CSC does not publish a price for its registered agent service. Public service-of-process information states that pricing varies with factors like entity count and jurisdictions, and it gives a typical range from a few hundred dollars annually for basic SOP agent services to higher fees for value-added features. For a family office, hedge fund, or PE firm carrying 50 to 250 entities across several states, your quote is one line in a total you also pay in state filing fees, add-on service charges, contract terms, and the staff time spent processing invoices.
This breakdown, current as of September 2026, covers what CSC discloses about its fee, what the base service includes, the Delaware fees passed through on top, and the payment terms in CSC's published agreements. It also lists the questions your quote has to answer before you can compare it to anything.
What CSC charges for registered agent service
CSC does not publish a registered agent price; every quote is custom. Nothing on CSC's website lists a per-entity rate, a Delaware-specific rate, or a volume tier, and no order form or invoice with a dollar figure appears in public sources.
The one pricing statement CSC makes public
Public service-of-process information says pricing for basic SOP agent services increases for value-added features like real-time alerts, document scanning, compliance monitoring, or global coverage. The billing unit follows a per-state annual billing model, so if your fund LP is domiciled in Delaware and subject to multi-state foreign qualification requirements in three other states, you carry four annual charges.
The private equity fund administration page lists no registered agent pricing or fund-specific features, and no enterprise or volume-discount schedule appears in CSC's public material.
How that compares to retail pricing
No publicly posted CSC per-state rate could be located. Without a published rate, you cannot place a CSC quote within a retail pricing band until you compare the actual quote, included services, and add-on charges.
No authoritative benchmark exists for fund portfolios
No authoritative public per-entity registered agent benchmark could be located for PE, hedge fund, or family office portfolios. The closest official recognition is the ILPA Model LPA, which lists "fees and expenses of the Fund's and General Partner's registered agent" as a fund expense without attaching a number. If you want to know whether a CSC quote is competitive, you build the comparison yourself from direct quotes.
What CSC's base registered agent fee includes
The registered agent product pages list service of process handling, portal access, and a good standing calendar as part of the base fee, while annual report filing and entity management software are sold separately. CSC publishes no current U.S. registered agent service agreement, so that boundary comes from the product pages.
Service of process handling
The state-level registered agent pages describe the following as part of the base service:
Scanning and electronic delivery of service of process, on a timeline that should be confirmed in your agreement
Routing to client-designated contacts under customizable rules
Coverage in all 50 states, D.C., and more than 140 jurisdictions globally
Facilities and processes protected by SOC 2-audited controls (CSC's SOP Pro page specifically cites annual SOC 2 Type II assessments; confirm whether the same standard applies to the base service in your agreement)
A separately named product, SOP Pro, adds automation, customizable notifications, and centralized visibility beyond the base service at an undisclosed price.
Portal access and deadline tracking
CSC's client portal is described as available to all CSC registered agent customers. Entity vitals upload automatically for every entity where CSC is the agent, and a tracking feature emails an alert when a Secretary of State record shows a good standing or name change.
The Texas and California pages say the service includes a good standing calendar covering the secretary of state annual report and compliance deadlines listed in CSC's calendar, with reminders to unlimited users and links to fillable forms. You are still responsible for ensuring the report is filed by the deadline.
What costs extra
Four services sit outside the base fee, none with a published price:
Annual report preparation and filing
Delaware franchise tax filing, advertised as a fast-turnaround service for an additional fee, with the fee and exact turnaround unconfirmed
Special Agency Representation for regulatory service of process
Entity management software, sold as a separate flat-rate subscription
Pass-through state fees on top of CSC's service fee
For business license renewals, the disclosed practice is to advance state fees and bill them back without markup, and for fund entities the Delaware amounts are the largest recurring line. Public sources do not confirm that the same no-markup, advance-and-rebill practice extends to annual reports or franchise tax filings, so treat that as an open question rather than a confirmed CSC-wide policy.
CSC does not publish how those fees appear on an invoice. Its public material does not say whether a 100-entity client receives one consolidated invoice or one per entity, or how often invoices arrive.
How CSC advances state fees
A business license webinar describes advancing fees and then issuing an invoice at the end of the process for reimbursement with no markup or tax, and no escrow funds or upfront prepayments. CSC has not confirmed publicly that the same practice applies to annual reports or franchise tax, so get it in writing.
Delaware fees
The Delaware Division of Corporations publishes the fees below. An agent passes these amounts through for a typical fund structure.
Item | Delaware state fee |
|---|---|
LLC/LP/GP annual tax | $400 per year, due June 1 (no annual report required for these entity types) |
LLC/LP/GP late payment penalty | $200 plus 1.5% interest per month |
Corporation franchise tax minimum | $175 (authorized shares method); $400 (assumed par value capital method), due March 1 |
Short-form certificate of status | $50 per certificate (the long-form certificate is $175) |
2-hour / 1-hour priority processing | $500 / $1,000 per document |
Certificate of revival (forfeited corporation) | $189, plus back franchise taxes, penalties, and interest |
The Division's annual tax instructions cover LLCs, LPs, and GPs; its franchise tax page covers corporations. A fund with a Delaware LP, a GP LLC, and a management company LLC owes $1,200 in Delaware annual tax before any agent fee (three entities at $400 each), and a one-hour priority request can add up to $1,000 in expedited-processing fees on top of the $50 certificate fee when a closing date moves. A standard change-of-registered-agent filing is commonly cited at $50; this is a different filing from the resignation-without-a-successor filing under the statutes below, which carries its own smaller per-entity fee, so confirm which filing type applies to your situation before assuming a figure.
