We called six of the larger agent companies and asked for quotes for their registered agent service.  Here are the results.

1.     The Company Corporation: $235/year, and he could not guarantee me that this price would not go up. They start low and go up every year. When you form your company they only give you six month’s agent service and then bill you again.

2.     Incorp: $99/year.  This is one of the cheaper ones, but still almost 2 times more than Harvard Business Services at $50/year.  Their $99/year is guaranteed to not go up.

3.     Bizfilings- $149/year the first year.  The first 6 months is “included” in order to steer you away from worrying about this price.  Then 6 months later, you are hit with a bill for $149.  It gets worse.  The next year, you are charged $167/year, and the associate there explained to me that she cannot guarantee that it would not continue to go up each year.

4.     Legal Zoom: $159/year, with the first month free. So you form your company through them and then one month later you get a bill for $159. Very cleverly was to hide the real cost of forming your company with them. They too could not guarantee me that the $159/year would not increase every year.

5.    Corporation Trust Company (CT Corporation): $342/year Wow!  Just say NO! They too could not guarantee this fee would not increase with “inflation”!

6.      NRAI (National Registered Agents Inc.): $189/year. No guarantee.

If you have one company with any of these agents, I have to ask why?  If you have five or ten companies with them, you can save a lot of money changing your agent to Harvard. Why pay so much more when you don’t have to?

A professional registered agent is a company that is responsible for receiving and forwarding government and legal documents to its clients in an accurate and timely fashion. Some examples of documents received and forwarded by registered agents are franchise tax reports from the Secretary of State and notices of legal actions (service of process) involving your company.

We offer this bit of research in hopes that all owners of Delaware companies will become educated on registered agent services and the fact that you can use to save money, instantly, by changing agent to Harvard. At Harvard Business Service we have charge only $50 per year agent fee and we guarantee that your $50 agent fee will never be increased so long as you keep your company in Good Standing and pay in a timely fashion. We have had this policy in effect since we were founded in 1981.

We even put this guarantee in writing! To print out your Certificate of Guarantee for the $50/year registered agent service click HERE.

This is why we take pride in our $50/year guarantee.  As long as your company is in good standing, your registered agent payment will not go up.  We have had some clients ask us why would we charge so little?  The answer is we have been doing this since 1981.  We have the registered agent business down to a science and we do not feel we should charge anymore.  Clients appreciate the fact that we can tell them what there agent payment is next year, and what it will be 10 years from now.  We think that is how it should be.

Is it complicated to change registered agents?

To CHANGE  the registered agent for an existing Delaware corporation or LLC, the State of Delaware charges a filing fee of $50 to file the Certificate of “Change of Registered Agent and Registered Office”.  We will prepare and file this form for our exact cost of $50, plus we’ll give you your first year’s agent fee for only $39.  The total cost to change agent is ONLY $89 per corporation or LLC.  Thereafter, your annual agent fee will be only $50 per company; just think of the money you’ll save!

To proceed with changing your registered agent to Harvard Business Services, Inc. Click HERE.

To watch our video on the steps to changing registered agents, please click HERE.

The highlight of the event is the “Annual Report” given by Richard J. “Rick” Geisenberger, the chief Deputy Secretary of State and Director of Corporations. This year he reported:

Delaware is now the home to 890,000 domestic entities. They include 260,000 corporations and 630,000 LLCs, LPs and Statutory Trusts. An additional 11,000 entities from outside Delaware are registered here as “foreign Entities”. Delaware, which has always had more chickens than people, now has about one company for every person who lives in the State. Most states have about 1 company per 20 people.

Delaware is home to 63% of all fortune 500 companies this year and was the choice of 734 of the 907 new IPO’s (Initial Public Offerings) in the past 7 years. IPO activity reflects the dismal economic business climate in the USA today. It wasn’t long ago that more than 400 IPO’s were launched in a single year, then the total fell abruptly to 28 new IPOs in 2008, then 37 in 2009 and 53 so far this year. The upward trend the past three years could be called a recovery, but still a poor showing when compared to the boom years of the past.

A new trend is emerging however, giving hope for more business. Foreign companies, especially from China, are incorporating in Delaware and going public in the USA. Watch for this trend to continue as China becomes the dominant player in manufacturing for the global markets.

Delaware’s Court of Chancery still makes the news regularly for its many high-profile cases. This year we saw a battle between EBAY and CRAIGSLIST fought in Delaware just up the road from my office. Meg Whitman, and the EBAY group, won this one.

