Business Privacy in Florida
To protect your privacy in Florida, it is best to first understand how your privacy is violated.
Efforts to increase transparency in government have left small business owners across Florida with few choices to avoid exposing their personal information to anyone with an internet connection. We’ve come a long way from being warned to never use our real names or give our addresses online—but that doesn’t mean we can’t make an effort to keep our personal information to ourselves.
Want to keep your home address out of the Sunshine State’s public records? We’ve got a solution.
Understanding the Florida Public Records Act
Thanks to this act, Florida’s public records are open and accessible to anyone, at any time.
The Florida Public Records Act began in 1909 with the passage of Chapter 119 of the Florida State Statutes. The law requires that all records made or received by a public agency be made available to the public when requested.
These records include all business filings made with state, county and local agencies, so any names and addresses you include on those filings (including your Florida business address) will be freely available to the public. That can include filings like:
- Articles of Incorporation
- Articles of Organization
- Florida Annual Reports
Known as the Sunshine Law, these statutes are not necessarily poor legislation, but it is important to realize that the law is not concerned with how to protect your privacy in Florida. The goal of the law is transparency in government. To protect your identity, business owners need a strategy that works within the law and achieves their goal of true privacy in Florida.
How the Public Records Law Affects Privacy in Florida
When you register with the state, you must list a principal office address or business address.
This would be your place of business (or your home, if you work from there). Once filed, your address becomes public information.
Each year, you are required to file an annual report requiring the name of a manager or member.
If you are the sole owner of your company and make its controlling decisions, that member or manager is you. Once processed, your name becomes public information.
These documents are entered into the records of the Department of State, and they can be accessed in two ways: through an online business search, or in person at the DOS office. Anyone who knows the name of your company can easily retrieve, read, copy and print these documents whenever they want.
To protect your privacy in Florida, these documents must list something other than your personal information.
We currently have an LLC in Georgia and will be expanding our business to Florida. For this, we needed a Resident Agent to submit the necessary applications. Lindsey Anderson was great! She walked me through the process and made this bureaucratic task seamless. She was knowledgeable and efficient. Highly recommended.
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Keeping Your Information Out of the Public Record
If you want to protect your identity, you need to hire a professional Florida registered agent.
If you hire us, our Florida business address goes on your state filing instead of your own. This is the first step for protecting your privacy in Florida.
We list our address as your registered agent address, your registered office and — where the form allows it — your principal and mailing address, and you can use it for members, managers, officers, directors, the cover letter and the annual report.
Here’s a quick look at how it works.
- You name us as your registered agent when you file with the state.
Your pre-signed consent form is waiting in your account the moment you sign up, so our address — not yours — is what goes on the record.
- Each year, we file your Annual Report with our address on it.
The annual report is the filing that puts your address back on the public record every year. Letting us prepare and file it keeps your personal contact information out of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I remove my information from the public record?
Once your information has been publicized, it cannot be removed, and you can no longer protect your identity in Florida.
If your privacy is critical to you, your best strategy is to dissolve your company and start over. Dissolution won’t remove the records already there, but it will prevent any further records from accumulating.
How does a registered agent protect my privacy?
Your registered agent can list their location on certain documents as your principal address, which keeps your information private. If you are serious about wanting to protect your identity, you should select a reliable Florida registered agent before making any filing with the Division of Corporations.
When you hire MyRegAgents, LLC, you’ll get free use of our Florida business address everywhere permitted on state filings.
How much of my information can I keep off the record?
Your address is the part you have real control over. Naming us as your registered agent puts our Miami address on the registered agent line, the registered office line and, where the form allows it, the principal and mailing address lines — so nothing filed with the state points at your home.
The name of a member or manager is a different matter: Florida asks for it on the annual report, and it becomes public. No provider can remove that requirement, and anyone promising complete anonymity is describing something the Sunshine Law does not allow. Start registered agent service and keep your address off the record from your first filing.
Can a Florida corporation stay completely anonymous?
No. Florida requires officers and directors on the record, so a corporation cannot be completely anonymous. What you can control is the address attached to those names, and that is what our service covers.
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