Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In Minnesota, this role is called a registered agent, governed by Minn. Stat. Section 5.36 (mechanics), Section 322C.0113 (office/agent requirement), Section 322C.0116 (default to Secretary of State). Minnesota fully decouples a lapsed registered agent from administrative termination: the only consequence is default service on the Secretary of State, while termination itself runs solely off the separate annual-renewal requirement.
What the address rule requires
Minnesota’s statute states that a registered office need not be the same as the principal place of business, but if only a P.O. box is given, the entity must also provide an actual office location; a P.O. box alone is not sufficient.
Who can serve as your registered agent
A natural person residing in Minnesota, a domestic corporation or LLC, or a foreign corporation or LLC authorized to transact business in Minnesota, each with a business office matching the registered office.
What happens if you don’t have one
If the LLC does not appoint or maintain an agent for service of process, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the agent’s street address, the Secretary of State is by statute an agent of the company upon whom process, notice, or demand may be served. Minnesota’s administrative-termination statute is triggered only by a failure to file the LLC’s required annual renewal, not by a lack of a registered agent; the registered-agent-specific consequence is limited to the Secretary-of-State-as-default-agent mechanism above.
How to change your registered agent
No filing fee is charged if the registered-office address is being changed only to bring the address into compliance. (source: Minn. Stat. Section 5.36)
| Citation | Minn. Stat. Section 5.36 (mechanics), Section 322C.0113 (office/agent requirement), Section 322C.0116 (default to Secretary of State) |
| Confidence | High |
This page covers what Minnesota’s own law requires. For the general question of whether you should pay a commercial service or serve as your own agent, see registered agent: do you actually need to pay for one.
Every citation on this page was read directly from the state’s own statute, Secretary of State site, or official filing form this session (or, where that site could not be reached, from an independently cross-checked legal-database mirror of the same codified text, disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; fees and specific procedures can change, and your state’s Secretary of State has the final say for any individual filing.
Related: Minnesota’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.