Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In South Dakota, this role is called a registered agent (with a statutory ‘commercial’ vs. ‘noncommercial’ distinction), governed by S.D. Codified Laws Section 59-11-6 (registered agent designation in formation documents), Section 59-11-11 (statement of change of registered office/agent), Section 47-34A-810 (procedure and effect of administrative dissolution). South Dakota governs registered agents through a separate, cross-entity Model Registered Agents Act (SDCL Chapter 59-11) rather than within the LLC Act itself (Chapter 47-34A), and its official filing forms formally distinguish ‘commercial’ registered agents (assigned a CRA# by the state) from ‘noncommercial’ ones; a distinction most states in this set don’t make on their forms.
What the address rule requires
The official Statement of Change form requires an ‘Actual Street Address or Rural Route Box Number’ for the registered agent, distinct from any mailing address, under SDCL 59-11-11.
Who can serve as your registered agent
South Dakota’s Model Registered Agents Act splits agents into a ‘noncommercial registered agent’ (which may be an individual) and a ‘commercial registered agent’ (a business that has itself registered with the Secretary of State and obtained a CRA# under Chapter 59-11), per the official Articles of Organization and Statement of Change forms (SDCL 59-11-6, 59-11-11). The full statutory eligibility text (e.g., residency requirements) could not be directly fetched this session.
What happens if you don’t have one
According to secondary summaries of SDCL 47-34A-810 (the underlying statutory text could not be fetched directly this session), if an LLC lacks a registered agent the Secretary of State issues a notice of noncompliance and may administratively dissolve the LLC if the deficiency is not cured within 60 days. Per secondary sources summarizing SDCL 47-34A-810, failure to maintain a registered agent is a ground for administrative dissolution: the Secretary of State determines the ground exists, serves notice, and if the LLC does not correct it or demonstrate the ground does not exist within 60 days, the Secretary of State administratively dissolves the company.
How to change your registered agent
$25.00 to file a Statement of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent or Both, per the official Secretary of State form; some third-party filing services describe an added $15 paper-filing surcharge, but only the base $25 fee appears on the official form itself. (source: South Dakota Secretary of State, official Statement of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent or Both form (SDCL 59-11-11))
A note on sourcing: South Dakota’s official statute site (sdlegislature.gov) is a JavaScript-only single-page application that returned only a loading shell on direct fetch, and law.justia.com returned HTTP 403 on direct fetch, so the registered-agent eligibility rule, the self-service answer, and the administrative-dissolution 60-day cure detail (SDCL 47-34A-810) rest on search-indexed snippets of secondary/aggregator summaries rather than directly fetched statutory text; only the fee, form field requirements, and statute citations were confirmed from official South Dakota Secretary of State PDF forms fetched directly this session.
This page covers what South Dakota’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: South Dakota’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.