Best Registered Agent Services in Virginia

Are you on the verge of launching an LLC or establishing a corporation in Virginia? If so, you need to find a Virginia registered agent for the service of process to observe the state law requirements.

A registered, statutory, or resident agent is your company’s official representative in the state of formation for handling your business correspondence. On the one hand, it seems like nothing special. On the other hand, along with piles of regular and spam mail, there will be important letters such as public notes, statutory requests, filing and reporting notifications, court summons, lawsuits, and alike. Missing any of those pieces of mail might result in serious penalties and fines for your business or even in forced legal entity dissolution.

A representative agent is designated to receive crucial correspondence on your behalf and inform you about that in a timely manner so that you could provide a prompt response or take immediate action. Hence, an agent is more than a mere formality, it’s an essential part of your newly formed business structure. It will help maintain your company’s good standing with the state.

To ease your search, below, we’ve made Virginia registered agent reviews covering a number of options. Not only will it save you the need to scrutinize the market but also you’ll get the best alternatives disposal. So, keep on reading to make a quick choice.

Registered Agent for an LLC in Virginia: Our Local Suggestions

Any adult individual or legal entity with a registered address in the state of Virginia could be your representative agent. You can even fulfill this function by yourself to file Virginia articles of organization and do other registered agent`s routine. However, we think that the best option for a business is to hire a professional service. There is a wealth of companies serving as mail-handling agents. Some of them are pertinent to a local market while others are national operators.

LLCs and corporations are regulated at the state level and so is the statutory agent’s function. When appointing the assignee, you should stick to the laws and requirements valid for this role in your state of formation. Though those rules are rather standard across the US, there might be some state-specific legal nuances to keep in mind. By hiring one of the local Virginia registered agent services, you can rest assured they know all ins and outs of the state laws.

You can take a look at the Virginia Secretary of State's resident agent recommendations or consider a few options we’ve chosen for you.

Registered Agent in Richmond, VA

Richmond is the state capital and the center of the state’s business activity. Besides, it’s the city where the local authorities such as the Virginia State Cooperation Commission reside. And this place is home to Virginia Registered Agent, the company specialized in local business formations and agent services.

The biggest draw of this company is that it’s a dedicated service, which is not only located in the state of Virginia but also focused on state-specific laws. The company has an in-house team of experts that are there for you enabling you to talk to live people who know their onions and are always ready to ensure personal help. It’s the feature bigger nationwide companies are deprived of since they largely shift online and their help centers mostly rely on automated services.

Being able to drop into the State Cooperation Commission on a daily basis, the company can handle all your registration issues and related paperwork in a maximum fast manner. Its specialists will fill in the registered agent consent form in Virginia and submit it with the Commission for you.

The scans of all vital documents the company will receive on your behalf will be made available to you on the same day via email or your personal account on the company’s web portal. Meanwhile, its help reps are easy to access via phone or email to answer all your questions and provide every bit of assistance whenever you need it.

In a word, if you seek strong local experience, seek a statutory agent for an LLC in Virginia with the right command of local business law, and you’ll surely hit the spot with Virginia Registered Agent. It offers reasonable pricing (at $125 per year) and high service quality.

Registered Agent in Virginia Beach, VA

Virginia Beach is yet another big city in the state with a high business concentration. Besides, the area is distinguished by a well-set legal environment favorable to enterprises of all types.

Our prime choice for a business mail-handling representative in this locality is Virginia Registered Agent Services. What will strike you most is the price of the service they offer. The company will serve as your assignee in the state at $50 per annum.

And you’ll be even more amazed at what they provide for that price. You’ll get access to a free Virginia business address to use for your formation documents if necessary and enjoy compliance reminders to catch up with your state reporting schedule. Those features are supported by same-day document scan uploading and a rich depot of helpful informational resources that will be at your disposal.

All in all, this company is a strong competitor to many other similar services, with the local expertise on its side and fairly affordable pricing making it stand out.

One more company that has caught our eye in this region is an Ankney Law firm. It’s a legal firm started and run by a professional attorney Joel Ankney. Backed by 30 years of legal experience, he is an author of two famous business books “Before You Leap” and “Here Is the Deal”.

