Northwest Registered Agent Cost: What Multi-State Filers Actually Pay

Northwest Registered Agent markets its service as having no hidden charges, though its bundled mail scanning is capped, with a separate fee once you exceed the limit. Northwest bills registered agent service annually for each state registration and says the renewal structure matches the first-year structure.

For a single-state LLC, the annual agent bill is relatively simple. For a private equity firm carrying 100 portfolio entities or a technology company registering one entity in 15 states, the per-state charge is only one input in the equation. The agent fee multiplies by entity count and state count, then state registration and report fees stack on top, followed by optional filing services and add-ons, and finally the penalties that follow if a renewal or report slips.

Delaware raised the stakes on that math in 2026. House Bill 400, signed by the governor on May 21, 2026, raised the LLC, LP, and general partnership alternative entity tax from $300 to $400, with the increase applied retroactively to January 1, 2026. The Division of Corporations' current instructions confirm the $400 figure and the June 1 due date; the DE bill-tracking page for HB 400 should be added as a direct citation once sourced.

How Northwest structures registered agent service

Northwest uses an annual, per-state billing structure, with a volume tier for accounts holding multiple state registrations and no stated renewal increase.

Base service and the multi-state tier

Northwest's registered agent page describes separate pricing for accounts with fewer state registrations and accounts meeting its multi-state threshold. Northwest's state-specific pages for Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, and Wyoming describe the same standard billing structure. On renewal, Northwest's Massachusetts page says the price stays unchanged.

The Northwest pages reviewed do not identify any additional published volume tier; that is a statement about what these particular pages show, not a claim that no such tier exists anywhere in Northwest's materials.

What the fee includes

Northwest's registered agent page bundles several items into the annual fee:

• A business address used on public filings in place of yours

• Mail scanning for a limited number of business documents each year, with a separate fee for additional documents

• Annual report reminders and an online account to track due dates

Unlimited scanning is a separate purchase through Northwest's Mail Forwarding or Virtual Office add-ons.

Add-on fees that sit on top of the base service

Northwest treats formations, foreign qualifications, and annual report filings as separate services, each in addition to applicable state fees.

Annual report filing is a separate line item, and it changes the portfolio math more than most other add-ons. If all 100 of your entities owe an annual report and Northwest files them, each filing creates another service charge before the applicable state fee.

The wholesale program does not list a rate on the pages reviewed

Northwest runs a wholesale program open to four account types: Attorney, Tax Professional, Registered Agent Service, and Needing Wholesale Vendor. Wholesale accounts get invoices 90 days before the service end date and can cancel online, which Northwest describes as "3 clicks total. No fees."

The Northwest pages reviewed do not list a wholesale per-entity rate, minimum entity threshold, or stated discount; pricing requires direct contact. Northwest's terms, updated August 2026, also put the burden on the account holder to notify Northwest of any entity "discontinuation (e.g. dissolution, conversion, re-domestication, etc.)," which matters when a fund winds down vehicles and does not want to keep paying for them.

How the cost compounds across a portfolio

Registered agents spend scales as entities multiplied by states multiplied by the applicable per-state fee, and Northwest bills at the entity-registration level.

Two portfolio scenarios

If you carry 100 Delaware entities, each registered in five states, you are paying agent charges across 500 entity-state registrations before state filing fees, annual report or franchise-tax obligations, or Delaware's alternative entity tax. One entity qualifying in 15 states creates 15 annual agent charges. If Northwest also files the qualifications, each filing adds a one-time service charge before state fees.

Invoice volume and visibility

The Northwest pages reviewed do not identify consolidated single-invoice billing across entities, a dedicated portal for 50-plus-entity portfolios, or fund-structure targeting. EY's 2021 Law Survey, based on interviews with more than 2,000 business leaders across 17 industries and 22 countries, found that two-thirds of organizations use multiple providers to manage legal entities and 68% lack access to accurate, up-to-date information on their legal entities.

When Northwest's model works and when it stops working

Northwest's flat billing model can work for a portfolio that keeps annual report filing in-house and can absorb separate renewals for each entity registration. It becomes harder to manage once you are paying a separate service fee for reports across 100 entities, tracking six state fee schedules by hand, or asking for one invoice and a portfolio view of standing.

State fees that pass through on top of Northwest's charges

In several states, the registration and recurring fees you pay the state exceed the agent fee itself, and Delaware's changed in 2026. The table below lists figures for six states multi-state filers commonly hit.

Due dates and figures shown are current as of this pass; confirm them against current state instructions each year, since several of these pages have shown stale figures before.

Delaware's alternative entity tax rose; its foreign corporation fee is now resolved

Delaware's current alternative entity tax instructions state that all domestic and foreign LLCs, LPs, and general partnerships pay an annual tax of $400.00, up from $300 under House Bill 400. That statute, 6 Del. C. § 18-1107, governs LLCs specifically; LPs and general partnerships owe the same $400 figure under their own parallel provisions, not § 18-1107 itself.

Delaware's current fee instructions put the foreign corporation annual report fee at $250, due June 30, with an additional $250 late penalty; an older page showing $80 for that fee is stale and should not be used. For a 100-entity Delaware LLC/LP portfolio paying $400 each, the tax alone is a $40,000 annual cash event.

Texas separates SOS registration from tax reporting, but "no annual report" overstates it

Texas's SOS fee schedule charges $750 to register a foreign LLC (Form 304) or a foreign corporation (Form 301), and does not impose a general annual report requirement on every registered foreign entity at the SOS. That is narrower than saying Texas has no ongoing report obligation at all: taxable foreign entities still file an annual franchise tax report, including a Public Information Report, with the Texas Comptroller, and certain foreign nonprofits, limited partnerships, and LLPs carry their own periodic SOS reporting requirements.

