Unlike most states, New York offers free registered agent services provided by the Secretary of State. Private RAs are left to convince businesses that their services are superior to the Secretary of State’s.

The primary difference between the Secretary of State and a good private RA is speed. The Secretary of State’s office notifies you of service of process by mail. A private RA may offer more immediate notification methods, such as by phone or email. Other services may include electronic record keeping and customer support.

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When setting up a new company it can be surprisingly difficult to get an overview of what fees you will be paying, who you will be paying them to and when you will be paying them.

Even though the fee system in the U.S. varies between service providers and states, there are many similarities between them. Fees can generally be classified in two categories: (i) set-up fees and (ii) maintenance fees. Set-up fees are one-off fees which you incur when setting up your company and maintenance fees are fees which you will be paying each year.

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Times are tough right now for newspapers across North America. For instance, the Toronto Star recently cut a fifth of its staff, consisting of 78 jobs in total, and plans on replacing the lost production content through outsourcing. Papers also continue to shift more resources to online content, as the traditional newspaper publication model is proving to be too costly.

Much to the dismay of many entrepreneurs starting an LLC in New York, a New York law mandates that such newly formed LLCs subsidize local publications by forcing the LLCs to publish notices of their recent formation. All newly formed LLCs (domestic and foreign) must post notices in two authorized publications within 120 days of forming the LLC. The notice must be published in the county of the LLC’s principal office at least one day of every week for six weeks in two publications, one weekly and one daily.

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