Massachusetts charges nothing to change your resident agent online, and $500 a year to keep your LLC on file.

Yes. M.G.L. c. 156C, the Massachusetts LLC Act, calls it a resident agent for service of process, and the Corporations Division forms use the same term. The Division's own LLC regulation, 950 CMR 112.13, uses resident agent and registered agent interchangeably. Formation vendors sell the same product in Massachusetts under the registered agent label.

Yes. Section 5 of chapter 156C says each LLC shall have and maintain in the commonwealth an office where its required records are kept and a resident agent for service of process. 950 CMR 112.13(1) says domestic LLCs and foreign LLCs registered in Massachusetts must continuously maintain a resident agent and office there. The certificate of organization names the first agent, with the agent's written consent, and every annual report repeats the agent line.

The statute (c. 156C §5) lists an individual resident of the commonwealth, a domestic corporation, or a foreign corporation authorized to do business in Massachusetts. The Division's regulation, 950 CMR 112.13(3), reads a little wider and also lists domestic nonprofit corporations and certain other business entities authorized by law and qualified in Massachusetts. Neither list names the LLC itself, so we would not plan on an LLC serving as its own agent. Commercial agents and Massachusetts residents both fit.

Not a PO box. 950 CMR 112.13(2) says the office address of the resident agent must be a street address and that a post office address is not sufficient. A mail-scanning service at a street address is still not your agent unless it is actually appointed, consents in writing, and fits the statute's list. Separately, the records office under §5(1) is also filed as a street address, and that office is where the Division sends a dissolution notice.

$0 if you file online, or $25 by paper or fax, per the Corporations Division fee schedule. The filing is the LLC Statement of Change of Resident Agent/Resident Office under c. 156C §5A, and it must include the new agent's written consent. You cannot do it on the annual report: 950 CMR 112.14 says any change to the registered agent or office must be made through the 112.13 change filing, and 112.15 says the same for a certificate of amendment. Northwest says it files the change for new clients and pays the state filing fee when it is appointed.

On or before the anniversary date of the original certificate of organization (or, for a foreign LLC, of its Massachusetts registration), every year. The fee is $500 under c. 156C §12(d) and 950 CMR 112.14, the largest recurring state bill on this desk. The Division's LLC fee list does not show a separate late fee for LLCs, unlike Massachusetts corporations. The cost of missing reports shows up at reinstatement, because every owed report must be filed then.

After two consecutive years of missed reports, c. 156C §70 lets the Secretary start an administrative dissolution. The written notice goes to the office required by §5(1), the records office on file, and the LLC has 90 days to fix it. If it doesn't, the LLC is administratively dissolved and may only wind up its affairs. Reinstatement is available at any time for $100, but the Division says all annual reports owed must be filed, so two missed years cost about $1,100 in state fees. 950 CMR 112.20(2) adds that failing to appoint a resident agent within 60 days of a Division notice can count as inactivity, which is its own dissolution ground.

The agent files a statement of resignation ($25 on paper, no fee online) and sends a copy to the LLC. Under c. 156C §5A(c) the appointment ends on the 31st day after the statement is filed. That is your window to file the change of resident agent. For a registered foreign LLC whose agent cannot be found or refuses to act, §54 treats the Secretary of the Commonwealth as the agent for service of process, so a lawsuit can proceed without you seeing it at your own address.