WV registered agent
West Virginia registered agent service, $3.50 a year
West Virginia requires every corporation and LLC on its books to keep a registered agent at a real address in the state. Here is what West Virginia law says about who that agent has to be and where it has to be.
What West Virginia requires of a registered agent
The requirement
For corporations, the registered agent may be an in-state resident individual, a domestic corporation or nonprofit corporation, or an authorized foreign corporation or nonprofit corporation, in each case with a business office identical to the registered office (W. Va. Code § 31D-5-501). For LLCs, the agent must be an individual resident of the state, a domestic corporation, another LLC, or an authorized foreign corporation or company (§ 31B-1-108(b)). Note both statutes say the entity 'may' (not 'shall') continuously maintain an agent; the Secretary of State is statutory attorney-in-fact regardless.
Each corporation may continuously maintain in this state: (1) A registered office that may be the same as any of its places of business; and (2) A registered agent, who may be: (A) An individual who resides in this state and whose business office is identical with the registered office; (B) A domestic corporation or domestic nonprofit corporation whose business office is identical with the registered office; or (C) A foreign corporation or foreign nonprofit corporation authorized to transact business in this state whose business office is identical with the registered office.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31D-5-501; § 31B-1-108(a)-(b)
How we comply
We don't.
What West Virginia does to your company when we don't
Here is what the state does to an entity that has no agent, or whose agent is us.
Administrative dissolution
The Secretary of State may administratively dissolve a corporation that does not notify the office within 60 days that its registered agent or registered office changed, that its agent resigned, or that its office was discontinued, after written notice and a 60-day cure period under § 31D-14-1421.
(2) The corporation does not notify the Secretary of State within 60 days that its registered agent or registered office has been changed, that its registered agent has resigned, or that its registered office has been discontinued;
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31D-14-1420(a)(2)
Revocation (foreign entities)
A foreign corporation's certificate of authority may be revoked for failing to inform the Secretary of State of an agent or office change, resignation, or discontinuance within 60 days.
(2) The foreign corporation does not inform the Secretary of State under section one thousand five hundred eight or one thousand five hundred nine of this article that its registered agent or registered office has changed, that its registered agent has resigned or that its registered office has been discontinued within sixty days of the change, resignation or discontinuance;
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31D-15-1530(2)
Revocation (foreign entities)
A foreign LLC's certificate of authority may be revoked if the company fails to file a statement of change in the name or business address of its agent, on at least 60 days notice.
(1) The company fails to: ... (iii) File a statement of a change in the name or business address of the agent as required by this article;
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31B-10-1006(a)(1)(iii)
No access to the courts
A foreign corporation transacting business without a certificate of authority (which requires listing any registered office and agent on the application, § 31D-15-1503(a)(5)) cannot maintain a proceeding in any West Virginia circuit court; the foreign LLC parallel is § 31B-10-1008(a).
A foreign corporation transacting business in this state without a certificate of authority may not maintain a proceeding in any circuit court in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31D-15-1502(a)
And also
Reinstatement after administrative dissolution is available only within two years, and the application must include a Tax Commissioner certificate that all taxes owed have been paid; the LLC parallel is § 31B-8-811.
A corporation administratively dissolved under section one thousand four hundred twenty-one of this article may apply to the Secretary of State for reinstatement within two years after the effective date of dissolution. The application must: ... (4) Contain a certificate from the Tax Commissioner reciting that all taxes owed by the corporation have been paid.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31D-14-1422(a)
The bill to come back
We couldn't be bothered to look this up. incFACTS carries no human-verified reinstatement fee for West Virginia in the registered agent dataset, and we are not the kind of company that checks.
What happens to the lawsuit you never saw
Substituted service
If an LLC fails to appoint or maintain an agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found, the Secretary of State is the company's agent for service. For corporations, an entity with no agent may be served by registered or certified mail addressed to the corporation's secretary at its principal office (§ 31D-5-504(b)), and the Secretary of State is additionally constituted attorney-in-fact for every domestic corporation with authority to accept service (§ 31D-5-504(c)), forwarding process by certified mail and requiring a fee set by § 59-1-2 (outside this corpus).
If a limited liability company or foreign limited liability company fails to appoint or maintain an agent for service of process in this state or the agent for service of process cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the agent's address, the Secretary of State is an agent of the company upon whom process, notice or demand may be served.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: W. Va. Code § 31B-1-111(b); see also § 31D-5-504(b)-(c)
Statutory text as captured by incFACTS (retrieved 2026-08-01, verified word-for-word against the state code 2026-08-10). Laws change. The statute governs; this page does not.