A North Dakota company cannot be its own registered agent — the LLC report, the farm report, and the corporation report are not the same day

What North Dakota actually requires

N.D.C.C. ch. 10-01.1 is the North Dakota Registered Agents Act. It is not the Model Registered Agents Act by that name. Arkansas sends the LLC job to the Model Act. North Dakota keeps its own chapter and then points the LLC and the corporation at it. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-16 says every limited liability company shall have a registered office and a registered agent, in the manner prescribed by chapter 10-01.1. N.D.C.C. § 10-19.1-15 says a corporation shall continuously maintain a registered agent in this state as provided by that chapter, and, if the agent is noncommercial, the address of that agent in this state. That is the split we print. We do not invent a shorter one.

The definitions in the Act say who holds the job. A commercial registered agent is a person listed under N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-06 that serves in this state as the agent for service of process for another entity, and that is an individual residing in this state, or a domestic or foreign corporation or limited liability company. A noncommercial registered agent is a person who is not on that commercial list, who serves for another entity, and who is an individual residing in this state, or a domestic or foreign corporation, or a domestic or foreign limited liability company. The words “for another entity” are the statute’s words. The live registered-agent page says the same idea in office language: a business may not serve as its own registered agent. An individual from the business could serve as the noncommercial registered agent if they reside in North Dakota. Kansas’s statute says the covered entity itself may serve. Oklahoma’s LLC statute lets the company name itself. North Dakota’s Act does not print that sentence. We print the “another entity” line and the Secretary of State’s “may not serve as its own” line. We do not invent a permission the Act did not print.

The same Secretary of State page lists who may be a commercial agent and who may be a noncommercial agent. Both lists name an individual residing in North Dakota, a North Dakota or out-of-state corporation registered with the Secretary of State and having a business office in North Dakota, or a North Dakota or out-of-state limited liability company registered here with a business office here. For a noncommercial corporation or LLC, the page adds that the agent must be authorized to transact business in North Dakota, have a physical address in North Dakota, and be in good standing. The Act’s definitions are shorter. They still require an individual to reside in this state, and they define a foreign corporation or foreign limited liability company used in this chapter as a qualified foreign entity. We print the Act and the office list. We do not invent a third list that makes them disagree.

Northwest’s North Dakota page says you can be your own registered agent. Bizee’s North Dakota page says you can serve if you are a state resident with a physical street and are available during normal business hours. Bizee also says the individual must be at least 18. LegalZoom’s North Dakota article, updated May 18, 2026, says a business entity may not serve as its own registered agent, and that an individual owner or officer can serve as the noncommercial agent if they reside in North Dakota. ZenBusiness’s North Dakota page, last updated August 26, 2025, says you can be your own registered agent, and that the agent must be a North Dakota resident or a corporation or LLC with an address in North Dakota. The Secretary of State sentence is the business-versus-person split. The Act does not print an age of 18 for the agent. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-20 says an organizer must be eighteen or older. That sentence is about who signs the articles. It is not an age printed on the agent definition. We print Bizee’s age of 18 and the Act’s silence. We do not invent an agent age.

N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-05 is what the filing must say. It states the name of the commercial registered agent, or, if there is no commercial agent, the name and address of the noncommercial registered agent. The appointment is an affirmation by the represented entity that the agent has consented to serve. The Secretary of State page says businesses must obtain the agent’s approval before naming them, that failure to obtain that approval may result in involuntary dissolution, and that proof of the approval is not filed with the Secretary of State. That is not a Florida-style acceptance filed later as its own record. It is not Kentucky’s rule that the appointment waits unless the agent signs. We print the affirmation and the office’s “proof is not filed” sentence. We do not import those other papers.

N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-04 is the street rule. Whenever this chapter requires a filing to state an address, other than the resignation notice’s “where I will send notice” line, the filing must state an actual street address or rural route box number in this state, and a mailing address in this state if that mailing line is different. A commercial filing under N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-05 states the commercial agent’s name and does not state the address. The commercial agent’s own listing under N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-06 states the address of a place of business in this state. A noncommercial filing states the name and the address. The Secretary of State page says a noncommercial filing must include a complete physical address in North Dakota, and that a commercial filing does not need to provide the commercial agent’s address. Those sentences match the Act. Arkansas also allows a rural route box. North Dakota’s sentence is in its own Act. We print it. We do not invent a shorter one.

