Statutory requirements, filing fees, and recommended services for Connecticut businesses.
Verified against Connecticut Secretary of the State · Updated 2026-04-30
A Connecticut registered agent is the entity’s statutory point of contact for lawsuits, tax notices, and state agency correspondence. Conn. Gen. Stat. §34-243n requires the agent to have a physical Connecticut address; the Connecticut Secretary of the State rejects filings that list a P.O. box alone. This page documents how Connecticut treats the registered agent designation under Conn. Gen. Stat. §34-243n, the fees the Connecticut Secretary of the State charges to file, and the practical mistakes that trip up first-time filers.
A Connecticut registered agent is the individual or business entity that Conn. Gen. Stat. §34-243n requires every LLC and corporation to maintain as the official recipient of service of process, state tax notices, and Connecticut Secretary of the State correspondence. The agent must keep a physical Connecticut street address — P.O. boxes alone do not satisfy the statute — and must be reliably available during normal business hours. The Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Commercial Recording Division files the agent’s name and street address as part of the public business record, searchable by any member of the public through the agency’s online entity database.
The registered agent designation in Connecticut is filed as part of the Certificate of Organization, submitted to the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s business filings division. Most filers use the Business.CT.gov portal, which accepts the formation document, the agent designation, and the $120 filing fee in a single transaction. Online submissions typically clear in two to seven business days; paper filings can take two to four weeks depending on agency workload.
Connecticut requires every LLC to file an annual report by March 31 at $80 — well above the national median — and the report must list current member and manager information, not just the registered agent.
Once the entity is on file, the registered agent’s role continues for as long as the LLC or corporation exists. Connecticut’s ongoing maintenance is handled through an annual report at $80, due annually by March 31, and any subsequent change of registered agent is filed with the Connecticut Secretary of the State via a Statement of Change at a $50 fee. The agent must file a written consent or, where the agency requires, sign the formation document itself — the Connecticut Secretary of the State rejects designations that lack agent consent.
Five state-specific gotchas account for most of the registered agent problems we see in Connecticut filings.
Listing a P.O. box or commercial mailbox. Conn. Gen. Stat. §34-243n requires a physical street address, and the Connecticut Secretary of the State returns filings that list anything other than a real Connecticut street. Commercial mailbox services without a registered street component (typical UPS Store-style addresses) are routinely rejected.
Using a non-Connecticut address. The agent’s address must be physically inside Connecticut. Out-of-state owners cannot list their own home address; they must either hire a commercial agent or designate a Connecticut-resident individual.
Letting the agent designation lapse without filing a Statement of Change. When a commercial agent service is terminated and a replacement is not filed with the Connecticut Secretary of the State, the LLC enters a compliance gap. The $50 change fee is trivial compared with the cost of administrative dissolution and reinstatement.
Missing the annual report deadline. Connecticut’s annual report is due annually by March 31, and the registered agent is the only party who receives mailed reminders from the Connecticut Secretary of the State. If the agent is unreliable, the entity can miss the deadline silently.
Connecticut’s report fee jumped from $20 to $80 in 2020 and budget-template financial models built before then often understate the cost by $60 per year.
National registered agent services — Northwest Registered Agent, Mainstay Filing, ZenBusiness, and LegalZoom — operate in Connecticut with the same pricing and feature set they offer in every other state. For most Connecticut LLCs and corporations, a national provider is the right choice: consistent pricing, an online dashboard with scanned mail, and same-day acceptance of service of process. Northwest’s $125/year tier and Mainstay Filing’s $99/year tier are the two most common picks for Connecticut businesses that want privacy and reliability without paying premium prices.
A Connecticut-specific provider like Connecticut Registered Agent.co makes sense in narrower cases. State-focused agents tend to specialize in Connecticut filings only, which can mean faster local turnaround on Statements of Change, deeper familiarity with the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s portal, and a single jurisdiction to worry about. For business owners who plan to operate exclusively in Connecticut and value a local-only operator, a state-specific provider is often a better cultural fit than a multi-state brand. The tradeoff is interface polish: state-specific services usually lack the dashboard depth and mail-forwarding automation of the national services.
| # | Service | Price/yr | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwest Registered Agent | $125 | privacy-focused customers |
| 2 | Mainstay Filing Best Value | $99 | balanced value |
| 3 | ZenBusiness | $199 | new businesses bundling formation |
| 4 | LegalZoom | $249 | customers wanting brand-name support |
Connecticut-specific option: Connecticut Registered Agent.co operates exclusively in Connecticut and specializes in same-state filings. Best for businesses that want a state-focused provider with local-only operations.
| Physical address required | Yes — must be a street address in Connecticut |
|---|---|
| P.O. box allowed | No |
| Business hours availability | Required during normal business hours |
| Resident requirement | Connecticut resident OR authorized business entity |
| Listed in public record | Yes — searchable via Connecticut Secretary of the State |
| Statute reference | Conn. Gen. Stat. §34-243n |
| Filing Type | Fee | Renewal | Renewal Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLC formation (Articles of Organization) | $120 | annually by March 31 | $80 |
| DBA / Fictitious Name | $10 | Every 5 years | $10 |
| Registered Agent change | $50 | — | — |
| Annual Report | $80 | annually by March 31 | $80 |
Yes — if you are a Connecticut resident with a physical street address and are available during business hours.
Yes. Connecticut law requires every LLC to maintain a Connecticut-based registered agent regardless of where the owner lives.
The Connecticut Secretary of the State can administratively dissolve your business after approximately 60 days of non-compliance.
Yes — file a Statement of Change of Registered Agent with the Connecticut Secretary of the State for $50.
$50–$150 per year for commercial services; free if you self-serve.
Yes. The agent's name and address are searchable via the Connecticut Secretary of the State business records.
Same-day with most commercial services; same-business-day filing if submitted online before the daily cutoff.
This page provides general information about Connecticut registered agent requirements, not legal advice. Filing fees and procedures may change; verify current details with the Connecticut Secretary of the State before filing. We may receive compensation from services listed in our comparisons; this does not influence our editorial selections.