RI registered agent
Registered agent service in Rhode Island. $24 a year. Yes.
Every Rhode Island company must appoint a registered agent at a street address in the state. What follows is the statute, quoted where it matters, and our position on it, which is brief.
The statutory requirement in Rhode Island
Requirement
The Rhode Island code provides:
... (ii) A domestic corporation, a domestic limited partnership, a domestic limited liability partnership, a domestic limited liability company; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-501(a); § 7-16-11(a) (LLC)
Service of process in our absence
Substituted service
Whenever a corporation fails to appoint or maintain a registered agent in this state, or whenever its registered agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the registered office, then the secretary of state is an agent of the corporation upon whom any process, notice, or demand may be served. ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-503(b); § 7-16-11(e) (LLC)
Enforcement in Rhode Island
The state's remedies against a company whose agent does not perform. Quoted without paraphrase.
Administrative dissolution by the state
(4) The corporation has failed for thirty (30) days to appoint and maintain a registered agent in this state as required by this chapter; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-1310(a)(4)-(5)
Revocation of foreign authority
The certificate of authority of a foreign corporation to transact business in this state may be revoked by the secretary of state ... when: ... (2) The corporation fails to appoint and maintain a registered agent in this state as required by this chapter; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-1414(a)(2)-(3)
Administrative dissolution by the state
(4) The limited liability company has failed for thirty (30) days to appoint and maintain a resident agent in this state as required by this chapter; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-41(a)(4)-(5)
Pecuniary penalty
... agent's authority, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, may be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment of not more than one year, or both.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-501(b)
Restoration
Fee upon restoration
... a penalty in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) for each year or part of a year that has elapsed since the issuance of the certificate of revocation.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-1602(b)(1); § 7-1.2-1312(a); § 7-16-43(a)(2) (LLC)
The Rhode Island annual report, which you may also decline
Rhode Island levies an annual charge to keep a company in good standing. The amount is below. Declining it is consistent with everything else on this page.
Annual report, limited liability company
$50 per annum.
For filing an annual report, a fee of fifty dollars ($50.00)
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-16-65(13)
Annual report, corporation
$50 per annum.
An annual report, fifty dollars ($50.00)
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: R.I. Gen. Laws § 7-1.2-1602
Our position
We decline. At this price you may have expected otherwise.
Statutory text captured by incFACTS on 2026-08-01, verified against the code on 2026-08-10. Statutes are amended. This page is not.