Delaware has been working with the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce the incidents of the fraudulent use of Delaware companies in the International arena. Since Delaware prohibited Bearer Shares in 2003, it has been proactively issuing regulations that are designed to help prevent the fraudulent use of companies.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has proposed several drafts of a plan to make the ownership of companies easier to trace. Currently, Registered Agents are not obliged to keep Beneficial Ownership information on the companies we form for our customers. In Delaware we are required to keep an up-to-date record of the “Communication Contact”. However, in the future the Department of the Treasury is recommending that Registered Agents will be responsible for keeping Beneficial Ownership information accurate and current.

As a final bit of good news, Mr. Geisenberger reported that the Division of Corporations brought in $878 Million dollars in the last fiscal year which accounted for 27% of the State of Delaware’s budget, emphasizing the importance of this effort for the whole state.

Agentes Autorizados no están regulados por el Estado de Delaware. Los requisitos legales para ser un Agente Autorizado en Delaware son para mantener una dirección de calle y la oficina ubicada en Delaware y estará abierta durante el horario normal con el propósito de aceptar las notificaciones judiciales de acuerdo con 8 DEL.C. § 132.

Harvard Business Services, Inc. ha sido uno de los agentes registrados principales de Delaware durante 29 años. Además de proporcionar servicios para formaciones de compañías en los 50 estados para clientes nacionales e internacionales, también ofrecemos una variedad amplia de servicios para empresas como el reenvío de correo, la obtención de un número de EIN y recuperación de copias certificadas de los documentos cuando usted los necesita. Si desea cambiar el nombre de su empresa o declarar más acciones, podemos ayudarle con el papeleo y el registro de los documentos necesarios. También le ayudaremos con los impuestos de franquicia.

En Harvard empleamos 25 personas y contamos con especialistas en las formaciones, las enmiendas, los impuestos de franquicia y todos los ámbitos de la creación de empresas y el mantenimiento. Como cliente valioso de Harvard Business Services, Inc. usted tiene los servicios de apoyo de por vida a su alcance, ya sea llamando o enviando un correo electrónico con sus preguntas. Actualmente representamos a más de 29.000 empresas.

Para una lista completa de los servicios ofrecidos por Harvard Business Services, Inc. siga este link: https: / / www.delawareinc.com/ourservices/

En Harvard nos esforzamos por la excelencia todos los días con cada nueva compañía que constituimos. Entre nuestra competencia, estamos orgullosos de que nuestra reputación es de tener la gente más amistosa con quien hablar y los resultados tan rápido que usted se preguntará, cómo podemos lograr que se haga tan rápidamente! Llámenos o envíenos un correo electrónico si tiene preguntas sobre la formación de una empresa en cualquier momento.

Esta categoría de blog le ayudará a entender el funcionamiento y la importancia de su agente registrado en Delaware. Te invitamos a unirte a la conversación dejando una pregunta o comentario.

Convenience: We offer a valid business mailing address – not a PO Box – with full mailroom and staff to offer support. First Class Mail is received and sent to you in convenient bundles with all Third Class materials discarded. This means that you will never receive “junk” mail through our service! Clients simply offer their company name with our address and the mail is sorted accordingly by company name and account and mailed to you in our mailing package – it’s not actually forwarded. From a cost standpoint – streamlining mail efforts can sometimes also offer savings to the company in labor and infrastructure.

Privacy: All mail services are confidential and address information is never shared with any third party or made public. Since only the company name is offered; individuals are offered anonymity from postal and delivery perspectives. Utilizing our address is sometimes much more secure than offering a home address for business functions.

Perception: Many domestic and international clients favor the perception of a Delaware business mailing address to go along with their Delaware incorporation or LLC. Delaware is home to some of the most prestigious companies in the world and sometimes we are judged by the company we keep.

Flexibility: Several levels of service are offered to keep the cost down for those clients who may not expect much mail – and unlimited service is available for those who need full service year round with a high volume of mail. Delaware offers many benefits to those who register their assets in Delaware – our FAA Package offers a service well suited to handle mail for airplane ownership and registration. This service can also be fitted to apply to vehicle and yacht registration as well.

Cost: If you consider that we include all postage in our package costs and keep in mind the current rate for first class mail (44 cents per letter) – our unlimited package will handle an unlimited number of pieces over a full year for less then one dollar per day!

If your business correspondence is a concern – let the professionals at Harvard take the hassle and “junk” out of your mail situation! For details on all mail services – please use this link: http://www.delawareinc.com/ourservices/mailfwd.cfm or call 1-800-345-2677 to start your first class service today!