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Order $89 to $99 Pennsylvania registered agent service online for immediate access to our Commercial Registered Office Provider address and state forms. No additional charges.
Your business must appoint a Pennsylvania registered agent to receive documents in legal matters, including notice of lawsuit. Our reliable registered agent service fulfills this requirement. You get:
In most U.S. states, you can’t register or foreign qualify your organization without appointing a registered agent. This isn’t the case in Pennsylvania, which requires you to enlist a registered office or a so-called commercial registered office provider (CROP) instead. They serve as your point of contact with the Department of State, receiving service of process and other legal and government correspondence on your behalf.
To help you avoid misunderstandings, this guide will explain the difference between a registered agent in Pennsylvania and a commercial registered office provider. You’ll then learn how to appoint a provider, what their duties are, and how Harbor Compliance fulfills those responsibilities to help your organization operate in accordance with Pennsylvania law.
Pennsylvania requires all filing organizations to designate a physical location in the state—the registered office—where state correspondence, including important legal mail, will be delivered. However, unlike most other states, it doesn’t require you to also appoint a registered agent—the person responsible for receiving and forwarding legal notices that arrive at the registered office.
While appointing a registered agent is not mandatory, Pennsylvania allows you to partner with a commercial registered office provider, who may assume practically the same duties as those of registered agents in other states. Besides providing a registered office for your organization, they can accept and forward service of process and other official correspondence so that you can meet your legal obligations promptly. Specifically, the Department of State states that:
“A CROP may also be an agent authorized by the corporation or similar entity in writing to receive service of process for it …, but such agents are not required to be publicly designated with the Department of State as part of the business registration process.”
Without a commercial registered office provider acting as your de facto registered agent in Pennsylvania, you risk being away from the registered office when process servers arrive to deliver a lawsuit notice or a court summons. If that happens, you might not be aware that your organization is involved in litigation in the first place. This could lead to you missing the court date and not having a chance to defend your case. Courts typically rule in the plaintiff’s favor in these situations, which is known as default judgment.
Such escalations can significantly disrupt your operations, so it’s always a good idea to entrust the responsibility of receiving service of process to professionals such as commercial registered office providers. They can ensure someone is always present to accept legal notices and deliver them to you on time.
As per Section 15-109 of the Pennsylvania Code, all legal entities in Pennsylvania are required to appoint a registered office address, which has to be an actual physical address in the state or a rural route box number (P.O. box addresses are not allowed).
While you technically can enlist your own address as the registered office, this may not be a wise move because doing so would expose you to the risk of receiving service of process in front of your team or clients.
That’s why many organizations opt for commercial registered office providers, which are businesses specialized in maintaining registered offices in the state. A commercial registered office provider can be any domestic or foreign legal entity that has filed a statement of address of commercial registered office with the Department of State.
When choosing whether to appoint your or another individual’s address as the registered office or partner with a commercial provider, the main factors are reliability and efficiency. Commercial providers are often considered a superior option since an individual might be away from the registered office and miss your notice due to personal time off, emergencies, and many other reasons. By contrast, commercial providers have employees present at the registered office at all times and a developed process to ensure your notices reach you timely.
You can appoint your commercial registered office provider in your formation documents—Articles of Incorporation for profit and nonprofit corporations or Articles of Organization for LLCs. Your filings will contain a section where you should include your address or the name and county of your commercial registered office provider.
Before listing a commercial provider in your formation documents, you must enter into a contract with them. Not doing so might expose you to civil or criminal penalties.
If you’re expanding your organization into Pennsylvania from another state, you’ll enlist a provider in your foreign qualification filings. The required information is the same as if you were registering an entity for the first time.
If you wish to change your provider, you must fill out the Change of Registered Office form and mail it to the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations.
