An Address for Your Business
When registering a business with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (“ACRA”), business owners must provide a Singapore business address which is not a P.O. Box address.
For sole-proprietorships, partnerships, and LPs, the business address is the place where the business is carried out.
For companies and LLPs, it is required to provide a registered office address to ACRA which refers to the place where all communications and notices to the company or LLP may be addressed, and the place where the company’s or LLP’s register and records are kept. A registered office must be operational and accessible to the public during normal office hours, but need not be where the company or LLP conducts its activities.
A business address service, commonly offered by company formation agents and company secretarial firms, is a popular option that many business owners choose to purchase even if they might have their own local address. In making the decision whether a business owner should purchase the business address service from an external service provider, the following five factors can be considered relevant.
1. Your residential address will not be disclosed to the public.
Some business owners who are running startup companies might not want to rent an office or use their residential address for the office address. Registered office addresses of companies are shown on the public register. This might cause a leak of personal information or unnecessary disturbance by unwanted parties.
2. You will not receive unwanted advertisement flyers in your residential mailbox.
Businesses tend to receive a lot of advertisement flyers in the mailboxes, especially newly incorporated companies. Advertisers usually send flyers to companies to promote their services, and this can get irritating at times if you are not looking for such services.
3. An office address which is situated in the central business district will reflect better on the company.
Customers tend to look for service providers or business partners whose offices are more accessible. The most accessible area for most countries is usually the central business district (“CBD”). An address in the central business district will also reflect better on the company, as a CBD address can lend the business a sense of status.
4. Foreign directors and shareholders can also incorporate a company with a registered office address.
ACRA requires all companies to have at least one locally residential director and to have a local Singapore office address. In the case that you are a foreign director cum shareholder looking to incorporate a company in Singapore, and the local director might not want to use his/her address as the office address, you can opt to use a business address service, in that case.
5. You might want to use a business address service if you are away from home or change residence frequently.
Some business owners need to go on overseas trips frequently and are rarely home, hence they might miss some important letters or bills. Using a business address service will solve this problem as the service provider can keep a lookout and inform you if there are any letters that require your immediate attention.
Likewise, if you change your residential addresses frequently, you might want to opt for a business address service as well, so that you do not miss out on any important mail that might get sent to your previous address.