ABOUT WASHINGTON DC REGISTERED AGENT LLC

What We’re All About at
Washington DC Registered Agent LLC

Our mission is to make starting and maintaining a business in Washington DC simpler and more accessible. Starting a business in DC isn’t that hard, but we didn’t always know that.

You know how when your friends get married or have a kid, they start asking you when you’re going to settle down? After a few of our friends started businesses here in DC, they began to ask everyone they knew “Why don’t you start a business?” And everyone would always answer the same way:

“Don’t you need to go to business school for that?”
“I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“Isn’t it really expensive to start a business?”
“Yeah, sure. Who am I, Steve Jobs?”

Our business friends would try to explain that no, it wasn’t that hard or expensive to start a DC business. Really, it just takes a visit to the Department of Licensing & Consumer Protection (DLCP) website, filing formation paperwork, applying for licenses and tax registrations, getting a DC registered agent, writing bylaws or an operating agreement…

As our friends explained, we’d all nod as our eyes glazed over and our minds wandered to whether or not we’d turned the stove off. And was it trash day again already?

And one day, it clicked. They were right:

The problem wasn’t that starting a business in DC was hard or expensive. The problem was accessibility.

Figuring out what you need (and actually getting what you need) to start a business was…well, it was ridiculous. The old DCRA website in particular was desperately helpful—so much so that it was drowning in information:

• The DCRA site had HUNDREDS of links, many with similar names: “Corporations Division Information,” “Corporations Division Services,” “Corporate Documents & Information,” “Corporation Registration Information,” “Corporation Services,” “Corporations Documents”—some of which led to exactly the same pages.
• The DCRA also handled business licensing, but their forms and websites constantly redirected you to the DC Business Center, which in turn would redirect you back to the DCRA website for filings.
• Just the Basic Business License had 100+ categories of businesses to choose from (and no searching by endorsement on the DCRA website—all those links just redirected to the homepage).
• Fees aren’t listed on any of the forms, so you’d have to go back to the DCRA website for fee schedules (or for each individual category of business licensing) if you dared to file a paper application or even wanted to just get an estimate of how much it was going to cost to get started.

Washington DC has made great efforts in recent years to increase clarity and accessibility—even creating the Department of Licensing & Consumer Protection (DLCP), a new department for business-related activities. Historically, however, business filings in DC have long been known to be complicated and difficult.

It’s not that it’s hard to form a company in DC, but there are a fair number of departments to contact (the DLCP, the IRS, the Office of Tax and Revenue, the Department of Employment Services…) and forms to file (Articles, EIN application Certificate of Occupancy application, Business License application, Clean Hands certification…). But even just figuring out a list of departments and forms could easily take a potential business owner days. Weeks.

Without a clear path or guide, the system almost seems designed to prevent people from even trying to start a business. How could the American dream be so inaccessible in the nation’s capital?

And that’s how and why Washington DC Registered Agent LLC was born. Our belief is that everyone should have the tools they need to start and maintain a business.

• It’s why we created affordable business formation packages that provide everything you need to get started in DC—from Articles to registered agent service to custom organization documents.
• It’s why we created free guides for getting DC business licenses.
• It’s why we included detailed FAQs on our website, explaining biennial reports and other requirements for LLCs and corporations in the District of Columbia.
• It’s why we have pages explaining registered agent requirements for telecommunications providers, taxi drivers and landlords.

When someone asks “Why don’t you start a business,” your answer should be “after doing some market research, I realized manufacturing costs would be too high to be truly competitive.” It shouldn’t be “I don’t know how.”

You can be a business owner in DC. And we can help. Sign up for formation or registered agent services at Washington DC Registered Agent LLC today!