South Carolina requires every LLC and corporation to keep a registered agent with a South Carolina street address. You can be your own agent (for LLCs, an agent must be an individual resident of South Carolina, a domestic corporation,..., full wording in the be-your-own-agent guide). Changing your agent costs $10 for an LLC and $10 for a corporation. If you have no agent: 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. Hiring an agent costs $125 to $249 a year at renewal on the providers' own sites, read 2026-09-28; first-year offers run lower.
How to change your registered agent in South Carolina
- Choose the new agent. Name yourself if you meet the rule in the facts table, or hire a service from the price table below; they give you their South Carolina street address to put on the form.
- File online. "In addition to filing online, the public may access forms in PDF format in the Business Filings Online system." (sos.sc.gov business entities page); the specific portal URL for filing the change-of-agent statement itself is not in cache beyond the Business Filings Online system homepage. Open businessfilings.sc.gov
- Or file the paper form. Notice of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent or Both (Form F0077/F0078 corp; separate LLC form), from the South Carolina Secretary of State, Business Filings Division. Mail it to: Secretary of State, Attn: Corporations, 1205 Pendleton St., Ste. 525, Columbia, SC 29201. Open the South Carolina filing office Direct PDF
- Pay the fee. Changing your agent costs $10 for an LLC and $10 for a corporation. Keep the confirmation; the new agent is effective when the state records it.
What a registered agent costs in South Carolina
Yearly fee from each provider's own site on the date shown: what a new customer pays the first year, and what it renews at. Sorted by renewal price, because that is what you pay every year after. Links marked "affiliate link" pay us a commission; the other names link straight to the provider, listed on the same terms. Best is not always the one we earn from, and we say which is which.
| Provider | First year | Renews at | Terms, our dated note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Registered Agentaffiliate link | $125 | $125 | Same price every year, per its page; $100 a year per state for five or more states Read on the provider's site 2026-09-28 |
| Bizeeaffiliate link | $149 | $149 | 149 per year standalone or on renewal; first year free only with a Bizee formation Read on the provider's site 2026-09-28 |
| Harbor Complianceaffiliate link | $99 | $159 | Renews at 159 per year after the first; 3 years paid up front cost 297 Read on the provider's site 2026-09-28 |
| ZenBusiness | $99 | $199 | Renews at 199 per year Read on the provider's site 2026-09-28 |
| Registered Agents Inc | $200 | $200 | 200 a year, annual report filing included, per its page Read on the provider's site 2026-09-28 |
| LegalZoom | $249 | $249 | Auto-renews; renewal rate subject to change, per its page Read on the provider's site 2026-09-28 |
What switching to the cheapest renewal saves
| If you renew with | Renews at | Saved per year | Over 3 years | First year, after the $10 fee | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LegalZoom | $249 | $124 | $372 | $114 | month 1 |
| Registered Agents Inc | $200 | $75 | $225 | $65 | month 2 |
| ZenBusiness | $199 | $74 | $222 | $64 | month 2 |
| Harbor Compliance | $159 | $34 | $102 | $24 | month 4 |
| Bizee | $149 | $24 | $72 | $14 | month 5 |
Compared with Northwest Registered Agent at $125 a year, prices read 2026-09-28. Switching costs the state change fee shown above, once.
Three-year totals and every price change we have seen: the cost page.
Type your current renewal price to see the saving, what the state fee leaves the first year, and the break-even month.
Switch to Northwest Registered Agent, $125 a year Affiliate link, same price as on their site.
Advertising disclosure. Some provider names on this page are links to that provider's site through an affiliate network. If you buy through one of those links we may earn a commission. The price you pay does not change. Links to providers we have no agreement with go straight to their site; every provider is ranked by the same rules. Disclosed under the US FTC Endorsement Guides and the Norwegian Marketing Control Act. A Northwest Registered Agent affiliate.
South Carolina at a glance
Fees, forms and deadlines
| Item | South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Filing office | South Carolina Secretary of State, Business Filings Division sos.sc.govSource: businessfilings.sc.gov, read 2026-09-08 |
| Registered agent statute (LLC) | S.C. Code § 33-44-108Source: scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.php, read 2026-09-08 |
| Registered agent statute (corporation) | S.C. Code § 33-5-101Source: scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c005.php, read 2026-10-21 |
| Change of agent form | Notice of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent or Both (Form F0077/F0078 corp; separate LLC form) (online filing available)Source: businessfilings.sc.gov/BusinessFiling/Entity/DownloadForm, read 2026-09-29 |
| Change of agent fee, LLC | $10Source: businessfilings.sc.gov/BusinessFiling/Entity/DownloadForm, read 2026-09-29 |
| Change of agent fee, corporation | $10Source: businessfilings.sc.gov/BusinessFiling/Entity/DownloadForm, read 2026-09-29 |
| Annual report due | not confirmedSource: scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c020.php, read 2026-09-08 |
| Annual report fee, LLC | not confirmedSource: scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c020.php, read 2026-09-08 |
| Annual report fee, corporation | $25Source: scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c020.php, read 2026-09-08 |
| Late fee | not confirmedSource: scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c020.php, read 2026-09-08 |
| No agent on file | 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. S.C. Code Ann. § 33-44-111(b)Source: scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.php, read 2026-09-08 |
| Be your own agent | You can be your own agent (for LLCs, an agent must be an individual resident of South Carolina, a domestic corporation,..., full wording in the be-your-own-agent guide)Source: scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.php, read 2026-09-29 |
What the statute says
33-5-101. Registered office and registered agent. Each corporation must 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: (i
S.C. Code § 33-5-101, read 2026-10-21
A limited liability company and a foreign limited liability company authorized to do business in this State shall designate and continuously maintain in this State:
S.C. Code § 33-44-108, read 2026-09-08
A registered agent is the person or company the state and the courts send legal papers to. The agent must have a street address in South Carolina, not a PO box, and be available during business hours.
Annual report and what happens without an agent
We have not confirmed the annual report due date yet. Fee: not confirmed for an LLC, $25 for a corporation. Late fee: not confirmed.
Without an agent on file: 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 (S.C. Code Ann. § 33-44-111(b)).
Sources and dates
- https://businessfilings.sc.gov, read 2026-09-08
- https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.php, read 2026-09-08
- https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c005.php, read 2026-10-21
- https://businessfilings.sc.gov/BusinessFiling/Entity/DownloadForm?formName=F0077&entityType=1&filingType=Notice%20of%20Change%20of%20Registered%20Office%20or%20Registered%20Agent%20or%20Both%20of%20a%20South%20Carolina%20Corporation, read 2026-09-29
- https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c020.php, read 2026-09-08
- https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/registered-agent, read 2026-09-28
- https://www.registeredagentsinc.com/registered-agent/, read 2026-09-28
- https://www.harborcompliance.com/registered-agent-service, read 2026-09-28
- https://bizee.com/business-management/registered-agent, read 2026-09-28
- https://www.zenbusiness.com/registered-agent-service/, read 2026-09-28
- https://www.legalzoom.com/business/business-operations/registered-agent-overview.html, read 2026-09-28
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