Harbor Compliance ensures your important notices are handled by professionals, giving you complete peace of mind. Our Commercial Registered Office Provider Service offers:
Harbor Compliance is more than a commercial registered office provider. We can help you meet all your statutory obligations in Pennsylvania through a wide range of services, as shown in the following table:
| Service Category | Overview |
|---|---|
| Nonprofit formation | We provide comprehensive incorporation and charitable registration services, which include securing your 501(c) tax exemption. |
| Tax registration and management | Harbor Compliance specializes in streamlining tax-related tasks, such as obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN), payroll tax registration, and sales and use tax registration. |
| Beneficial ownership information reporting | Meet your obligations under the new Corporate Transparency Act effortlessly with our Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Service. |
| Document filing and retrieval | Our drop-off filing service delivers your time-sensitive documents directly to the Department of State with priority. We also obtain certificates of good standing, reinstatement, or authority, as well as certified copies of relevant documents. |
| Entity lifecycle management | We can assist you with various steps of starting and managing your organization, including name reservation, DBA management, formation document amendments, obtaining a business license, and filing initial and annual reports. |
As mentioned, availability issues are the main reason why appointing an individual’s registered office may not be a good idea. Individuals are required to be on-site during business hours, which can be demanding and often unrealistic due to the many circumstances that can result in their absence.
By contrast, choosing Harbor Compliance as your commercial registered office provider offers numerous advantages:
Getting started with Harbor Compliance is straightforward, with specific steps depending on whether you are:
If you want to form a new organization in Pennsylvania, we can help your organization get up and running smoothly through three services:
Choose the service that matches your business structure, and we’ll handle the entire formation process. We’ll automatically designate Harbor Compliance as your commercial registered office provider, so you won’t have to fill out any forms manually.
If you prefer a more involved approach to forming your organization, you can appoint us in three simple steps:
Qualifying in another jurisdiction can be quite an ordeal due to the numerous regulations you must meet. With our Foreign Qualification Service, you can seamlessly expand your organization into Pennsylvania.
Follow the steps in the wizard, and we’ll manage the process of obtaining your Pennsylvania certificate of authority without delays or complications.
If you already have a commercial registered office provider but want to partner with Harbor Compliance instead, we can complete the change for you.
When ordering our Commercial Registered Office Provider (Registered Agent) Service, choose the Change of Agent add-on option before checkout. We’ll update the Department of State, saving you the hassle of doing it yourself.
Located in nearby Lancaster, PA!
Appoint us as your Pennsylvania registered agent when you incorporate your business or form your LLC. Sign up for registered agent service and file using the state forms and instructions in your Client Portal. The forms are pre-filled and signed as required by the state.
Appoint us as your agent when you apply for a certificate of authority to transact business in Pennsylvania. Sign up for Pennsylvania registered agent service and file using the forms and instructions in your Client Portal. The forms are pre-filled and signed as required by the state.
Changing your registered agent to us is easy. Sign up for Pennsylvania registered agent service and file using the forms and instructions in your Client Portal. The forms are pre-filled and signed as required by the state.
Harbor Compliance is a provider of nationwide registered agent service. We can help you consolidate your agent representation and achieve cost savings. Our specialists manage the process to change registered agents so that virtually no work is required on your part. We will complete the state filings to appoint us as your registered agent. Additionally, we can extend your subscription term so that you avoid double payment for any portion of your current contract. There’s no reason to wait. Simply contact us for consolidation and we’ll take care of the rest. If you have registered agent appointments spanning multiple states or entities, contact us today.
Here, you will see some of the most common questions about registered agents and commercial registered office providers in Pennsylvania. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, explore our Information Center.
Pennsylvania doesn’t require a registered agent—you can only appoint a commercial registered office provider that will serve the same purpose.
Regardless of your business structure, a registered office is a physical address to which all legal and government correspondence addressed to your organization will be delivered.
You can list your own office when registering or foreign qualifying your organization, but this would mean you might be served legal process in front of others, which can be inconvenient.
Whether you list your address or appoint a commercial registered office provider, it must be a physical address. P.O. boxes and virtual addresses are not allowed.
Having a reliable commercial registered office provider is crucial to addressing legal matters promptly, and you can trust that Harbor Compliance is up to the task. When you order our Registered Agent (Commercial Registered Office Provider) Service, you’ll be one step closer to ensuring your organization can operate in Pennsylvania without disruptions.
If you need additional help meeting Pennsylvania’s regulatory requirements, you can do the following:
To learn more about registered agent service in other jurisdictions Harbor Compliance covers, refer to the following table:
