SD registered agent
South Dakota registered agent service, $5 a year
South Dakota requires every corporation and LLC on its books to keep a registered agent at a real address in the state. Here is what South Dakota law says about who that agent has to be and where it has to be.
What South Dakota requires of a registered agent
The requirement
SD uses the Model Registered Agents Act (SDCL ch. 59-11) for all filing entities; the business corporation act's own agent sections (47-1A-501 to 47-1A-504) were repealed when it was adopted. An entity names either a commercial registered agent (listed with the SOS under § 59-11-7), a noncommercial registered agent (an individual or a domestic or foreign entity that serves in SD as agent, § 59-11-2(15)), or the holder of an office or position with the entity. Filings must state an actual street address or rural route box number in SD (§ 59-11-5).
A registered agent filing must state: (1) The name of the represented entity's commercial registered agent; or (2) If the entity does not have a commercial registered agent: (a) The name and address of the entity's noncommercial registered agent; or (b) The title of an office or other position with the entity if service of process is to be sent to the person holding that office or position, and the address of the business office of that person.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 59-11-6
How we comply
We don't.
What South Dakota 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
A domestic corporation without a registered agent for 60 days or more, or that fails to notify the SOS of an agent change or resignation within 60 days, may be administratively dissolved (after notice and a 60-day cure window, § 47-1A-1421).
The Office of the Secretary of State may commence a proceeding under § 47-1A-1421 to administratively dissolve a corporation if: ... (3) The corporation is without a registered agent in this state for sixty days or more; (4) The corporation does not notify the Office of the Secretary of State within sixty days that its registered agent has been changed or that its registered agent has resigned...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-1A-1420(3)-(4)
Revocation (foreign entities)
A foreign corporation without a registered agent in SD for 60 days or more, or that fails to file notice of an agent change or resignation within 60 days, faces revocation of its certificate of authority.
The Office of the Secretary of State may commence a proceeding under §§ 47-1A-1531 and 47-1A-1531.1 to revoke the certificate of authority of a foreign corporation authorized to transact business in this state if: ... (3) The foreign corporation is without a registered agent in this state for sixty days or more; (4) The foreign corporation does not inform the secretary of state by an appropriate filing that its registered agent has changed or that its registered agent has resigned within sixty days of the change or resignation;
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-1A-1530(3)-(4)
No access to the courts
A foreign corporation transacting business in SD without a certificate of authority (e.g., after revocation) may not maintain a proceeding in any SD court until it obtains one.
A foreign corporation transacting business in this state without a certificate of authority may not maintain a proceeding in any court in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-1A-1502
Civil penalty
Civil penalty of $100 per day (capped at $1,000 per year) for a foreign corporation transacting business in SD without a certificate of authority.
A foreign corporation is liable for a civil penalty of one hundred dollars for each day, but not to exceed a total of one thousand dollars for each year, it transacts business in this state without a certificate of authority. The attorney general may collect all penalties due under this section.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-1A-1502.2
And also
Effect of administrative dissolution: the corporation continues to exist but may only wind up and liquidate; the agent's own authority is not terminated.
A corporation administratively dissolved continues its corporate existence but may not carry on any business except that necessary to wind up and liquidate its business and affairs under §§ 47-1A-1405 and 47-1A-1405.1 ... The administrative dissolution of a corporation does not terminate the authority of its registered agent.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-1A-1421
The bill to come back
Reinstatement fee
Corporate reinstatement after administrative dissolution costs $300 plus delinquent annual-report fees and penalties; a Department of Revenue tax-clearance certificate is also required (§ 47-1A-1422).
(17) Application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution, three hundred dollars, plus any delinquent annual report filing fees and associated penalty fees for the period before the reinstatement application;
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-1A-122(17)
Reinstatement fee
LLC reinstatement after administrative dissolution costs $150 plus delinquent annual-report filing fees.
The secretary of state shall charge filing fees for any delinquent annual report and a fee for application of reinstatement in the amount of one hundred fifty dollars.
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 47-34A-811(a)
What happens to the lawsuit you never saw
Substituted service
Under the Model Registered Agents Act, if an entity no longer has a registered agent or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, service is by registered or certified mail addressed to the entity's governors by name at its principal office - not on the Secretary of State. If that fails, process may be handed to the manager, clerk, or person in charge of any regular place of business (§ 59-11-17). Separately, revocation of a foreign corporation's certificate of authority appoints the SOS its agent for service (§ 47-1A-1531.1).
If an entity that previously filed a registered agent filing with the secretary of state no longer has a registered agent, or if its registered agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, the entity may be served by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the governors of the entity by name at its principal office in accordance with any applicable judicial rules and procedures. ... Service is perfected under this section at the earliest of: (1) The date the entity receives the mail; (2) The date shown on the return receipt, if signed on behalf of the entity; or (3) Five days after its deposit with the United States Postal Service...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: SDCL § 59-11-16
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.