A P.O. Box is not that street, and a rural route box is not a P.O. Box. The Act allows the rural route box. It does not print the words “P.O. Box.” Bizee’s North Dakota page says a P.O. box alone does not meet the requirement. LegalZoom’s article says a physical street address, not a P.O. box. ZenBusiness’s page quotes the Act’s “actual street address or rural route box number,” and a later sentence says P.O. boxes are not allowed. Northwest’s North Dakota registered-agent page says a physical address and does not print a P.O. Box sentence. The registered-agent page we opened does not print its own “no P.O. Box” sentence. We print the Act’s street-or-rural-route rule, the vendors’ P.O. Box sentences, and the office page’s silence. We do not invent an office ban the registered-agent page did not print.

N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03 is the fee statute for this chapter. A commercial registered agent listing is one thousand dollars. A commercial registered agent termination statement is five hundred dollars. A statement of change is ten dollars, except when the change is a change of address and, in the Secretary of State’s opinion, that change results from rezoning or postal reassignment. A statement appointing an agent for service of process is ten dollars. Any process, notice, or demand for service is twenty-five dollars. The Secretary of State may not collect a fee to file a statement of resignation. The live registered-agent page prints the same dollars: listing $1,000, termination $500, a noncommercial statement of change $10, a commercial statement of change of address $10 that updates the addresses for all businesses that agent represents, service of process on the Secretary of State $25, and resignation no fee. The Maintain Registration page prints Registered Agent/Office Change at $10, and notes that this fee is per entity when the agent is noncommercial. Idaho’s commercial listing is $100. North Dakota’s commercial listing is $1,000. That listing is how a person gets on the commercial list. It is not the $10 change a company files to name a new agent. We print both dollars. We do not mix them.

N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-08 is how the company changes the line. The company files a statement of change on forms the Secretary of State prescribes. The statement names the entity and the information that will be in effect. The interest holders or governors need not approve it. The appointment is again an affirmation that the agent consented. It takes effect on filing. The company may instead amend its most recent registered-agent filing under the other law that governs that filing. LegalZoom’s North Dakota article prints a $10 filing fee for the statement of change. That dollar matches N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03. Northwest’s North Dakota page says they will file the change of agent form for you for free. That “free” is Northwest’s service. The page does not print the statute’s $10. ZenBusiness’s North Dakota page describes the change and does not print a dollar. Bizee’s North Dakota page says you file a statement of change and does not print a dollar. We print the statute’s $10, LegalZoom’s $10, Northwest’s service-for-free sentence, and the two missing vendor dollars. We do not invent a Northwest, Bizee, or ZenBusiness state fee those pages did not print. Putting a new name on that paper is still not the registered-agent job. The job is taking court papers.

N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-11 is how an agent steps down. The agent files a statement of resignation. It takes effect on the earlier of the thirty-first day after the day it is filed, or the appointment of a new registered agent. The agent must promptly tell the company the date the statement was filed. N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03 says the Secretary of State may not collect a fee for that statement. The Secretary of State page says resignation is no fee. LegalZoom’s article says the resignation is at no charge, and that the business has 31 days to appoint a replacement. That 31-day sentence matches the thirty-first day. ZenBusiness’s page also says the resignation keeps the old duties for 31 days unless a replacement is named sooner. Then the same page says the business has 30 more days, and that a business that goes more than 30 days without a valid registered agent can be administratively dissolved. The statute’s missing-agent clock is not that 30-day sentence. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-90 says that, except for a missed annual report, the Secretary of State may not terminate an LLC unless the office has given sixty days’ notice and the company has failed during those sixty days to file the change. N.D.C.C. § 10-19.1-146.1 is the corporation version of that sixty-day notice when the ground is a missing registered agent. We print ZenBusiness’s 30-day sentence and the statute’s sixty-day notice. We do not invent a winner.

If a person is named without consent, N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-11 says that person notifies the Secretary of State in writing. The office removes the name and tells the entity that it fails to maintain a registered agent. The Secretary of State page says to contact the office if you were named without your knowledge. Serving as the agent does not, on that page, make the individual liable for the organization’s actions. We print those sentences. We do not invent a liability rule the Act did not print in the duties section.

