Raleigh, ZIP 27609, Wake County, and no street. LegalZoom names Charlotte and Raleigh and no street. Bizee and ZenBusiness publish no North Carolina street. We label every city vendor-claimed. We have not been to those offices. Use the Business Registration search.
In-state office and the identical-office rule
North Carolina wants an in-state person or an authorized company, a physical registered office, and the agent’s business office on that same street. A P.O. Box may be the mailing line. It is not the physical registered office. Change the agent on Form BE-06 for $5, or on the annual report when the statute lets that report carry the change. Miss the 60-day update and the office says it has grounds for administrative dissolution. Resignation is effective on the 31st day. The LLC annual report is due April 15 and costs $200 paper or $203 online. North Carolina does not post a Florida-style 10–noon / 2–4 clock, and it does not run a Nevada-style ten-company commercial-agent register on the text we could read. Northwest claims Raleigh, ZIP 27609, and no street. LegalZoom’s North Carolina article names Charlotte and Raleigh and no street. ZenBusiness’s North Carolina product page names no ZenBusiness street. The 2 South Salisbury Street line is the Secretary of State. Bizee names no North Carolina street. Process Score has not been to those offices. We do not treat a company 9-to-5 line as G.S. 55D-30.
Service of process, not marketing mail
We grade scan-and-forward of service of process and official notices:
- Bizee: notifications by text and email; court papers mailed via FedEx with tracking; portal upload by employees.
- Northwest: “We scan every document you receive right where you receive it—in our office.” The North Carolina page adds same-day scans. Their mail-forwarding extras are a different product. We do not grade those extras as a mailbox.
- LegalZoom: upload, email, and a postcard for urgent legal mail; they say they shred junk mail. Junk-mail shredding is not the job we score.
- ZenBusiness: scan and upload to a dashboard; email; overnight the original for urgent legal notices. Their own FAQ says you cannot use the agent address as your business address. Their national product currently excludes PLLCs and nonprofits; that is their exclusion, not a North Carolina statute.
Home-address privacy
A commercial organizational agent is how most North Carolina owners keep a home off the agent line. The Secretary of State still publishes whatever other addresses you put on a formation filing or an annual report. Privacy of the agent line is not privacy of every field. Confirm the live line on the Business Registration search.
Scorecards
Northwest Registered Agent
Commercial registered agent- Year-1 / year-2 price
- B+
- SOS street and presence
- B
- Process and privacy
- B
Year 1: $125/year standalone; first year free only if you form the entity through Northwest
Year 2: $125/year (same price; $100/year per state if you have five or more states)
Retrieved: 2026-09-09
Bizee
Commercial registered agent- Year-1 / year-2 price
- C+
- SOS street and presence
- B-
- Process and privacy
- B
Year 1: Free first year when you form through Bizee; standalone registered agent $149/year
Year 2: Official pages we retrieved say $149/year after the free first year (or $149 from day one if you buy standalone)
Retrieved: 2026-09-09
LegalZoom
Commercial registered agent- Year-1 / year-2 price
- C
- SOS street and presence
- B-
- Process and privacy
- B-
Year 1: $249/year on the official registered-agent overview (first-time customers)
Year 2: Official footnote: auto-renews at the purchase rate until you cancel; “The renewal rate is subject to change.”
Retrieved: 2026-09-09
ZenBusiness
Commercial registered agent- Year-1 / year-2 price
- C
- SOS street and presence
- B-
- Process and privacy
- B-
Year 1: $99 + NC state fees for the first year (standalone); North Carolina page says starts at $99 + NC state fees
Year 2: $199/year renewal on the official North Carolina pages; North Carolina pages say the rate is subject to change
Retrieved: 2026-09-09
What this page does not do
- It does not rank mailbox networks or virtual offices.
- It does not publish combined star ratings or a fake 4.8.
- It does not treat a company 9-to-5 line as G.S. 55D-30.
- It does not treat the 60-day update clock as optional. The office says not updating the agent line is grounds for administrative dissolution.
- It does not treat a Houston headquarters as a North Carolina street.
- It does not treat 2 South Salisbury Street as a vendor suite. That contact is the Secretary of State.
- A company did not print a North Carolina-only price.
- The product page does not publish a ZenBusiness North Carolina street.
- It does not treat the $200 LLC annual report as the registered-agent job.
- It does not treat a P.O. Box as the physical registered office because a mailing line sits next to it.
- It does not set a self-appointment path. Form BE-06’s instructions say the new agent is other than your own entity.
- It does not set a dollar figure for service on the Secretary of State. G.S. 55D-33 says “the applicable fee.”
