Tex. Tax Code § 171.355
This is the official text of Tex. Tax Code § 171.355, part of Texas’s Tax Code — governs state and local taxation.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
§ 171.355. SERVICE OF PROCESS ON SECRETARY OF STATE.
Official statutory text
(a) Legal process may be served on a domestic corporation by serving it on the secretary of state if the process relates to the forfeiture of the corporation's charter or to the collection of a tax or penalty imposed by this chapter and:
(1) if the local agent of the corporation or if the officers named in the corporation's charter or annual report on file with the secretary of state do not reside or cannot be located in the county in which the corporation's principal office, as stated in the charter, is located; or
(2) if the principal office of the corporation is not maintained or cannot be located in the county in which the charter states that the office is located.
(b) Complete and valid service of process is made on a corporation through the secretary of state by delivering duplicate copies of the process to the secretary of state or the deputy secretary of state.
(c) On receipt of legal process under this section, the secretary of state promptly shall forward to the corporation by registered mail a copy of the process. The copy of the process shall be mailed to the address named in the corporation's charter as its principal place of business or to another place of business of the corporation as shown by the records in the secretary of state's office.
(d) The failure of the secretary of state to mail a copy of legal process to a corporation does not affect the validity of the service of process. It is competent and sufficient proof of the service of process that the secretary of state certifies under the state seal the receipt of the process.
(e) The secretary of state shall keep a record of each legal process served on the secretary under this section showing the date and time of the receipt of the process and the secretary's action on the process.
(f) This section is cumulative of other laws relating to service of process.
(1) if the local agent of the corporation or if the officers named in the corporation's charter or annual report on file with the secretary of state do not reside or cannot be located in the county in which the corporation's principal office, as stated in the charter, is located; or
(2) if the principal office of the corporation is not maintained or cannot be located in the county in which the charter states that the office is located.
(b) Complete and valid service of process is made on a corporation through the secretary of state by delivering duplicate copies of the process to the secretary of state or the deputy secretary of state.
(c) On receipt of legal process under this section, the secretary of state promptly shall forward to the corporation by registered mail a copy of the process. The copy of the process shall be mailed to the address named in the corporation's charter as its principal place of business or to another place of business of the corporation as shown by the records in the secretary of state's office.
(d) The failure of the secretary of state to mail a copy of legal process to a corporation does not affect the validity of the service of process. It is competent and sufficient proof of the service of process that the secretary of state certifies under the state seal the receipt of the process.
(e) The secretary of state shall keep a record of each legal process served on the secretary under this section showing the date and time of the receipt of the process and the secretary's action on the process.
(f) This section is cumulative of other laws relating to service of process.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in Texas?
Find a Texas lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.