N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14 is the job. The only duties under this chapter of an agent who has complied are to forward any process, notice, or demand to the address the entity most recently supplied; to give the notices this chapter requires; and to keep the filed information current. A commercial agent keeps the listing current. A noncommercial agent keeps the name and address current. The section does not post a 9-to-5 clock. Northwest, Bizee, LegalZoom, and ZenBusiness talk about normal business hours, or about being present during business hours. Those clocks are vendor copy. We do not treat them as N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14.

The annual report is a different paper, and North Dakota does not use one day for every entity. Say the days once so the papers do not get mixed.

N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-89 is the LLC report. Each limited liability company, and each foreign limited liability company authorized to transact business here, files an annual report. The report sets out the name, the registered office, the registered agent at that address, the principal executive office, a brief statement of the business, and the managers and governors or the managing members. Except for the first report, it must be delivered before November sixteenth of each year. The first report is due before November sixteenth of the year after the calendar year of organization, or, for a foreign company, the year after the certificate of authority. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92 prices that report at fifty dollars, plus fifty dollars after the date in N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-89, plus a reinstatement fee of one hundred thirty-five dollars after termination or revocation. The LLC page says the business LLC deadline is November 15 and the fee is $50. The Maintain Registration page lists the same November 15 line for a limited liability company and a professional limited liability company, and says the report must be received on or before the deadline. The FirstStop portal, retrieved September 22, 2026, labels an upcoming deadline “LLC (Business and Professional) Annual Report - November 16, 2026.” The statute’s “before November sixteenth,” the office pages’ “November 15,” and FirstStop’s “November 16, 2026” are three printed lines. We print all three. We do not invent a winner. Northwest’s North Dakota LLC page says the report is due each year by November 15 and the fee is $50. Bizee’s North Dakota page says “Annual report due: November 15 each year” and names a $135 articles fee. Those vendor sentences match the office’s November 15 line and the statute’s $135 articles fee in N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92. They do not print FirstStop’s November 16 label. We print them beside the three official lines.

A farm or ranch company is not on that November line. N.D.C.C. § 10-06.1-17 says the annual report of a farming or ranching corporation or farming or ranching limited liability company engaged in farming or ranching must be delivered before April sixteenth of each year. N.D.C.C. § 10-06.1-17.1 says the same April sixteenth line for an authorized livestock farm corporation or authorized livestock farm limited liability company. The LLC page and the Maintain Registration page print April 15 for those farm and livestock companies. The LLC page also lists a $50 annual report for the farm or ranch LLC and for the authorized livestock farm LLC. The farm chapter we opened does not print its own fifty-dollar sentence. We print the statute’s “before April sixteenth,” the office’s April 15, and the office’s $50. We do not invent a farm-chapter fee the farm chapter did not print. A business owner who hears one “North Dakota annual report day” is hearing only part of the calendar.

Corporations are a different Act and different days. N.D.C.C. § 10-19.1-146 says a domestic corporation’s annual report must be delivered before August second of each year, and a foreign corporation’s report before May sixteenth. N.D.C.C. § 10-19.1-147 prices that report at twenty-five dollars. The late fee is twenty dollars within ninety days after the date, sixty dollars after that, and a reinstatement fee of one hundred thirty-five dollars after involuntary dissolution or revocation of authority. The corporation page says the domestic deadline is August 1, the foreign deadline is May 15, and the annual report is $25. The Maintain Registration page prints the same August 1 and May 15 lines. A professional corporation uses those same domestic and foreign days on the corporation page. A farming or ranching corporation and an authorized livestock corporation use April 15 on that page, which matches N.D.C.C. § 10-06.1-17 and N.D.C.C. § 10-06.1-17.1. An LLC owner who hears “August 1” is hearing the domestic corporation rule. We print the split. We do not treat the corporation report as the LLC’s registered-agent job.

