Plate Nº 33 of 51 — NY
New York
New York is the standing exception to the national pattern: the Department of State itself is the statutory agent for service of process, and the filings live with the Department of State — Division of Corporations.
The requirement in New York — the exception itself
New York does not require your entity to appoint its own registered agent. By law, process on a New York LLC or corporation is served on the Secretary of State, and the Department of State forwards it to the address your filing designates. That designation — not a hired agent — is the legal requirement, and the address it names is the most important address your company has in this state.
You may additionally name a private registered agent, and many companies do — for a staffed desk, faster handling, and an address that is not their own. But in New York that is a purchase, not a duty, and any seller who tells you otherwise is selling.
What you must keep current
The forwarding address. Move, and the Department keeps mailing process to the old address — lawfully — until you file the change with the Department of State. There is no agent-resignation clock in New York, because the statutory agent is the state itself; the risk here is not an empty seat but a stale address, and it is entirely yours.
Who else may serve
If you appoint a private agent on top of the state system, the national pattern applies: an individual adult resident of New York, or a business entity authorized to do business in New York, at a physical street address — no PO Box.
Reports and the agent in New York
New York LLCs and corporations file a biennial statement with the Department of State. That statement is the filing that keeps the Department's forwarding address — and any optional agent — current.
Verify the agent of record
Do not take any plate's word for your own record — check it. Search your entity by name in the Department of State — Division of Corporations's official business database — reached from the office's own website — and read the agent and address exactly as filed. If what is filed is not who would actually be standing there on a Tuesday, file the change before anything else on your list.
Plate verified against the Department of State — Division of Corporations's published rules — October 2026.
Before you appoint anyone in New York
- Price the renewal year, not the advertised year.
- Decide whose address goes on the public record — the DIY ledger is honest about the trade.
- Run your facts through the Navigator, set to New York.