Statutory requirements, filing fees, and recommended services for Missouri businesses.
Verified against Missouri Secretary of State · Updated 2026-04-30
Missouri business law makes the registered agent the entity’s official point of contact for service of process, tax notices, and annual report reminders. Mo. Rev. Stat. §347.030 sets the eligibility rules, and the Missouri Secretary of State maintains the public record. This page documents how Missouri treats the registered agent designation under Mo. Rev. Stat. §347.030, the fees the Missouri Secretary of State charges to file, and the practical mistakes that trip up first-time filers.
A Missouri registered agent is the individual or business entity that Mo. Rev. Stat. §347.030 requires every LLC and corporation to maintain as the official recipient of service of process, state tax notices, and Missouri Secretary of State correspondence. The agent must keep a physical Missouri street address — P.O. boxes alone do not satisfy the statute — and must be reliably available during normal business hours. The Missouri Secretary of State, Corporations 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 Missouri is filed as part of the Articles of Organization, submitted to the Missouri Secretary of State’s business filings division. Most filers use the Missouri Secretary of State business services online portal, which accepts the formation document, the agent designation, and the $50 filing fee in a single transaction, with paper filings costing $105 versus $50 online. Online submissions typically clear in two to seven business days; paper filings can take two to four weeks depending on agency workload.
Missouri requires no annual report at all for LLCs — formation is one-time and the LLC remains in good standing indefinitely as long as the registered agent stays current. Missouri is one of only four no-annual-report states.
Once the entity is on file, the registered agent’s role continues for as long as the LLC or corporation exists. Missouri’s ongoing maintenance is handled through an annual report at $0, due no annual report required for LLCs, and any subsequent change of registered agent is filed with the Missouri Secretary of State via a Statement of Change at a $10 fee. The agent must file a written consent or, where the agency requires, sign the formation document itself — the Missouri Secretary of State rejects designations that lack agent consent.
Five state-specific gotchas account for most of the registered agent problems we see in Missouri filings.
Listing a P.O. box or commercial mailbox. Mo. Rev. Stat. §347.030 requires a physical street address, and the Missouri Secretary of State returns filings that list anything other than a real Missouri street. Commercial mailbox services without a registered street component (typical UPS Store-style addresses) are routinely rejected.
Using a non-Missouri address. The agent’s address must be physically inside Missouri. Out-of-state owners cannot list their own home address; they must either hire a commercial agent or designate a Missouri-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 Missouri Secretary of State, the LLC enters a compliance gap. The $10 change fee is trivial compared with the cost of administrative dissolution and reinstatement.
Missing the annual report deadline. Missouri’s annual report is due no annual report required for LLCs, and the registered agent is the only party who receives mailed reminders from the Missouri Secretary of State. If the agent is unreliable, the entity can miss the deadline silently.
Missouri’s no-annual-report rule does not exempt the LLC from updating its registered agent — letting the agent lapse is the single most common path to administrative dissolution in Missouri.
National registered agent services — Northwest Registered Agent, Mainstay Filing, ZenBusiness, and LegalZoom — operate in Missouri with the same pricing and feature set they offer in every other state. For most Missouri 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 Missouri businesses that want privacy and reliability without paying premium prices.
A Missouri-specific provider like Missouri Registered Agent.co makes sense in narrower cases. State-focused agents tend to specialize in Missouri filings only, which can mean faster local turnaround on Statements of Change, deeper familiarity with the Missouri Secretary of State’s portal, and a single jurisdiction to worry about. For business owners who plan to operate exclusively in Missouri 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 |
Missouri-specific option: Missouri Registered Agent.co operates exclusively in Missouri 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 Missouri |
|---|---|
| P.O. box allowed | No |
| Business hours availability | Required during normal business hours |
| Resident requirement | Missouri resident OR authorized business entity |
| Listed in public record | Yes — searchable via Missouri Secretary of State |
| Statute reference | Mo. Rev. Stat. §347.030 |
| Filing Type | Fee | Renewal | Renewal Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLC formation (Articles of Organization) | $50 online / $105 paper | no annual report required for LLCs | $0 |
| DBA / Fictitious Name | $7 | Every 5 years | $7 |
| Registered Agent change | $10 | — | — |
| Annual Report | $0 | no annual report required for LLCs | $0 |
Yes — if you are a Missouri resident with a physical street address and are available during business hours.
Yes. Missouri law requires every LLC to maintain a Missouri-based registered agent regardless of where the owner lives.
The Missouri Secretary of State can administratively dissolve your business after approximately 60 days of non-compliance.
Yes — file a Statement of Change of Registered Agent with the Missouri Secretary of State for $10.
$50–$150 per year for commercial services; free if you self-serve.
Yes. The agent's name and address are searchable via the Missouri Secretary of 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 Missouri registered agent requirements, not legal advice. Filing fees and procedures may change; verify current details with the Missouri Secretary of State before filing. We may receive compensation from services listed in our comparisons; this does not influence our editorial selections.