Registered Agent or Virtual Mailbox - which do you need for your online business?

If you are starting a new online business, you may be looking for a mailing address, and have heard of options such as a virtual mailbox and a registered agent. In this video, I explain the difference between a registered agent and a virtual mailbox, and explain who needs which (and when you need both).
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Legal Disclosure: I am licensed to practice in the state of California and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Information contained in this video is not legal advice - please seek advice of counsel. This video and description may contain attorney advertising.
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#virtualmailbox #registeredagent

[@111_23]

felt like a private consultation, thank you for this fantastic explanation!

[@matiqog]

You're so awesome!! Thank you for showing up here and taking the time to help all of us. Have a wonderful day! ❤️

[@ElizabethPW]

You are so welcome!

[@ShutterLifeCaptures]

Good morning Elizabeth! Sorry for the question that is a little off topic here but I wanted to see if you provided this service or could maybe point me in the right direction. I am in need of a Letter of Attestation for the validity of my business so I can use a SSL certificate to protect my websites transactions. (I have the letter already done that was provided to me by the company and just need a lawyer to authenticate). Not sure if you provide these services or not. Would be awesome if you did. Love your content!

[@ElizabethPW]

Hm no I am not doing that type of work. Generally I'd say you'd need to speak with a business/corporate attorney.

[@kayslavin2800]

Thanks so much for this! Are Registered Agent companies HIPAA compliant? (I'm opening an LLC as a therapist, and want to make sure client information is protected.)

[@ElizabethPW]

The registered agent will not have client info so they don’t need to be. They just get legal mail like your annual report reminder.

[@JustPassingBy_Yolo]

I went through tailor brand but I didn't get to choose anything for registered agent. It's just assigned to me but I didn't get any info. When I searched up my business, I see their info. But I'm trying to find their contsxt info, nada thing in sight. Tailor Brand isn't answering my question. This is so frustrating.

[@ElizabethPW]

Sorry to hear that!

[@stacywilkins5045]

Thank you for this information! I guess I’m confused bc if there is an ipostal1 address on my LLC & business license, how will it be known to send imp. information to my registered agent if I don’t provide that address?

[@ElizabethPW]

If your registrated agent is listed with the state, they have the RA address

[@Created2InspireU]

Thank you for the helpful information! I registered my LLC on my own; but now I want to get a registered agent and virtual mailbox. What's the process to change/update the information on record once I secure these?

[@ElizabethPW]

Depends on the state, some you amend and some you file a new annual report or statement of information

[@mustaifa5]

I have setup llc in delaware and registered agent also. Company office address is as registered agent address. But I postal address on the documents is my home country address, Now if want to buy virtual office address for my other communications apart from legal documents which will be handled by registered agent. Now my question is whether new virtual address mandatory to be added as part of the llc documents or not required and I can use it without mentioning in llc documents

[@ElizabethPW]

Generally you can use whatever mailing address you want, or have two different mailing addresses for the business

[@devonmccarthy7802]

Hey good day this is what the registered agent have on their website AS YOUR REGISTERED AGENT, WE ACCEPT YOUR COMPANY’S STATE AND LEGAL MAIL. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR BUSINESS MAIL DELIVERED? For thee option for business mail can I use my home address? I do online business.

[@ElizabethPW]

Yes the idea is they just want to know where to forward you mail to

[@praneshrao4697]

Good Morning Elizabeth, great video. I have a question about registered agents, is there a requirement for the registered agents to be in the same city as where you operate out of? My registered agent is in Albany and I would like to setup operations in Buffalo.

[@ElizabethPW]

Nope, can be in any city in the state

[@Angie-eo1gt]

Hi. If I have a PMB with Anytime Mailbox, should I use that address, the registered agent's address or my home address in the Articles of Organization template for Maryland? Or should that be entered as the return address? Also, when registering the business with the state, do I use my home address as the physical location address or the PMB address? The instructions are simply unclear. Thanks

[@ElizabethPW]

Some registered agents allow you to use their address for your businesa address. But otherwise a PMB will probably not work for a location address -- the location for a home business is the home.

