What is a registered agent address?

A registered agent is the person or company who can be handed a lawsuit for the business. It is not a mailbox. Handing over those court papers is called service of process. The Secretary of State is the office that keeps the public company list in most states. Florida uses the Division of Corporations. Delaware uses the Division of Corporations inside the Secretary of State. The District of Columbia uses the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Corporations Division. That office is not a Secretary of State.

What the person does on a quiet day is in What is a registered agent for an LLC? What to do the day the papers arrive is in Service of process: what it means for an LLC.

A street address is a place a person can walk up to, like 123 Main Street. A P.O. Box is a mailbox at the post office. States want the walk-up street on the agent line. The registered agent address is that street.

The street on the public filing

The registered agent address is the street the state prints next to the agent’s name. A process server, the person whose job is to hand over court papers, uses that street to find the agent.

The address is public. Anyone can look it up on the state search. In California, the Secretary of State FAQ says an individual agent’s name and physical street are a public record, open to all. If you list your house, your house is on that list.

The agent’s street and the company’s own office are two different ideas. Texas Business Organizations Code § 5.201(c) says the registered office must be a street where process may be personally served. The same subsection says that office is not required to be a place of business of the company. Delaware’s LLC statute, 6 Del. C. § 18-104(a), says the registered office may, but need not, be a place of the company’s business in Delaware. The Texas scorecard and the Delaware scorecard are the longer pages.

What a registered agent address must be

The words change by state. These two cards are examples. They are not one national statute.

The agent’s own office is the matching rule. Texas § 5.201 says the agent must keep a business office at the same address as the registered office. If the agent is an organization, an employee must be available there during normal business hours to take the papers. Delaware § 18-104 says the agent’s business office is identical with the registered office. An entity agent keeps a Delaware office that is generally open. An individual agent is generally present often enough to take the papers. The same section says the agent may not do the job solely through a virtual office, a mail-forwarding service, or both. Delaware defines a virtual office as doing the job solely through the internet, or solely through other remote communication.

Florida prints a clock. Florida Statutes § 48.091 says the office stays open from at least 10 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., each day except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. Someone who can take papers has to be there during those hours. The Florida scorecard is the longer page. Colorado does not print that clock. The Colorado Secretary of State FAQ says a usual place of business is a physical street, customarily open during normal business hours, where the agent can accept documents in person.

Who may sit at that street is a different checklist. It is in The registered agent requirements. Putting your own name there is in Can I be my own registered agent? Hiring a company whose street goes on the form is in What is a commercial registered agent? The DIY, lawyer, or commercial page sets those three seats side by side. Each seat still needs a street the state will accept.

Can I use my registered agent as my business address?

Use the agent’s street on the agent line. Use a different line when the form is asking where the company works, where it gets ordinary mail, or where the IRS should write.

1. The agent line This is the registered agent address. It is the street where court papers can be handed to the agent. If you hire a company, you list that company’s street here. If you qualify and you take the job yourself, you list your own street here.
2. The office line This is where the company works. Florida’s Division of Corporations instructions ask for the street of the LLC’s principal office as its own box, separate from the agent. Texas and Delaware both say the registered office need not be the company’s place of business. Oregon ORS 63.111 says the registered office may be, but need not be, the same as any of the company’s places of business. The Oregon scorecard is that street rule.
3. The mail line, the bank, and the IRS Florida’s same instructions say the mailing address, if it differs from the principal office, may be a P.O. Box. The agent line on that form may not. The IRS instructions for Form SS-4 ask for the entity’s mailing address. If the physical address is different, lines 5a and 5b want that street, and they say not to enter a P.O. Box there. Line 6 asks for the county and state where the principal business is located. That form is how a company asks for an employer identification number. It does not ask for the registered agent address. A bank form asks where the business is and where it gets mail. Those questions are the company’s. A hired agent’s street answers the agent line.

Colorado writes the split in one FAQ. A commercial mailbox or a P.O. Box cannot be the agent’s physical street. If the agent has a different mailing address, that mailing line may be a commercial mailbox or a P.O. Box, and it must be in Colorado. The Colorado scorecard cites that FAQ.

One street can fill more than one line when it is truly your office and you are the agent. A hired agent’s street is their office. Pasting it onto your website, a bank form, or the IRS lines, as if you worked there, answers a question the form did not ask.

States that want a walk-up street

These are examples. They are not a full list. Letters on a scorecard grade companies that sell the agent job. The methodology page is how those letters are built.

In Oregon, ORS 63.111 says the registered office must be a physical street where process may be personally served. It may not be a commercial mail receiving agency, a mail-forwarding business, or a virtual office. The agent’s business office is identical to that office. ORS 56.035 says the Secretary of State may check that a registered-office address is a physical street and is not one of those three. A commercial mail receiving agency is a shop that takes mail for other people. Oregon’s Corporation Division is the filing office, inside the Secretary of State.

In Wyoming, the Secretary of State FAQ says a registered office may be the same as the place of business, and by law it shall be a Wyoming street that is a physical location where an individual can accept service of process. The same answer says post office boxes, drop boxes, virtual addresses, mail-forwarding locations, and UPS or FedEx stores do not qualify.

In New Hampshire, RSA 5:15-d took effect January 1, 2026. It says a company that must keep a registered office may not use a commercial postal box provider, a virtual office, a mail-forwarding service, or a similar service as that office. The Secretary of State keeps the list.

In Georgia, the Secretary of State FAQ says the agent’s address must be a street in Georgia where the agent is located. A post office box or a mail drop may not be used. The agent’s business office must be identical with the registered office.

In the District of Columbia, D.C. Code § 29-104.03 says a required address is a street in the District, and a mailing address in the District if that mailing address is different. The statute does not print the words “P.O. Box.” The Corporations Division FAQ does. It says the agent’s address must be a physical street in the District. It may not be a P.O. Box, a third-party mailbox such as a FedEx or UPS mailbox, or an address outside the District. We print both. The filing office is the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.

Questions people ask

Is a registered agent address public?

Yes. It is on the state list so a process server can find the street. California’s FAQ says an individual agent’s name and physical street are open to all. A hired company’s street can keep your house off that line. Your house can still appear on a different public line, such as a principal office, if you type it there.

Can the mailing line be a P.O. Box?

Often yes, on the mailing line only. Florida’s instructions allow a P.O. Box for the mailing address and refuse it for the agent. Colorado allows a different Colorado mailing line to be a commercial mailbox or a P.O. Box. The agent’s physical street is still a walk-up street.

Does every state use the same ban?

No. Texas says the office may not be solely a mailbox service or a telephone answering service. Oregon names a commercial mail receiving agency, a mail-forwarding business, and a virtual office. Wyoming names UPS stores, FedEx stores, and virtual addresses. Read the scorecard for the state on your articles. This page does not paste one state’s sentence onto another.

If you hire a company to keep that street, these buttons open that company’s own page. The state filing is still separate. The yearly price is on How much does a registered agent cost?