Though registered agent service is not the Ankney’s Law major and is rather a maintenance service on their list, this company is a real find for those who seek how to start an LLC in Virginia by either establishing a new legal entity or buying an existing small business in the state.

Ankney Law will ensure professional guidance in the business formation process and provide every bit of legal advice on business law you need. Besides, the company is specialized in trademarking, licensing, and copyright legislation. So, it’s capable of delivering professional maintenance as well, which will be of great help for ventures with complex business scenarios that rather need personalized assistance than basic service.

Best Registered Agent Services in Virginia: National Operators

If you dive into a Virginia business registered agent search online, the top results will include national market operators. Those are companies providing registered agent and formation services across the US. Some of them are top-ranked customer favorites while others are less popular. Yet, all of them have nationwide capabilities, which is a great option for those entrepreneurs who plan a business expansion or envisage possible business transfer to other states and want to have a single statutory agent service provider for all their companies.

To match those expectations, we’ve picked a few national operators that, in our opinion, do a great job and can match varying business needs in the short and long run.

Northwest Registered Agent Service

This name is on the top of multiple ratings and leads our Virginia registered agent reviews as well. This company stands out for its good reputation, solid expertise, and premium service. Initially started as a registered agent service, further Northwest added formation and incorporation services to its list too. Today, it’s a confident market leader in both areas. The company has made quality and due diligence its guiding stars in all matters and consistently sticks to this rule.

Northwest Pluses

When you choose a national company with a registered agent service in the core, you can count on the following benefits:

• Dedicated team of professionals: Northwest has its own specialists in each and every state, thus steering away from third-party partners or any intermediaries. The company employees always interact with public agencies and state authorities directly, with no side support;
• Improved privacy: Hiring a representative service, you will have to share your personal data with its specialists one way or another. Yet, doing all the job internally, Northwest will stand on the guard of your privacy protection and avert any risks of your personal info unauthorized disclosure;
• Stellar customer support: With Northwest, you can expect all your requests, issues, and questions to be processed in a prompt manner. The company’s help reps are easy to access and always eager to help. You’ll get comprehensive answers quickly and without a hassle. Yet, where Northwest really excels is specialized business advice. With a group of so-called Corporate Guides, the company enables its customers to contact real businessmen who have experience in a certain area and could give you practical recommendations and respond to all your business-related questions. That’s yet another level of the client service we must admit.

With a number of prime features to it, Northwest agent’s service comes at an average market price of $125 per year. If you select this company as your formation service, an annual subscription will be on your formation plan.

Northwest Minuses

By and large, Northwest doesn’t have many features that might be offputting. While there are certainly more affordable registered agent services in Virginia, Northwest pricing is in line with market rates, and the service quality they provide fully justifies the cost.

Something that you might find a bit confusing is that Northwest professional support feels too sophisticated at times. Thus, if you need some quick response to tackle some minor issue, you might end up answering multiple clarifying questions the Northwest help reps will throw at you as you contact them. While it’s a nice strategy to reveal some hidden problems, it’s somewhat annoying when you just seek a quick answer to a simple question and are not about digging any deeper.

Roundup

Distinguished by the excellent quality of service and unique customer support approach, Northwest hits a sweet spot between premium providers and affordable ones. It’s a sort of mass-market product with a number of premium features to it which makes it of the best Virginia registered agent services out there and our best pick as well.

ZenBusiness Registered Agent

ZenBusiness has been recently the talk of the town in the formation market and not without a reason. A relative newcomer, this company has gained impressive popularity over a few years and is still at the top of the ratings. This company hits a perfect balance between the cost of the service and its quality. And this is what makes it so attractive to customers.

ZenBusiness Pluses

ZenBusiness outcompetes many competitors in pricing that starts at $49. More than that, for an affordable price, the company offers a whole bunch of features that are normally included in high-tier packs by other providers. Thus, you’ll get a whole year of registered agent service and company bylaws included in that basic fee.

Virginia registered agent service alone will cost you $99 a year, which is a competitive price as well. You’ll get professional mail handling, secure personal data protection, and immediate remote access to scanned copies of all your crucial docs and letters. There will be responsive and supportive help reps at your disposal accessible via mail, online chat, or phone whenever you need them.

A compliance calendar option will enable you to receive prompt alerts on your upcoming filing and reporting dates. More than that, if you fail to report in time for some reason, ZenBusiness will even help you regain your good standing status.