N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-90 is the LLC clock after a missed report. An LLC that fails to file its annual report, together with the fees, within six months after the date in N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-89 ceases to exist and is considered involuntarily terminated by operation of law. The Secretary of State notes the termination and mails notice to the last registered agent. A foreign LLC that misses the same six months forfeits its authority. That six-month ending is for the missed report. A missing registered agent, or a misrepresentation, is the other path: sixty days’ notice, and termination if the company does not file the change or the correction in those sixty days. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-91 says a company terminated for a missed annual report may be reinstated by filing the past-due report, the filing and penalty fees, and the reinstatement fee, within one year after the termination. After more than one year, the company may appeal to the district court in the judicial district serving Burleigh County. The matter is tried anew. Reinstatement returns the company to active status as of the reinstatement date for the office and for people hurt by the reinstatement, and as of the termination date for contracts and assets, with the limits that section prints. LegalZoom’s article says restoring good standing means filing missed reports, paying late fees, plus a $135 reinstatement charge if already dissolved. The $135 matches N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92. The article says “dissolved.” The LLC section says “involuntarily terminated.” The corporation section says “involuntarily dissolved.” We print those words. We do not invent a winner.

N.D.C.C. § 10-19.1-146 is the corporation clock. Three months after the report date, a corporation that has not filed is not in good standing. A corporation that still has not filed, with the fees, within one year after the date ceases to exist and is considered involuntarily dissolved by operation of law. A foreign corporation forfeits its authority on that one-year line. Reinstatement is the most recent past-due report, the filing and penalty fees, and the reinstatement fee, paid and filed within one year after the dissolution or revocation. The Maintain Registration page says a business that fails to file is placed in Not Good Standing, that a business will typically be involuntarily terminated if it does not file within 6 to 12 months of that status, and that you have 1 year to reinstate. The same page also says that if the past-due report is not filed within 1 year, the business will be involuntarily dissolved. Those office sentences cover more than one entity type. The LLC statute’s report clock is six months, then one year to reinstate. The corporation statute’s report clock is three months to not-good-standing, then one year to dissolution, then one year to reinstate. We print the statute clocks and the office’s “6 to 12 months” and “1 year” sentences. We do not invent a single clock that makes them agree.

Bizee’s North Dakota page says that if the LLC loses its registered agent and does not replace one, the state can administratively dissolve the LLC. The LLC section we opened says “involuntarily terminated,” and the missing-agent path is sixty days’ notice, not a report-style six months, and not ZenBusiness’s 30 days. We print Bizee’s dissolution sentence and the statute’s termination words. We do not invent a third label.

Articles of organization are not the registered-agent job. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92 prices filing articles and issuing a certificate of organization at one hundred thirty-five dollars. The LLC page prints Registration at $135. Bizee’s page names $135 and a processing time of 3 weeks. Northwest’s LLC page names $135. LegalZoom’s article names $135 and says you can file online, by mail, or by fax, and to verify at sos.nd.gov. We print the statute’s $135 and those vendor sentences. We do not invent a fourth formation number. That first paper names the agent. It is still not the job of taking court papers.

Service of process is the job, not marketing mail. N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-13 says process, notice, or demand may be served on a registered agent, a governor of the entity, any responsible person found at the registered office or at the principal executive office if that office is in this state, or on the Secretary of State in the cases that section lists. Those cases include a foreign entity transacting business without a certificate of authority, a dissolved domestic entity, an entity that no longer has a registered agent, or a case where the agent, governor, or responsible person cannot with reasonable diligence be served. Service on the Secretary of State is by registered mail or personal delivery, not by electronic communication, with three copies and the fee in N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03. That fee is twenty-five dollars. The return is not less than thirty days. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-19 says the registered agent is an agent of the LLC for service, and that the Secretary of State is an agent if the company does not maintain a registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found. We print those paths. We do not invent Florida-style 10–noon / 2–4 windows.

Tax is not this job. North Dakota income tax and sales tax are a different office and a different paper. We do not score tax products. Bizee’s North Dakota page mentions that there is no state income tax on pass-through LLC income at the entity level. That sentence is a tax note. It is not the registered-agent job.

The public lookup sits at firststop.sos.nd.gov. Confirm the live line on the North Dakota Business Search before you treat a marketing city as current. Headquarters is not the registered office. The Secretary of State’s Bismarck contacts are not a vendor suite.

