SC registered agent
South Carolina. A registered agent for $27 a year. Room temperature.
Somewhere in the South Carolina code there is a paragraph about registered agents. We pasted the relevant part below. The rest of the page is what South Carolina does when the paragraph is not met, which, with us, is the usual outcome, or whatever.
Where the lawsuit goes instead
Service, somewhere else
... 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 ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-44-111(b)
The South Carolina annual report, which you could also not do
Yearly report, LLC
South Carolina does not charge for the yearly report, according to the guidance quoted below. So there is nothing to not pay. Fine.
... and associations are not subject to the annual report or the License Fee: A Limited Liability Company ...
Source: official state fee schedule, via incFACTS: SCDOR Corporate FAQs (annual report / License Fee exemptions)
Yearly report, corporation
South Carolina does not charge for the yearly report, according to the guidance quoted below. So there is nothing to not pay. Fine.
... must submit the names of directors on Annual Reports filed with the ...
Source: official state fee schedule, via incFACTS: SC SOS FAQs About Business Entities #14
What South Carolina had in mind
What is required
The South Carolina code, more or less word for word:
... (ii) a domestic corporation or not-for-profit domestic corporation whose business office is identical with the registered office; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-5-101
What South Carolina does next
The state keeps a list of things it does to a company whose agent is not really there. Here is the list, pasted, unedited, because editing it would be effort.
Dissolved, administratively
The Secretary of State shall commence a proceeding under Section 33-14-210(a) to dissolve a corporation administratively if: ... (3) the corporation is without a registered agent or registered office in this State; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-14-200(a)(3)-(4)
Also, apparently
... its corporate existence but may not carry on any business except that necessary to wind up and liquidate its business and affairs under Section 33-14-105 and notify ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-14-210(b), (d)
Authority revoked, foreign companies
The Secretary of State shall commence a proceeding under Section 33-15-310 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 or registered office in this State; ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-15-300(a)(3)-(4)
Locked out of the courthouse
... business in this State without a certificate of authority may not maintain a proceeding in any court in this State until it ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-15-102(a)
A penalty, in dollars
A foreign corporation is liable for a civil penalty of ten 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. ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-15-102(d)
How that lands with us
Lukewarm. We read it once. It did not change anything.
Coming back, if you feel like it
What coming back costs
Application for reinstatement following administrative dissolution $25.00. ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: S.C. Code Ann. § 33-1-220(a)(16); § 33-14-220(a)(4)
The quoted passages were captured by incFACTS on 2026-08-01 and compared to the live code on 2026-08-10. Laws get amended. This page mostly does not.