Got a letter from the Arizona Corporation Commission today saying my LLC's statutory agent 'resigned' or something. I never even knew I had one. What is this about? Do I need to do anything or can I ignore it?
LLC
Why did my Arizona LLC receive a notice about its statutory agent?
You can't ignore it. The statutory agent is the person or company designated to receive legal papers on behalf of your LLC. If yours resigned, you have to appoint a new one or the state can administratively dissolve your LLC. Check the ACC website for the form to change it.
Happened to me last year. My agent was a service that just stopped responding. I ended up being my own agent because I work from home. Just filed the change online, cost like $10. Took five minutes. No big deal.
Wait, you didn't know you had a statutory agent? Did you form the LLC yourself or through a service? Usually the formation documents list one. Might want to pull your articles of organization and see wwho's named.
Also, if you ignore it, the ACC will send a second notice and then eventually dissolve the LLC. Then you have to reinstate and pay penalties. Just handle it now.
MesaMaven is right, being your own agent is easiest if you have a physical Arizona address. But if you move or don't want your home address on public record, use a registered agent service. They charge like $50-100/year.
I got one of those notices too. Turned out my old agent moved out of state and and resigned. The letter had a deadline. I think it was 30 days? Don't sit on it.
The letter should have a specific form number or a link. If not, just go to the ACC eCorp site and file a 'Statutory Agent Change' or 'Appointment of Statutory Agent'. You'll need the agent's name and physical address (not a PO box) and their written consent.
Consent is a checkbox on the online form now. They changed it a couple years ago. So no need to chase down a signature.
Also double-check that the notice isn't a scam. There are third-party companies that send official-looking letters about 'annual report feess' or 'statutory agent updates' and charge way more than the state. If it came from the ACC directly, it's legit. If it's from Some random LLC with a Phoenix PO box, Google them first.
Good point. My notice was from the ACC, had the state seal and everything. But I've gotten junk mail that looked similar. Always check the sender.
Another thing: if you don't file the change within the deadline, the ACC will mail a notice of pending dissolution. You'll have 60 days from that to fix it. After that, it's dissolved and you have to file for reinstatement with a hefty fee. So yeah, just do it now.