The live registered-agent page prints North Dakota Office of the Secretary of State, 600 E Boulevard Avenue Dept 108, Bismarck, ND 58505, and 701-328-2900. ZenBusiness’s page prints 600 E Boulevard Avenue Dept 108, Bismarck, ND 58505-0500, and a mail line of 600 E Boulevard Ave, Dept 108, P.O. Box 5513, Bismarck, ND 58506-5513. Those lines are Secretary of State contacts. They are not ZenBusiness. We print both address blocks. We do not invent a winner, and we do not treat either block as a vendor suite. Those contacts are the office. They are not a registered-office clock. North Dakota does not post Florida-style 10–noon / 2–4 windows. We do not treat a company 9-to-5 line as N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14.

Cited prices, retrieved September 22, 2026

We print what the company’s official registered-agent page said on the retrieval date. No company publishes a different North Dakota registered-agent price from the national card, except where we note a North Dakota-page sentence. We do not invent a renewal.

• 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 22, 2026 from northwestregisteredagent.com/registered-agent and the North Dakota product page. The North Dakota page says they collect the first year’s fee up front and invoice about a year later. First year free only if you form through them; we do not treat that bundle as the standalone price. The North Dakota page says they accept and scan documents at their office in Fargo, ND. The same company also sells extra mail scans. Those extras are a different product. We do not grade those extras as the registered-agent job. The same page says they will file a change of agent form for you for free. That is their service. N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03 prices the statement of change at $10. We do not invent a Northwest dollar the registered-agent page did not print. Northwest’s North Dakota LLC page says articles cost $135 and the annual report is due each year by November 15 with a $50 fee. Those dollars match N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92 and the office’s November 15 line. The same registered-agent page talks about normal business hours. That clock is Northwest copy. We do not treat it as N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14.
• Bizee: official registered-agent page: free first year with formation; standalone $149/year; year two $149/year. Retrieved September 22, 2026 from bizee.com/business-management/registered-agent and the North Dakota product page. That North Dakota page names a $135 filing fee and says the annual report is due November 15 each year. The $135 matches N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92. The November 15 line matches the office page. The same page does not print the $10 change fee, the $50 report fee, or the $1,000 commercial listing. It says an individual must be at least 18. The agent definition does not print that age. It says the state can administratively dissolve an LLC that loses its agent. The LLC statute says involuntarily terminated, and the missing-agent path is sixty days’ notice. After a free first year with formation, the official card says the agent service is $149 a year. The same page talks about normal business hours. That is Bizee copy. We print those vendor sentences. We do not invent a North Dakota-only price from a missing dollar.
• LegalZoom: official overview retrieved September 22, 2026: “Get registered agent services for $249/year.” Product card: $249/year. Retrieved from legalzoom.com/…/registered-agent-overview.html. The live North Dakota article is legalzoom.com/articles/north-dakota-registered-agent, updated May 18, 2026. That article says the registered-agent service is priced at $249 per year. We keep that card. It prints a $10 statement-of-change fee. That dollar matches N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03. It prints a $135 articles fee and a $135 reinstatement charge if the company is already dissolved. Those dollars match N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-92. It says a business entity may not serve as its own registered agent. That sentence matches the Secretary of State page. It says resignation is at no charge and the business has 31 days to name a replacement. That matches N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-11. It claims no LegalZoom city and prints no LegalZoom street. It says professional services typically cost $100–$300 a year. That range is not a LegalZoom price. The same article talks about normal business hours. That clock is LegalZoom copy. We print those vendor sentences. We do not invent a suite or a higher year-two number.
• ZenBusiness: official North Dakota page: first-year and renewal dollars are printed on the North Dakota page. Starts at $99 + ND state fees for the first year and renews at $199/yr, subject to change. The national page says the same card, and says they currently do not offer registered-agent service to PLLCs or nonprofits. We keep those dollars. The live North Dakota page is /north-dakota-registered-agent/, last updated August 26, 2025. That page does not print the $10 change fee. It prints a 31-day resignation period, then says the business has 30 more days and that more than 30 days without a registered agent can mean administrative dissolution. The 31-day sentence matches N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-11. The 30-day dissolution sentence does not match the sixty-day notice in N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-90. The same page quotes an actual street address or rural route box, and also says P.O. boxes are not allowed. The same page prints Secretary of State contacts at 600 E Boulevard Avenue, Bismarck, including P.O. Box 5513. Those lines are the office. They are not ZenBusiness. The page talks about $100 to a few hundred dollars a year as a market range. That range is not a ZenBusiness price. Retrieved September 22, 2026 from zenbusiness.com/registered-agent and the North Dakota registered-agent page.

A change of registered agent is a separate Secretary of State filing. N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03 prices the statement of change at $10, except a free address change from rezoning or postal reassignment. The Maintain Registration page says the $10 is per entity when the agent is noncommercial, and the registered-agent page says a commercial agent’s address change is one $10 filing for every business that agent represents. LegalZoom prints the $10. Northwest says their filing service is free and does not print the state dollar. Bizee and ZenBusiness do not print a change dollar. The annual report can list the agent. It is still not the registered-agent job. The $1,000 commercial listing is how an agent gets on the commercial list. It is not this $10.

Who publishes a North Dakota street

A city is not a registered office. We print only the streets the companies publish for registered-agent use. We do not invent the rest. Confirm the live name and street on the North Dakota Business Search before you file. Headquarters is not the registered office. The Secretary of State’s Bismarck contacts are not vendor suites.

• Northwest. The North Dakota product page says they accept and scan documents from their office in Fargo, ND. The office-locations page lists “NORTH DAKOTA : Fargo, SD 58103 Cass County,” and says they leave the street off this list. No street is published. The city word “Fargo” matches. The state letters do not: the product page says ND, and the office list says SD. ZIP 58103 and Cass County are what the office list prints. We have not been to a Fargo office. We do not pick a state abbreviation, and we do not invent a suite. Northwest also sells extra mail scans from that location. Those extras are a different product. The city, the mismatched state letters, the ZIP, and the county are vendor-claimed.
• Bizee. Claims owned offices in all 50 states. The official registered-agent page names no North Dakota street. The live North Dakota product page names no North Dakota street. The contact page lists 17350 State Highway 249, Suite 220, Houston, TX 77064 as headquarters. That address is not a North Dakota registered-agent street.
• LegalZoom. The official registered-agent overview does not publish a North Dakota street. The live North Dakota article names no LegalZoom city and no LegalZoom street. We do not invent a suite. We do not treat a LegalZoom virtual-mail street as the registered-agent street.
• ZenBusiness. The North Dakota registered-agent page publishes no ZenBusiness street or city. It prints Secretary of State contacts at 600 E Boulevard Avenue Dept 108, Bismarck, ND 58505-0500, and a mail line at P.O. Box 5513, Bismarck, ND 58506-5513. Those lines are office contacts. They are not ZenBusiness. We do not treat that box as their office.

If you are your own registered agent, the street on the public record is often your home. The Secretary of State says a business may not serve as its own agent, and an individual who resides in North Dakota may serve as the noncommercial agent. If you hire a commercial registered agent, the agent line is that organization’s name, and the company’s filing does not have to repeat the commercial agent’s street. Northwest names Fargo, ND on the product page and Fargo, SD 58103 Cass County on the office list, and no street on either. Bizee publishes no North Dakota street. LegalZoom publishes no North Dakota street. ZenBusiness publishes the Secretary of State’s Bismarck address. We label every published city vendor-claimed. Use the Business Search.

The company cannot name itself, the $10 change, and three report days

North Dakota wants a registered agent who serves for another entity. The Secretary of State says a business may not be its own registered agent. A person who lives in North Dakota can. A commercial agent lists for $1,000 and the company’s filing names that agent without the street. A noncommercial filing includes an actual street or a rural route box, and a mailing line if it is different. Change the agent on a statement of change. The statute prices that statement at $10. LegalZoom prints $10. Northwest’s filing service is free and does not print the state dollar. Bizee and ZenBusiness do not print a change dollar. Resignation is no fee and ends on the thirty-first day, or sooner if a new agent is named. A business LLC’s report is due before November 16 on the statute, November 15 on the office pages, and November 16, 2026 on the FirstStop label we opened. The fee is $50, plus $50 if late, plus $135 to reinstate after termination. A farm or ranch LLC, and an authorized livestock farm LLC, report before April 16. A domestic corporation reports before August 2 for $25. A foreign corporation reports before May 16. Miss the LLC report for six months and the company ends by operation of law. A missing agent is a sixty-day notice, not ZenBusiness’s 30 days. Reinstatement of a terminated LLC is within one year, and after that a case in Burleigh County district court. North Dakota does not post a Florida-style 10–noon / 2–4 clock, and it does not run a Nevada-style ten-company commercial-agent register. The commercial bar here is the $1,000 listing. Northwest claims Fargo and prints ND on one page and SD on the other. LegalZoom names no city. ZenBusiness publishes 600 E Boulevard — a Secretary of State contact. Bizee names no North Dakota street. Process Score has not been to those offices. We do not treat a company 9-to-5 line as N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14.