Outside Delaware, change-of-agent state fees are smaller: $15 in Texas under Form 401, $30 in New York for a certificate of change, $25 in Florida for an LLC change of registered agent, and $35 in Florida for a corporation, limited partnership, or LLLP.
CSC contract terms and what nonpayment costs
CSC's published general terms and conditions require its own invoices to be paid within 30 days and allow CSC to resign as agent over unpaid invoices. That 30-day payment term is separate from the statutory 30-day window described below, which governs how long a resignation takes to become effective once CSC actually files one, not how long you have to pay an invoice before CSC can resign.
No current U.S. registered agent master services agreement is public, so these terms come from CSC's general terms and conditions.
Payment and dispute terms
CSC's general terms and conditions state that payment on any invoice is due within 30 days of the invoice date, that invoices are deemed accepted unless disputed in writing within 15 days, and that late payment can trigger a penalty interest of 1% per month. Confirm the current effective date of these terms directly with CSC, since the publicly indexed version referenced for this article was dated July 2024 and Discern could not confirm it is still the current version.
Whether U.S. registered agent service auto-renews, what cancellation notice it requires, and whether any mid-term refund exists are not published. For a portfolio paying dozens of invoices, a 15-day dispute window is short.
Resignation and the 30-day Delaware window
In a public response to a customer complaint, CSC stated that it had cancelled open invoices, resigned as registered agent in the relevant states, and closed the account. Under DGCL section 136, a corporation's registered agent resignation does not become effective until 30 days after filing, and if the corporation has not obtained and designated a new agent by then, the Secretary of State shall declare the charter forfeited.
LLCs face the same 30-day effectiveness period under 6 Del. C. section 18-104(d), as do LPs under 6 Del. C. section 17-104(d); the separate consequence for failing to appoint a successor is addressed elsewhere in each entity's governing statute, not within those subsections alone.
For a fund, that cost lands at closings. Industry M&A guidance treats a good standing certificate as assurance to a counterparty that the delivering entity is validly existing in its jurisdiction, and an entity that has lost good standing generally cannot obtain a certificate showing current good standing until its status is restored. Reviving a forfeited Delaware corporation means a $189 filing fee plus all back franchise taxes, penalties, and interest under DGCL section 312.
What to ask CSC before accepting a quote
Your CSC quote is only comparable once it answers the questions the public material leaves open, because the per-state fee is one piece of what you actually pay.
Questions the quote should answer
Take these to the sales call:
The per-state, per-year registered agent fee at your registration count, and any volume tier
Whether invoices consolidate across entities or arrive per registration, and how many you will receive per year
CSC's fee for annual report filing, Delaware franchise tax filing, certificates of good standing, and change of agent processing
Written confirmation that state fees pass through at cost for every filing type
Auto-renewal, cancellation notice, and refund terms specific to U.S. registered agent service
Any item left blank is a cost you will discover on an invoice rather than in the quote.
The cost that never appears in a per-entity price
Per-registration billing produces invoice volume in proportion to your footprint, and each invoice has to be matched to an entity, coded to the right fund, and paid within the 30-day term in CSC's published general terms. That reconciliation work never appears on any quote, and at 150 registrations it is the line item your controller feels first.
Simplify registered agent compliance with Discern
Managing registered agent coverage across a large entity portfolio means reconciling custom quotes, add-on charges, state fees, filing deadlines, payment terms, and invoice volume.
Discern provides a transparent alternative: registered agent service is $350 per state registration, per year, for supported entity types across the 50 states and D.C., and the subscription includes annual report filing, active standing and status monitoring, franchise tax alerting, unlimited users, automated payments, and Delaware franchise tax filing. Change of agent filings are free, so moving a Delaware LP costs the $50 state fee and nothing else.
For fund managers running 50 to 250+ entities, Discern's multi-entity payment system supports separate bank accounts per entity for segregated fund management, and custom pricing is available at 50+ entities. Customers with 200+ registrations spend 5 to 10 minutes annually on compliance. Centralizing registration management and billing can simplify multi-entity compliance operations.
Book a demo with Discern to see how to manage your multi-state SOS compliance from a single dashboard.
This article provides general compliance information and does not constitute legal advice. Consult qualified legal counsel for guidance specific to your situation.
Frequently asked questions about CSC registered agent costs
These answers summarize the pricing, service boundaries, and contract questions covered above.
Does CSC publish its registered agent price?
No. CSC does not publish a per-entity rate, Delaware-specific rate, or volume schedule. You need a custom sales quote to identify the per-state annual charge and any available volume tier.
What does CSC's base registered agent service include?
The product pages describe service of process handling, client portal access, and a good standing calendar as base features. Annual report filing, Delaware franchise tax filing, Special Agency Representation, and entity management software sit outside that base service.
Are government filing fees included in CSC's service fee?
The disclosed practice for business license renewals is to advance government fees and bill them back without markup, but CSC has not publicly confirmed that the same process applies to annual reports or franchise taxes. Ask for written confirmation covering every filing type in your quote.
What contract terms should you confirm before accepting a CSC quote?
Confirm invoice consolidation, payment deadlines, dispute windows, auto-renewal, cancellation notice, refund terms, and the consequences of nonpayment. You should also verify each add-on charge and whether state fees pass through at cost.
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