As a business owner, you are likely more concerned with keeping your business afloat, instead of keeping up with all the legalese that goes into running a business. Whether you run an online business or have a brick-and-mortar store, there are some legal issues that cannot be ignored if you want to ensure the best protection for your company. One of these legalities is the Registered Office Address. What exactly is this, why do you need one, and how do you go about getting one? Read more to find out. To put it simply, it’s also known as ‘registered agent’. And for that purpose you can hire a professional service that will do all the legalities for you. A widely known company Northwest Registered Agent (read more about them here: https://llcguys.com/reviews/northwest-registered-agent-review/) are the leaders in providing registered office services.
The Definition
It technically refers to the location of the legal entity that houses your company or business. Every company (in the UK) must have a registered office address and it must be kept current on file with Companies House. The registered office must be in the same country where your company is established. For example, if your company was established in England but has set up shop overseas in France, then the registered office address must still remain in England and not France.
Also, the registered office address must be at a physical location where someone can physically receive mail addressed to your company. For example, if you have moved from an actual house to a business park with all the other businesses, then people will not be able to deliver mail there as they won’t know where you are exactly located within the park. In this case, you would need to get your home address registered instead.
Not only are corporations required to have their registered office addresses located at an actual physical location but so are limited liability partnerships (LLP’s) and limited liability companies (LLC’s).
The History
So why did the law require businesses to have a registered office in the first place? This goes way back to 1844 when an act was passed to give businesses official business addresses so that creditors and customers could find them easily. The idea behind this was for people to be able to send any correspondence or legal notices to these registered office addresses, which would then be forwarded on by the business itself.
However, when people began using PO Boxes (instead of physical addresses) for their registered office, the law had to catch up with this practice in 1888. At that point in time, companies in England and Wales were required to list their registered office address as an actual physical location. Before this, it was not uncommon for people to use PO Boxes or other private mailboxes as their company’s business addresses.
The Reasons Why Your Business Needs One
As you can probably tell, there is a very good reason why your business should always have a registered office address. It is one of the most important pieces of information that you have to have on file with Companies House. Here are some reasons why:
–Customers and creditors need to be able to find your business easily when they want or need something from you. If you listed a PO Box as your registered office address, this would make it difficult for them to contact you. This is crucial if your business deals with customers who might need to return an item if they are dissatisfied with a product, or for any other reason they might need to get in touch with you.
-People wanting to do business with you would be put off by the idea that your registered office address is located at some PO Box that they have no idea where to find. This would be especially discouraging if your company does not have a physical place of business, which is just another reason why you need to have a registered office address.
-The information about where your business does its filing with government departments is also important, especially if you file taxes of any kind. If you don’t have a physical address to give them, then your business might get into trouble with the IRS or other government organizations.
-If you are ever taken to court, it is crucial that your registered office address is listed so that the judge knows where to process all legal documentation for this case. If anyone ever tried to deliver legal notices, then they would not know where to send it if this address did not exist! This is especially important if your business is a corporation, as you can be sued for all legal costs and charges if the other side has to hire a process server to hand you these notices. Because of this, not having a registered office address at all would be very risky. If you had no idea that you had to have a registered office address, then the judge would probably be quite upset with you and this could affect your case.
Further, here are illustrations.
Let’s say Jane Doe is the owner of J D Media. She tells her customers that they can contact her or her company at their registered office address, which does happen to be a PO Box number. At some point, the bank contacts Jane regarding an overdraft on this PO Box address. It is discovered that it was being used by someone other than Jane and that she is not aware of who this other person is. Jane would then have to provide proof that she indeed owns this PO Box address, which she obviously cannot do.
Another illustration: Mary Smith is the owner of a small business and needs to enter into a contract with an overseas client. She tells her client that all future correspondence can be sent to her company’s registered office address, which happens to be her home address. One day, Mary gets a notice from the county courthouse saying that they are attempting to contact her regarding delinquent property taxes. Mary files for bankruptcy so she moves out of her house and leaves no forwarding address. The tax collectors are unable to find her, nor can they contact her company because the business never existed in the first place- it was just a figment of Mary’s imagination!
The registered office address is a very important piece of information that you need to have on file, and it needs to be accurate otherwise your business could get into trouble with the government. Therefore, always make sure that any correspondence or legal notices can be delivered to your company’s registered office address without fail.
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