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. The North Dakota page talks about a physical street during normal business hours. That is Bizee copy. Contact-page support hours are Monday–Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST. Those are support hours, not registered-office hours.
• Northwest: “We scan every document you receive right where you receive it—in our office.” The North Dakota page adds scans at the Fargo office, and says they scan the same day. Their extra mail-scan product is 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. The live North Dakota article names no LegalZoom street. Junk-mail shredding is not the job we score. That clock is not the statute.
• 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 Dakota statute. The North Dakota page prints Secretary of State contacts at 600 E Boulevard. Those lines are office copy. They are not N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14.

Home-address privacy

A commercial registered agent is how most North Dakota owners keep a home off the agent line. If the agent is commercial, the company’s filing states the agent’s name and does not have to state the street, because the listing already has it. If the agent is you, the noncommercial filing includes your North Dakota street or rural route box. The Secretary of State still publishes whatever other addresses you put on a formation filing or on the annual report. Privacy of the agent line is not privacy of every field. A North Dakota limited liability company must keep a registered agent. It cannot leave that line blank, and it cannot name itself. Confirm the live line on the Business Search.

Scorecards

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 N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-14.
• It does not treat the annual report as the registered-agent job. The report lists the agent. The job is taking court papers.
• It does not treat a farm or ranch report due before April 16 as the business LLC’s November report.
• It does not treat a domestic corporation’s August report, or a foreign corporation’s May report, as an LLC duty.
• It does not invent a winner between “before November sixteenth,” the office’s November 15, and FirstStop’s November 16, 2026 label.
• It does not invent a winner between “before April sixteenth” and the office’s April 15, or between “before August second” and August 1, or between “before May sixteenth” and May 15.
• It does not invent a winner between the LLC’s six-month termination, the corporation’s one-year dissolution, and the office’s “6 to 12 months” sentence.
• It does not invent a winner between ZenBusiness’s 30-day dissolution sentence and the statute’s sixty-day notice for a missing agent.
• It does not invent a winner between the LLC statute’s “involuntarily terminated” and a vendor’s “administratively dissolved.”
• It does not invent a Northwest, Bizee, or ZenBusiness change dollar. The pages we opened do not print one. LegalZoom’s $10 matches N.D.C.C. § 10-01.1-03.
• It does not treat Northwest’s “we file the change for free” as the statute’s $10. That free line is their service.
• It does not treat the $1,000 commercial listing as the company’s $10 change.
• It does not invent an agent age of 18. Bizee prints 18. The organizer statute prints eighteen. The agent definition does not.
• It does not invent a sentence that the represented company may name itself. The Act says the agent serves for another entity. The Secretary of State says a business may not serve as its own registered agent. Kansas’s “the company itself may serve” line is not this statute.
• It does not treat a Houston headquarters as a North Dakota street.
• It does not treat 600 E Boulevard, or P.O. Box 5513, as a vendor suite. That contact is the Secretary of State.
• It does not invent a North Dakota-only price a company did not print.
• It does not invent a LegalZoom North Dakota street the live article did not print.
• It does not pick ND or SD for Northwest. The product page says Fargo, ND. The office list says Fargo, SD 58103 Cass County. No street is published.
• It does not treat a P.O. Box as the registered office. The Act asks for an actual street or a rural route box. A rural route box is not a P.O. Box.
• It does not pretend a North Dakota limited liability company may skip the registered agent. N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-16 says the company shall have one.
• It does not treat Northwest’s extra mail-scan product as the registered-agent job.
• It does not treat LegalZoom’s $100–$300 range or ZenBusiness’s “$100 to a few hundred” range as that company’s North Dakota price.
• It does not treat ZenBusiness’s exclusion of PLLCs and nonprofits as a North Dakota statute.
• It does not score North Dakota tax filings. Income tax and sales tax are not the registered-agent job.

