Filing Address

Registered agents, mailboxes, and the 3-year bill.

New York · Department of State

New York already named the agent. It is the Secretary of State.

Formation checkouts still sell a New York registered agent as if the LLC would otherwise have none. The Department of State’s own forming page says the opposite: designate the Secretary of State. An extra agent under §302 is optional.

Filing Address research

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What the DOS page and the statute say

New York service-of-process rules we cite
ItemPublished rule
Statutory agentSecretary of State. DOS: the LLC must designate the Secretary of State as its agent for service of process. §301(b): no domestic or foreign LLC may be formed or authorized unless the articles or application designate the secretary of state as such agent.
Additional registered agentOptional. §302(a): “in addition to the designation of the secretary of state,” the LLC may designate a registered agent.
Who may be that extra agent§302(b): a natural person who is a resident of this state or has a business address in this state; a domestic or authorized foreign LLC; or a domestic corporation or a foreign corporation authorized to do business in this state.
Process mailing addressA “post office address,” within or without this state, to which the Secretary of State mails a copy of process served on the Secretary of State (§301(c), §301(e); DOS Articles of Organization form).
Office on the articlesCounty only. DOS forming instructions: enter the name of a county in New York State. Do not include the street address.
Forming instructions: dos.ny.gov/forming-limited-liability-company-new-york. Statute text: Limited Liability Company Law §301 and §302, retrieved 2 September 2026.

DOS fees we can put in a table

New York Department of State LLC fees (selected)
InstrumentFeeNote
Certificate of Change, §211-A(a)$30LLC files. DOS page: change the process-mailing address, change county, or make, revoke, or change the registered-agent designation.
Certificate of Change, §211-A(b)$5Agent files to change their own address on file. Statutory fee $5 on the agent-filed DOS page.
Resignation of registered agent$20§302(d). Designation terminates 30 days after filing.
Biennial statement$9DOS articles page: due two years after articles, then every two years, in the calendar month of the original filing. $9.
Serving process on an LLC$40DOS fee schedule, “Serving process — Limited Liability Company.”
Certificate of Publication$50DOS filing fee only. §206 still requires two newspapers for six consecutive weeks; the newspapers charge their own fee. We do not invent that number.
Source: dos.ny.gov/fee-schedules (LLC table, Rev. 3/16) and the Certificate of Change / resignation pages, retrieved 2 September 2026. Newspaper advertising is not a DOS dollar and is not invented here.

What this page does not do

It does not quote the entire Limited Liability Company Law, does not price New York City newspaper ads, and does not tell you to pick Albany County to cheapen publication. The county on the articles is a county name; publication follows that county (§206). The dollar the newspapers charge is their dollar. Change filing compared with TX/FL/CA/WY: change of agent.

Questions

Does a New York LLC need a commercial registered agent?

Not as a second agent. The Department of State’s forming page says the LLC must designate the Secretary of State as its agent for service of process. Limited Liability Company Law §301 makes that designation mandatory. §302 then says the LLC may designate an additional registered agent. The extra agent is optional.

How much is a New York change of registered agent?

The DOS fee schedule lists Certificate of Change under §211-A(a) at $30 when the LLC files (make, revoke, or change the registered-agent designation). An agent filing only to change their own address under §211-A(b) is $5. Resignation of registered agent is $20.

Can the process-mailing address be a post office address?

The statute calls it a post office address. §301(e) says the biennial statement sets forth the post office address, within or without this state, to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of process. The DOS Articles of Organization form uses the same phrase. That is the forwarding address after the Secretary of State is served — not a claim that a PO box is a registered office in Texas or Wyoming.

Sources

Official vendor, secretary of state, or statute pages. Third-party “best of” lists were not used. Retrieval dates are on each row.

  1. New York DOS — forming a limited liability company (Secretary of State as agent) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  2. New York DOS — fee schedules (LLC change $30 / $5, RA resignation $20, biennial $9, serve process $40, publication $50) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  3. New York DOS — Certificate of Change for domestic LLCs ($30, §211-A) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  4. New York DOS — Certificate of Change (by agent) for domestic LLCs ($5) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  5. New York DOS — Certificate of Resignation of Registered Agent for domestic LLCs ($20, §302(d)) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  6. N.Y. Limited Liability Company Law §301 (Secretary of State as statutory agent) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  7. N.Y. Limited Liability Company Law §302 (optional registered agent) Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  8. N.Y. Limited Liability Company Law §211-A (certificate of change) Retrieved 2026-09-02.