Do I need a registered agent in every state I work in?

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Accepted Answer

You need a registered agent in your formation state, and in every additional state where your company has registered to do business. Registering in an additional state is called foreign qualification, and naming an agent there is part of it. A Delaware company operating from an office in California is the ordinary case: incorporated in Delaware, foreign qualified in California, and an agent in both. What usually counts as doing business in a state An office, a warehouse, or a store there Employees based there Regular, ongoing business rather than an occasional transaction What usually does not Selling online to customers in a state you have no presence in One off transactions Holding a bank account there Usually is doing work in both of those lists. Every state draws the line in its own statute and the edges genuinely differ, so a company close to the line should get an answer for its own facts rather than a general one. Sales tax nexus is a separate question with separate rules. Owing sales tax somewhere does not automatically mean you have to qualify to do business there, and qualifying does not settle your tax position.

Do I need a registered agent in every state I work in?

What usually counts as doing business in a state

What usually does not

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