ZenBusiness Minuses

To find out the price of your ZenBusiness representative agent service in Virginia, you’ll have to answer an array of questions. Though they are quite common, it’s a bit strange approach.

In the course of filling in an online questionnaire, you’ll also learn that a compliance calendar is not a default feature but a payable option that will add $50 to your Virginia registered agent service cost.

Roundup

ZenBusiness is by far the best choice for those who need not only a mail-handling assignee but also a formation service in Virginia. You’ll get the best value for your money without hitting your budget too much and overpaying for some unnecessary.

InCorp Registered Agent

InCorp is an industry old-timer. The company opened its doors to the first customers back in 1998 and has served over 250,000 clients since then. Similar to Northwest, InCorp has started as a dedicated representative service and has become a reputed national operator over the years. So, you can find InCorp agents in every state and resort to this provider in multiple states if necessary.

InCorp Pluses

With the registered agent service at the core of its business, InCorp has upgraded basic service features with a few value-adding perks that make it confidently stand out among the competition:

• Identity theft protection: With its branded Entity Watch Technology, InCorp will stand on guard of your privacy and personal data security. At the same time, this function will ensure your business stays compliant with the state rules by monitoring your filing status and checking the legitimacy of your managers on a regular basis;
• Management tools: As an InCorp customer, you’ll get access to your personal online dashboard that will enable you not only to store your business docs but also keep an eye on your compliance calendar and even pay bills;
• Fast and smart service: You’ll get access to all your crucial mail within a single day. Meanwhile, if InCorp will serve as your mailing rep in several states, you’ll get a single consolidated bill that will make accounting easier;
• Bulk discounts: Regular agent service cost with InCorp is $129 per year. However, each next year will come at a discounted price. Thus, subject to a five-year subscription, the service will cost only $87 per annum, with all the premium features saved for you;
• Top-of-the-line customer support: You’ll be assigned an individual support manager in charge of all your issues and questions that will save you the need to explain your situation each time and let you enjoy a personal approach to the best.

InCorp Minuses

While doing Virginia registered agent search, you won’t find InCorp in the top results. The company lacks recognizability and brand power as compared to its more popular rivals. Hence, offering top-of-the-line service, it’s less known to the customer and to the market overall.

Besides, with the agent service in the focus, this company is not the best option for formation needs. Its $99 baseline pack is pretty barebone for the price, and you’ll have to add a number of “a la carte” services to make it complete. So, the final formation price will jump up to $200 or even higher.

Roundup

Overall, InCorp is the main Northwest competitor when it comes to national agent service operators in Virginia. With great volume discounts, high-end customer support, and exclusive features pertinent to its representative service, InCorp’s service quality is second to none. The only reason why this company is not at the top of the list is the lack of popularity and the lack of attention to the formation services as compared with competitors.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom lingers on the top of many rankings, hence, it’s a part of our Virginia registered agent service reviews as well. Though not a headliner, the company takes a decent place on our list.

LegalZoom Pluses

LegalZoom is an industry giant supported by impressive brand power and an immense track record. This company has stood the test of time and is still strong like a rock. With tons of positive customer reviews, it is distinguished by high professionalism and exceptional service quality.

By choosing LegalZoom as your mail-handling rep in Virginia, you can rest assured your sensitive letters will be duly protected from unwanted disclosure and you’ll get immediate access to any piece of mail you need. With unlimited cloud storage, you can store all your business papers online and access them from wherever you are. And a compliance function will ensure you receive reminder emails about all the filing dates. 

Should you want to update a registered agent in Virginia and swap your current rep for LegalZoom, the company will do it for you at no extra cost.

The cherry on the top of LegalZoom’s agent service is a $1,000,000 identity theft protection guarantee. This option is also accompanied by a credit monitoring function that will help you find optimal investment alternatives for your business.

LegalZoom Minuses

With all the benefits to it, LegalZoom has one big drawback. It’s high prices. Thus, an annual registered agent service subscription in Virginia costs $299. Though this price will be reduced to $249, should you order the service along with their formation pack, it will still remain almost twice higher than the average market rate. 

To continue, since LegalZoom is rather focused on providing other legal services to individuals, its representative service support is very basic and leaves much to be desired.