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. North Carolina’s LLC annual report is $200 paper or $203 online by April 15. That filing is not the registered-agent job: North Carolina scorecard. Virginia’s LLC pays a $50 annual registration fee and files no annual report: Virginia scorecard. Washington files the agent’s prior consent and will not take a P.O. Box or a PMB as the street: Washington scorecard. Michigan’s statute names a resident agent and sends the filing to LARA: Michigan scorecard. Indiana’s live statute names a registered agent. Older Indiana law called the same job resident agent: Indiana scorecard. Massachusetts’s LLC statute names a resident agent. The $500 annual report cannot change that line: Massachusetts scorecard. Maryland’s statute names a resident agent and sends the filing to SDAT, not the Secretary of State: Maryland scorecard. Tennessee wants a registered office and a registered agent at the same street. The $300 LLC annual report is not that job: Tennessee scorecard. Minnesota wants a registered office. A Minnesota-formed company may name an agent. The free December 31 renewal is not that job: Minnesota scorecard. Wisconsin files the agent at DFI, not the Secretary of State. A P.O. Box, a mailbox service, or a telephone answering service is not the office: Wisconsin scorecard. Oregon’s street cannot be a commercial mail receiving agency, a mail-forwarding shop, or a virtual office. The $100 anniversary renewal is not the registered-agent job: Oregon scorecard. Missouri LLCs file no annual report with the Secretary of State. They still must keep a registered office and a registered agent: Missouri scorecard. Alabama’s street cannot be solely a mailbox service or a telephone answering service. The Business Privilege Tax return is a Department of Revenue paper: Alabama scorecard. South Carolina’s LLC statute names a designated office and an agent for service of process. Typical pass-through LLCs file no annual report with the Secretary of State: South Carolina scorecard. Arkansas’s LLC statute sends the job to the Model Registered Agents Act. The $150 franchise-tax paper is due May 1: Arkansas scorecard. Connecticut’s office is the Secretary of the State. Live form BUS-09 bans a P.O. Box on the business and residence street. The separate mailing line may be a P.O. Box: Connecticut scorecard. Utah’s office is the Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. A P.O. Box is only allowed on the mailing line. The $18 annual report is due in the anniversary month: Utah scorecard. Mississippi’s office is the Secretary of State. The LLC statute sends the job to the Mississippi Registered Agents Act. The domestic LLC annual report is $0 and due April 15: Mississippi scorecard. Oklahoma’s LLC statute lets the company name itself as the agent. The $25 anniversary certificate is not that job: Oklahoma scorecard. Louisiana names the agent on a notarized Initial Report. The $30 anniversary annual report is still not that job: Louisiana scorecard. Iowa’s live statute names a registered agent with a place of business in this state. Changing the LLC agent on the live table is no fee. The $30 odd-year biennial report is still not that job: Iowa scorecard. Kentucky wants a registered office and a registered agent at the same street. Unless the agent signs the appointment, it waits on a written acceptance. The $15 June 30 annual report is still not that job: Kentucky scorecard. Nebraska’s LLC statute names an office and an agent for service of process. Changing the LLC agent on the live table is $25 online or $30 on paper. The $30 odd-year biennial report is still not that job: Nebraska scorecard. Kansas’s statute names a resident agent. Changing the agent is Form ROA at $30 online or $35 on paper. The $90 even-or-odd Information Report is still not that job: Kansas scorecard. Idaho’s anniversary-month annual report can change the registered agent if the agent line differs. The statute prices that report at no fee. The live change form’s paper surcharge is $20. The $100 commercial listing is still not that job: Idaho scorecard. New Mexico LLCs file no Secretary of State annual report. Staying without a registered agent for 30 days is how the state can revoke the company. The statute prices the LLC statement of change at $20: New Mexico scorecard New Hampshire bans a commercial mailbox, a virtual office, or a mail-forwarding service as the registered office. Form 10 is $15. Resignation ends after 31 days. Staying without an agent or office for 60 days is how the Secretary of State may dissolve the company. The April 1 $100 annual report is not that job: New Hampshire scorecard.