Choosing among being the agent yourself, asking a lawyer, or hiring a commercial agent: DIY vs lawyer vs commercial. California’s scorecard is a different statute: California scorecard. Texas keeps the written consent with the company: Texas scorecard. Florida files the acceptance and posts a 10–noon / 2–4 clock: Florida scorecard. Delaware bans a virtual-only agent and sets the commercial bar above 50: Delaware scorecard. New York starts with the Secretary of State already on the agent line: New York scorecard. Nevada makes a commercial agent register at ten companies: Nevada scorecard. Wyoming bans UPS stores and virtual addresses as the registered office: Wyoming scorecard. Arizona makes the statutory-agent appointment wait on a signed acceptance: Arizona scorecard. Illinois gives you 60 days after your agent resigns, then you are not in good standing: Illinois scorecard. Ohio cancels the articles if you miss the 30-day statutory-agent notice: Ohio scorecard. Georgia wants the registered office at the same street as the agent: Georgia scorecard. Pennsylvania files a registered office, not a registered agent: Pennsylvania scorecard. New Jersey wants a street for your registered agent and will not take a P.O. Box alone: New Jersey scorecard. Colorado will not take a commercial mailbox or a P.O. Box as the registered-agent street: Colorado scorecard.
Sources for this page
- G.S. 55D-30 (North Carolina General Assembly text; retrieved September 9, 2026), continuously maintain in this State a registered office and a registered agent; individual who resides here whose business office is identical with the registered office, or a domestic or authorized foreign corporation, nonprofit, or LLC whose business office is identical with the registered office; sole duty of the agent is to forward any notice, process, or demand served on the agent to the entity’s last known address
- G.S. 55D-31 (retrieved September 9, 2026), change the registered office or registered agent on a statement of change that includes the new agent’s written consent on the statement or attached to it; after the change the registered office and the agent’s business office will be identical; some entities may put the same information on the annual report
- G.S. 55D-32 (retrieved September 9, 2026), agent resigns by filing a statement with a certification that notice was mailed or delivered; appointment ends on the 31st day after filing
- G.S. 55D-33 (retrieved September 9, 2026), service may be on the registered agent; if there is no agent, or the agent cannot be found at the registered office, the Secretary of State becomes an agent upon delivery of duplicate copies and the applicable fee
- North Carolina Secretary of State, Registered Office and Registered Agent Information (retrieved September 9, 2026), physical registered office in North Carolina; mailing address may be a P.O. Box; update the registered-agent name and office within 60 days; not updating is grounds for administrative dissolution; Public Registered Agent Listing for annual-report and creation drop-downs; forms BE-05 $5, BE-06 $5, BE-07 no fee, BE-12 $5, BE-17 $10
- North Carolina Secretary of State, Maintaining Registration (retrieved September 9, 2026), notify the office within 60 days of any change in the registered-agent name or registered-office address, and within 60 days of any change in the principal office
- North Carolina Secretary of State, Annual Report Due Dates (retrieved September 9, 2026), LLC or L3C due April 15 each year after the year of creation; online $203.00 including the $3.00 card e-fee; paper $200.00; business corporation online $21.00 / paper $25.00 on a different due-date clock
- North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration forms and Form BE-06 (retrieved September 9, 2026), statement of change of registered office and/or registered agent, $5; BE-06 instructions say the new agent is a North Carolina resident or an authorized entity other than your own entity; form cites G.S. 55D-31; mailing line on the form is P.O. Box 29622, Raleigh, NC 27626-0622
- North Carolina Secretary of State, Business Registration search (retrieved September 9, 2026), live company and registered-agent lookup at sosnc.gov/online_services/search/by_title/_Business_Registration
- North Carolina Secretary of State, Contact (retrieved September 9, 2026), mailing Post Office Box 29622, Raleigh, North Carolina 27626-0622; street 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-2903; Monday–Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Northwest Registered Agent, official registered-agent page, North Carolina product page, and office locations (retrieved September 9, 2026), $125/year; first year free only with formation; $100/year per state at five or more states; FAQ names a Raleigh, NC registered office and no street; office-locations list Raleigh, NC 27609, Wake County, and says they leave the street off this list; same-day local scans claimed
- Bizee, official registered-agent page and contact (retrieved September 9, 2026), free year 1 with formation on the official card; standalone $149/year; year 2 $149/year; no North Carolina registered-agent street; /llc/north-carolina-registered-agent returned 404; Houston contact HQ is not a North Carolina registered-agent street
- LegalZoom, official registered-agent overview (retrieved September 9, 2026), $249/year; auto-renews at the purchase rate, subject to change; no North Carolina street on the official overview; North Carolina registered-agent article updated October 3, 2025, retrieved the same day, $249/year; vendor-claimed registered offices in Charlotte and Raleigh and no street
- ZenBusiness, official registered-agent page and North Carolina registered agent (retrieved September 9, 2026; North Carolina product page last updated August 31, 2026), starts at $99 + NC state fees year 1; $199 renewal, subject to change; North Carolina product page publishes no ZenBusiness street or city; product page shows Secretary of State Post Office Box 29622, Raleigh, NC 27626-0622 and 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601, which is not a ZenBusiness registered office; national product currently excludes PLLCs and nonprofits