LA registered agent
Louisiana registered agent service, $2.50 a year
Louisiana requires every corporation and LLC on its books to keep a registered agent at a real address in the state. Here is what Louisiana law says about who that agent has to be and where it has to be.
What Louisiana requires of a registered agent
The requirement
For domestic corporations (Business Corporation Act of 2015), the registered agent may be an individual who resides in Louisiana, or a domestic or foreign corporation or other eligible entity that continuously maintains a Louisiana office, is authorized to transact business (if foreign), files with the Secretary of State the names of at least two individuals at its Louisiana address authorized to receive process, and is authorized by its organizational documents to act as agent for service of process. For LLCs the rule is narrower: a citizen of the state who resides in Louisiana, or a law-licensed partnership or professional law corporation, or a domestic/foreign corporation or LLC authorized to transact business whose organic documents authorize agent service and which has the two-individuals certificate on file (La. R.S. 12:1308(A)(2)). Foreign corporations remain governed by the pre-2015 law, La. R.S. 12:308(A)(1), which also allows an individual resident whose business office is identical with the registered office, or an individual attorney or law partnership.
(2) A registered agent, who may be either of the following: (a) An individual who resides in this state. (b) A domestic or foreign corporation or other eligible entity that does all of the following: (i) Continuously maintains an office in this state and, in the case of a foreign corporation or foreign eligible entity, is authorized to transact business in this state. (ii) Files with the secretary of state a statement setting forth the name of at least two individuals at its address in this state, each of whom is authorized to receive any process served on it as such agent. (iii) Acts as the agent of a corporation for service of process as authorized by its organizational documents
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:1-501(2); see also La. R.S. 12:1308(A)(2) (LLC); La. R.S. 12:308(A)(1) (foreign corporation)
How we comply
We don't.
What Louisiana does to your company when we don't
Here is what the state does to an entity that has no agent, or whose agent is us.
Administrative dissolution
The Secretary of State shall administratively terminate the existence of a domestic corporation that has failed for 90 consecutive days to maintain a registered office and registered agent (or to file its annual report), after at least 30 days written notice and an opportunity to cure.
A. Subject to Subsection B of this Section, the secretary of state shall terminate the existence of a corporation if, according to the records of the secretary of state, the corporation has failed for ninety consecutive days to do either of the following: (1) Comply with the requirements imposed by R.S. 12:1-501 concerning the continuous maintenance in this state of a registered office and registered agent.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:1-1442(A)-(B)
And also
For a domestic LLC, if the registered office is vacated and no statement of change is filed within 30 days, the office of the Secretary of State may be treated as the LLC's registered office by any person other than the LLC itself.
However, if no statement of change is filed within thirty days after the registered office has been vacated, the office of the secretary of state may thereafter be treated as the registered office by any person other than the limited liability company itself. The registered office shall be considered the domicile of the limited liability company for all purposes.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:1308(F)
Revocation (foreign entities)
A foreign corporation's certificate of authority may be revoked by the Secretary of State for failure to maintain a registered agent or registered office in Louisiana, after not less than 60 days written notice and failure to cure. Upon revocation the authority to transact business ceases, but the registered agent's authority to accept service continues.
(2) The corporation has failed to maintain a registered agent or a registered office in this state, or to maintain records, as required by this Chapter ... C. Upon revocation, the authority of the corporation to transact business in this state shall cease, but the authority of its registered agent in this state to accept service of process shall continue.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:313(A)(2), (B), (C)
Revocation (foreign entities)
A foreign LLC's certificate of authority may likewise be revoked (or suspended) for failure to maintain a registered agent or registered office in Louisiana, after 60 days notice and failure to cure.
(2) The limited liability company has failed to maintain a registered agent or a registered office in this state or to maintain records as required by this Chapter ... (1) The secretary of state shall have given the limited liability company not less than sixty days' notice in writing of the grounds on which such proposed revocation is based.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:1353(A)(2), (B)
No access to the courts
A foreign corporation or foreign LLC transacting business in Louisiana without authority may not present any judicial demand before any Louisiana court; the burden is on the entity to prove it is authorized.
No foreign corporation transacting business in this state shall be permitted to present any judicial demand before any court of this state unless it has been authorized to transact such business, if required by, and as provided in, this Chapter.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:314(A); La. R.S. 12:1354(A)
Civil penalty
The Secretary of State may impose a penalty of up to $1,000 per violation on a foreign corporation or foreign LLC transacting business without a valid certificate of authority, plus back fees and taxes recoverable by the attorney general (12:314(C), 12:1354(C)).
B. The secretary of state may impose a penalty of not more than one thousand dollars per violation against such foreign corporations transacting business in this state without a valid certificate of authority.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:314.1(B); La. R.S. 12:1355(B)
The bill to come back
Reinstatement fee
A corporation terminated administratively may be reinstated within 5 years by filing articles of reinstatement and an annual report (with the registered agent's written consent to appointment) and paying the annual-report filing fee for each year between the last annual report and reinstatement. LLCs revoked for annual-report failure have a 3-year reinstatement window and must pay the reinstatement fee authorized by R.S. 12:1364(A)(1) (amount set in R.S. 49:222, outside this corpus).
(2) The fee is paid for the filing of an annual report for each year between the corporation's last annual report and the year in which corporation is reinstated.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:1-1444(F)(2); La. R.S. 12:1308.2(C)(1)(c)
What happens to the lawsuit you never saw
Substituted service
For domestic corporations, if the corporation has no registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, the corporation may be served by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the secretary of the corporation at its principal office; service is perfected on receipt, the return-receipt date, or 5 days after mailing. For LLCs and foreign corporations, if the registered office is vacated for 30 days without a statement of change, the office of the Secretary of State may be treated as the registered office (12:1308(F); 12:308(E)).
B. If a corporation has no registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, the corporation may be served by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the secretary of the corporation at its principal office. Service is perfected under this Subsection at the earliest of the following: (1) The date the corporation receives the mail. (2) The date shown on the return receipt, if signed on behalf of the corporation. (3) Five days after its deposit in the United States mail, as evidenced by the postmark, if mailed postpaid and correctly addressed.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: La. R.S. 12:1-504(B)
Statutory text as captured by FACTS (retrieved 2026-08-01, verified word-for-word against the state code 2026-08-10). Laws change. The statute governs; this page does not.