How to Change Your Registered Agent in Texas Online

To change your registered agent in Texas online, file the change through the Secretary of State’s SOSDirect system. The fee is $15 for most entities and $5 for nonprofit corporations and cooperative associations.¹ The online filing is the digital equivalent of paper Form 401 and takes only a few minutes once you have the right information in front of you.

What to Have Ready Before You Log In

Gather these details first. A mismatch on any of them will stop the filing cold.

Your entity’s exact legal name as it appears in Secretary of State records. Small variations like “LLC” versus “L.L.C.” count as a mismatch.
Your file number, the 6- to 10-digit identifier assigned when your entity was formed or registered. You can look it up for free through the business search on the Secretary of State’s website.
The new agent’s full legal name. For an individual, use their legal name; for a company providing agent services, use its exact registered legal name.²
The new registered office address: a physical Texas street address where the agent can be personally served. It must match the agent’s business address.
The new agent’s consent to serve, obtained before you file.

Who Can Serve as Your Registered Agent

Your new agent must be either an individual Texas resident or an organization authorized to do business in the state.² The registered office has to be a street address where the agent can be served in person. A P.O. Box, mailbox service, or telephone answering service does not qualify.³ If the agent is an organization, it must have an employee at that office during normal business hours to receive service.

Consent matters. The Business Organizations Code requires that anyone you designate has agreed, in writing or electronic form, to serve.¹ You will not upload proof with the online filing, but you will certify under penalty of perjury that you obtained it. Listing someone without their consent can trigger penalties for filing a materially false instrument.⁴

Keep the consent in your business records even though you don’t send it in. The Secretary of State offers an optional Form 401-A (Acceptance of Appointment and Consent to Serve as Registered Agent) that your new agent can sign.⁵ Any written or electronic record showing the agent agreed will do; the form is just a convenient template.

Filing the Change in SOSDirect

Reach SOSDirect from the Secretary of State’s website.⁵ If you already have an SOS Portal account, you can open SOSDirect from the portal dashboard by selecting the business filings tile.⁶ New users can create an account with an email address and password, agree to the terms, and reach the filing services from the dashboard.

Once inside, work through the filing in this order:

Go to the business organizations section and select the option to change a registered agent or registered office. This is the online version of Form 401.
Enter your file number so the system pulls up the current record. Confirm the entity name and status match your business.
Type in the new agent’s full legal name and the street address of the new registered office. The system will ask you to confirm that the registered office and the agent’s business address are the same, as the Business Organizations Code requires.⁷
Certify that the new agent has consented and that your entity has authorized the change. These affirmations carry the same legal weight as signing a paper form under penalty of perjury.
Review the preview screen carefully. Once you submit, correcting an error means filing again. When everything is right, proceed to payment.

Fees and Payment

The filing fee is $15 for most entities, including corporations and LLCs, and $5 for nonprofit corporations and cooperative associations.¹

SOSDirect accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa, along with pre-funded SOS accounts. Credit card payments carry a statutory convenience fee of 2.7% of the charge.⁸ On a $15 filing, the surcharge is about $0.41, bringing a credit card payment to roughly $15.41.

After You Submit

SOSDirect generates an immediate electronic acknowledgment that your filing was received. That is not the same as approval. Secretary of State staff still review the submission for compliance with state law.

Standard processing usually takes a few business days. You will get an email with either a Notice of Acceptance, confirming the change is on record, or a rejection notice explaining what needs to be corrected. Keep the acceptance notice as your official proof. The filing automatically amends the registered-agent provision in your entity’s certificate of formation, so you do not need to file a separate amendment.⁷

What Happens If You Let Your Agent Lapse

Skipping this filing has real consequences. If Secretary of State records show you no longer have a registered agent or office in Texas, the office mails a notice to your last known address. You then have 90 days from the mailing date to designate a new agent or reestablish the registered office.⁹

Miss that 90-day window and the Secretary of State can involuntarily terminate a domestic entity. A terminated entity loses legal standing: it cannot enter contracts, file lawsuits, or conduct business under its name. Foreign entities face revocation of their Texas registration instead of termination, with the same practical result.²

Reinstatement is available but adds cost and paperwork. You file a certificate of reinstatement with corrected agent information, pay outstanding fees, and, if franchise taxes are owed, obtain a tax clearance letter from the Texas Comptroller. Reinstate within three years of termination and your entity is treated as though it had never been terminated. After three years, reinstatement may still be possible, but the process gets harder and can require additional legal steps.

1
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Form 401 – Instructions for Change of Registered Agent/Office
2
Texas Secretary of State. Registered Agents FAQs
3
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code 5.201 – Designation and Maintenance of Registered Agent and Registered Office
4
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code 5.207 – Designation of Registered Agent Without Consent; Penalties and Liabilities
5
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Business and Nonprofit Forms
6
Office of the Texas Secretary of State. SOS Portal Account Setup and User Access Guide
7
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code 5.202 – Change by Entity to Registered Office or Registered Agent
8
Texas Secretary of State. Filing Options
9
State of Texas. Texas Business Organizations Code 11.251 – Termination of Filing Entity by Secretary of State