WI registered agent
Wisconsin registered agent service, $2.50 a year
Wisconsin requires every corporation and LLC on its books to keep a registered agent at a real address in the state. Here is what Wisconsin law says about who that agent has to be and where it has to be.
What Wisconsin requires of a registered agent
The requirement
Every corporation must designate and maintain a registered office and registered agent; the agent may be a resident natural person, or a domestic (or authorized foreign) corporation, nonprofit/nonstock corporation, LLC, LP, or LLP, in each case with a business office identical to the registered office. The registered office must be a physical street address (no PO box, mailbox service, or answering service) and the agent must have an e-mail address and a place of business or activity in the state. LLC rules are parallel at Wis. Stat. § 183.0115.
Each corporation shall designate and maintain a registered office and registered agent in this state. ... The registered office must be an actual physical location with a street address and not solely a post office box, mailbox service, or telephone answering service. The registered agent shall be any of the following: (a) A natural person who resides in this state and whose business office is identical with the registered office. ... (2m) A registered agent for a corporation must have an e-mail address and a place of business or activity in this state.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.0501(1m)-(2m); § 183.0115
How we comply
We don't.
What Wisconsin 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
A corporation may be administratively dissolved if it is without a registered agent or registered office for at least one year, or fails for one year to notify the department of an agent change, resignation, or office discontinuance (60-day cure period under § 180.1421(2)).
(3) The corporation is without a registered agent or registered office in this state for at least one year. (4) The corporation does not notify the department within one year that its registered agent or registered office has been changed, that its registered agent has resigned or that its registered office has been discontinued.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.1420(3)-(4)
Administrative dissolution
An LLC may be administratively dissolved on the same one-year agentless or one-year failure-to-notify grounds.
(c) The company is without a registered agent in this state for at least one year. (d) The company does not notify the department within one year that its registered agent or registered office has been changed, that its registered agent has resigned, or that its registered office has been discontinued.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 183.0708(1)(c)-(d)
And also
On administrative dissolution the entity loses the exclusive right to its name (LLC parallel at § 183.0708(4m)).
The corporation's right to the exclusive use of its corporate name terminates on the effective date of its administrative dissolution.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.1421(4)
Revocation (foreign entities)
A foreign corporation's certificate of authority may be revoked if it is without a registered agent or office for at least 6 months, or fails to notify within 6 months of a change or resignation; the foreign LLC registration-termination parallel is § 183.09101(1)(c)-(d).
(c) The foreign corporation is without a registered agent or registered office in this state for at least 6 months. (d) The foreign corporation does not notify the department under s. 180.1508 or 180.1509 within 6 months that its registered agent or registered office has changed, that its registered agent has resigned or that its registered office has been discontinued.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.1530(1)(c)-(d)
No access to the courts
A foreign corporation transacting business without a required certificate of authority cannot maintain a proceeding in any Wisconsin court; the foreign LLC parallel is § 183.0902(2).
A foreign corporation transacting business in this state without a certificate of authority, if a certificate of authority is required under s. 180.1501, may not maintain a proceeding in any court in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.1502(1)
Civil penalty
A foreign corporation transacting business without authority owes all back fees and charges plus 50 percent of that amount or $5,000, whichever is less, per year; the foreign LLC parallel is § 183.0902(6). To reinstate a revoked certificate within 6 months, the foreign corporation must pay fees or penalties due under s. 180.1502(5)(a) or $5,000, whichever is less (§ 180.1531(2)(c)1.b.).
is liable to this state, for each year or any part of a year during which it transacted business in this state without a certificate of authority, in an amount equal to all of the following: 1. All fees and other charges that would have been imposed by this chapter on the foreign corporation had it duly applied for and received a certificate of authority ... 2. Fifty percent of the amount owed under subd. 1. or $5,000, whichever is less.
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.1502(5)(a)
The bill to come back
We couldn't be bothered to look this up. FACTS carries no human-verified reinstatement fee for Wisconsin in the registered agent dataset, and we are not the kind of company that checks.
What happens to the lawsuit you never saw
Substituted service
Wisconsin's fallback is not service on a state officer: if the entity has no registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, service is by registered or certified mail (or similar delivery service) to the entity's principal office; failing that, by handing a copy to the individual in charge of any regular place of business, and finally by publishing a class 3 notice. The LLC parallel is § 183.0119(2)-(3). Foreign corporations that withdrew or lost authority are served the same mail route under § 180.1510(3)-(4).
if a corporation has no registered agent or its registered agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, the corporation may be served by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or by similar delivery service, addressed to the corporation at its principal office, as shown on the records of the department on the date of sending. ... If process, notice, or demand in an action cannot be served on a corporation pursuant to sub. (1) or (2), service may be made by handing a copy to the individual in charge of any regular place of business or activity of the corporation
Source: state statute, via FACTS: Wis. Stat. § 180.0504(2)-(3)
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.