Roundup

LegalZoom is a premium service that stands at the higher end of the price range. If a reputed provider with a strong brand power is the goal of your Virginia registered agent search, this company is for you. It offers professionalism and service quality that will cost you some extra, though.

Virginia Registered Agent Reviews: Quick Conclusions

If you do want to make a national operator your representative service in the state of Virginia, Northwest and InCorp are our best recommendations for that. Both companies are dedicated service providers with nationwide agent networks and premium features on the list. While Northwest is also a good formation service, InCorp offers a great discount Virginia registered agent service.

Those who seek to save their budgets and prioritize affordable pricing will appreciate ZenBusiness for sure.

Benefits of Using a Virginia Registered Agent Service

Appointing a statutory agent is more than simply observing the law requirements. Being in charge of your business and legal mail, this role is a sort of your compliance status guarantor. Hence, you should treat it seriously.

Among all the agent representative options you have, a hired professional service is the best one for many reasons. Wonder why? Here are the main benefits that look persuasive to us:

• Business compliance shield: As we’ve already mentioned, via an agent, you’ll be able to maintain your business compliant with the state. You’ll catch up with reporting and filing rules and won’t miss any deadlines that might cause regulatory problems for your company;
• Privacy protection: An agent service will not only protect your sensitive documents from disclosure to third parties but also save you the need to make your personal data a part of public record as required by resident agent regulations;
• Peace of mind: When you let professionals take care of your legal correspondence, you can rest assured it will be handled and organized in a diligent manner. Nothing will be missed or lost;
• Flexibility: With a mail-handling assistant on your side, you’ll have more freedom in planning your business time and leisure since you won’t be bound to your registered address during business hours on weekdays;
• Nationwide presence: If you have business expansion in your future plans, a national agent service will let you hire an assistant rep in any of the 50 US states, thus, keeping your individual agent network under the roof of the same provider.

Best Virginia Registered Agent: How We Choose

Wonder if you can trust our choice? Below, we’ll explain in more detail how we pick the services and why can trust us.

Why You Can Rely on Our Choice

A third-party opinion is often subjective, which is quite normal. However, our selection of registered agent services in Virginia is not just a random choice. To save you the trouble of searching high and low, we’ve already done all the legwork for you.

First and foremost, we’ve checked multiple service reviews and ratings to get independent opinions from other professionals. Then, we’ve scrutinized a myriad of customer reviews on the most popular websites to source unbiased vision from true-to-life customers who used those services. Finally, we’ve even contacted a number of users to talk to them directly and ask what they like and dislike about those formation and registered agent services.

Add to the above our extensive experience in compiling detailed and comprehensive service reviews. We know what a good agent service should look like and what features it should have on the list. Hence, we quickly pinpoint the company's pros and cons and notice any valuable features.

Best Registered Agent Service in Virginia: Selection Criteria

Navigating through the web, you’ll spot dozens of representative service alternatives for Virginia. To cut down the list to a few best options, we use the following estimation criteria:

1. Feature range: A good service should have not only essential features but also some added ones that increase its overall value and match your business needs. Filing alerts, same-day document scanning, and data protection are to name a few;
2. Pricing: High prices are not always synonymous with high quality. In fact, when checking prices, we also check what you’ll get for your money in the end. Thus, a midground price for the agent services is about $100 a year. Normally, it covers standard features and some premium ones as well. Services that offer the same at lower prices or come up with discounts are given added scores in our rating;
3. Ease-of-use: Since you’ll have to sign up online and will further use an online platform to access your agent, ease of use is an important aspect to consider. The whole signup process should be straightforward and clear. You should have no problem logging into your online account or using your personal dashboard;
4. Client support: Should you have any questions about your Virginia representative agent, there should be someone to answer them. Live and online support is a must-have feature for a good service. It should be accessible, helpful, and efficient.

Conclusion

The best way to keep your business compliant is to appoint a professional Virginia registered agent. Still, some businessmen prefer to become their own state representatives. True, the latter method is more cost-efficient, but we nevertheless strongly recommend you hire a professional agent, be it an independent business owner or a service provided by a business formation company.

FAQ

Below, you’ll find a few most common questions about a Virginia registered agent explained.