[@shabanabibi8942]

Hi dear Very informative video. My LLC was formed in 2023 in texas. Now i want to renew my registered d agent annual fee and the address. Unfortunatley i dont have my agent portal logins. A service provider formed llc for me and they didnt provided me the agent portal logins. Now i asked the service provider but they refused. In this specific case, how can i renew my registered agent and address of my LLC? Please guide me

[@ElizabethPW]

I'd recommend filing it via paper forms in the mail

[@blakebraboy6909]

You da Best!! I have an LLC with a registered agent in CA but want a virtual address incase I get get for my business. Can I have both? I prefer to have an address in my town 😊

[@ElizabethPW]

Yes you can get a virtual address that's a mailing address for the business

[@WebCanaries]

Thanks for thevideo! I'm a non U.S resident and I've opened an LLC. I need prof of address for the USPS 1583 form. how does that work?

[@ElizabethPW]

So you'd need to be using an actual location address -- if you are, then you should have some kind of lease, phone bill, insurance policy, etc.

[@akproducts7715]

Hello

[@nickfly9367]

Hi Elizabeth, great video. I do have an off topic question as well and was hoping you could give me some guidance. I’m located in San Diego california and will be opening up an online store on Shopify selling bottles like hydroflask. I would like to create an llc in wyoming but wasn’t sure if I would still need to create an llc in California as well since I will be shipping my products out of my home. Do you know if I have to have an llc in California ? Down the road, would I need an llc in California If I turned my online business into a physical store ? Any help/ recommendation is greatly appreciated! Edit: I found another video of yours and went through the entire comment section…and concluded if I want to open up an llc in Wyoming I would have to pay a foreign llc fee and on top of that if I paid myself a salary I would most definitely have to create my llc in California. So, would it be smart if I expect sales to be pretty high and I don’t want to pay myself a salary and reinvest the money back into the company to get a registered agent in Wyoming while just shipping the products out of my house in california and when the time comes where I want to pay myself to close out the Wyoming llc,get a new EIN and then form a California llc. Or is it smarter to just stick to california for now, pay the state taxes, and down the road if the business turns out to be viable move it to Wyoming or Delaware ? Do i have to much “nexus” by operating out of my room in Cali and owning all the inventory in the garage ? Sorry for all these questions but this is insanely interesting to me. Thanks !

[@ElizabethPW]

You would not have to also get an LLC in CA but you might have to register as a "foreign LLC" here (which means you pay the CA taxes anyway) if you have physical contacts, like inventory or employees or an office/store here. So yes the inventory and "warehouse" of your house would likely be the physical nexus

[@guiller2371]

If I would have known about this register agent thing; I would have never filled for a corporation. I have no access to my corp mail.

[@ElizabethPW]

Oh no, sorry to hear that you're having trouble with it!

[@user-el6ls3xz8n]

helpful, thank u

[@ElizabethPW]

Glad it was helpful!

[@KevinSandy2]

My Registered Agent is Legal Zoom. Can I use their address for my Trademark application? Thank you.

[@ElizabethPW]

Hm well not for the residency address (that need to be your actual location) but for mailing address, maybe -- you'd need to ask LZ if they allow you to get mail there (you might need to pay extra)

[@Cutestbabz]

Can I do consultation from you ?

[@ElizabethPW]

Sorry, I'm not taking new clients right now!

[@user-kg1bo6pi5w]

i have legal non us resident llc i want in NM i want to open bank accounts can you help me out

[@ElizabethPW]

I recommend trying doola.com - they are experienced with helping non-residents

[@leodiazart]

Hi dear Elisabeth you are doing a great job! How can I contact you!? My best regards from the Caribbean

[@ElizabethPW]

You can check out the free discord discord.gg/76JfFZky

[@marcolko10]

Really love your content! I want to know if I can use the business virtual mailbox ipostal1 as the California LLC registered agent address based in San Francisco. The reason why I want a virtual mailbox is I don’t want the public to see my home address online (SoS, Amazon, USPTO…)

[@ElizabethPW]

California wants a physical location address, so you'd be better off with a registered agent (like Northwest RA)

[@SH-ex8mk]

@@ElizabethPW If the iPostal1 mailbox we're using in particular is a physical location (i.e. at a Staples), can we use it to register ourselves as the registered agent?