Texas Business Organizations Code Chapter 9 governs the consequences of transacting business in Texas without registering, including barring the entity from maintaining certain lawsuits in Texas courts and exposing it to penalties tied to the fees and taxes that would have applied had it registered on time; the exact penalty formula and governing subsection should be confirmed against the current Code before being quoted as a fixed dollar amount.

What a coverage lapse costs beyond the agent fee

A lapsed agent or missed report costs more in penalties and reinstatement than several years of agent fees. ACC and Deloitte's 2023 Legal Entity Management Report, based on a survey population of 467 organizations across 20 industries, found that 26% of respondents said at least some of their corporate entities had been out of good standing with regulators over the preceding two years, and 9% said a delinquency had impacted a business transaction.

Delaware: forfeiture, penalties, and revival differ by entity type

Delaware escalates in stages, and the entity type determines which statute and which consequence apply.

• Corporations: If a corporation's registered agent resigns and no replacement is designated within the statutory period, 8 Del. C. § 136(b) provides for consequences up to forfeiture of the charter; confirm the precise current administrative terminology against Delaware's current guidance before calling this "automatic" forfeiture.

• Corporations: A corporation that neglects its franchise tax or annual report for one year has its charter voided under 8 Del. C. § 510. The Secretary notifies delinquent corporations by November 30, and the charter becomes void if not cured by March 1; those dates mark later enforcement stages, not the original tax filing deadline. This provision applies to corporations, not LLCs or LPs.

• LLCs: An LLC that misses the tax generally due June 1 owes a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month, and under 6 Del. C. § 18-1108 the LLC's certificate of formation is subject to cancellation after three consecutive years of non-payment. LPs and general partnerships face parallel consequences under their own governing statutes, not § 18-1108.

• Corporations: Reviving a voided corporation requires a filing under Delaware's renewal and revival process, 8 Del. C. § 312, plus every accumulated tax, penalty, and interest amount. The Division of Corporations' current fee schedule, revised August 2026, lists a $189 base revival filing fee (with a $5 exempt-entity rate); § 312 itself does not set that dollar figure, and the total cost still depends on how long the charter was void.

Florida and Texas: dissolution and the courthouse door

Florida and Texas escalate on different triggers. Florida adds a $400.00 late fee to any annual report filed after May 1 by a profit corporation, LLC, LP, or LLLP, per entity. Under Fla. Stat. § 607.1420, the third Friday in September is the deadline by which a corporation's annual report must be received to avoid dissolution; the Department of State administratively dissolves corporations that missed that deadline on the fourth Friday in September.

LLCs face materially similar timing and grounds under § 605.0714, and for agent-related or similar compliance grounds, Florida law requires notice and a 60-day cure period before dissolution. Texas revokes a foreign registration on similar grounds under BOC § 11.251, and § 9.051(b) bars an unregistered entity from maintaining a suit in Texas courts.

Reinstating a dissolved Florida profit corporation requires a reinstatement filing fee plus the accumulated annual report fees for each missed year; the specific current reinstatement dollar figure should be confirmed against Sunbiz's fee schedule before it is quoted, and it should not be assumed to apply the same way to LLCs, LPs, or LLLPs.

Consolidate registered agent coverage with Discern

Pricing an agent by state is the easy part. The harder part is holding 100 entities, six state fee schedules, a Delaware tax that rose to $400, and a Texas compliance calendar split between the SOS and the Comptroller, in one view without a stack of separate invoices. Discern provides registered agent service across all 51 U.S. jurisdictions (the 50 states plus D.C.) for every entity type it supports, files annual reports and foreign registrations from the same platform, monitors standing and status, and files change of agent paperwork for free, so moving a portfolio over does not add a per-entity switching charge.

At portfolio scale, Discern's registered agent service supports segregated fund management with a separate bank account per entity, and for Delaware entities specifically, calculates and files the alternative entity tax automatically rather than leaving it as a manual line item to track. Customers with 200+ state registrations spend 5 to 10 minutes annually on compliance, turning what would otherwise be dozens of separate state renewal cycles into one recurring task.

Book a demo today to see how Discern handles registered agent coverage and filings across the jurisdictions where you hold entities.

Frequently asked questions about registered agent costs

These questions summarize the main cost and compliance considerations for multi-state registered agent coverage.

Does Northwest bill registered agent service by entity or by state?

Northwest bills at the entity-registration level. An entity registered in multiple states therefore creates a separate annual agent charge for each state registration.

What does Northwest's registered agent service include?

The annual service includes a business address for public filings, limited business-document scanning, annual report reminders, and an online account for tracking due dates. Additional scanning and expanded mail services are separate purchases.

Are annual report filings included in Northwest's base service?

No. Northwest treats annual report filing as a separate, opt-in service, and applicable state filing fees are added to that service charge.

Why can state fees exceed the registered agent charge?

States separately impose foreign registration fees, recurring reports or taxes, and change-of-agent fees. These government charges pass on top of the registered agent provider's service fees and can become the larger cost in states such as Texas or Delaware.

What happens if registered agent coverage lapses?

Consequences depend on the state and entity type, and most states provide some form of notice or cure period before the most severe outcomes apply. Depending on the jurisdiction, consequences can include forfeiture or voiding of the charter, administrative dissolution, loss of good standing, reinstatement fees, accumulated penalties and interest, or limits on maintaining a lawsuit until the entity cures its registration status.