Take Advantage Of The Law To Protect Your Personal Privacy With a Service Address For Your Business

april 12, 2010

There are now legal advantages of giving your company a service office address apart from presenting your company as an established firm with a prestigious location. Service addresses have become increasingly important for protecting the privacy of directors of small companies and virtual offices, especially since the government change the law last October.

The Companies Act 1985 was changed and allowed company directors to provide a separate address to their private residential address for their company. Previously, a director's personal address was published on the Companies House website increasing irritating junk mail and your personal space being hijacked by cold-call offers of services, but in some situations it also carried with it more sinister risks. Victims of criminal damage or harassment had little protection.

Since the Companies Act 2006, directors still need to file their residential address with Companies House but they also have the choice of filing a service address as their registered office address. A personal residential address is used only for official or Government correspondence from Companies House or Inland Revenue, but these can now be sent to the Registered Office Address. The Act represents the biggest overhaul of company law for almost a quarter of a century and has been implemented in stages since receiving Royal Assent in 2006. The act also brought advantages to SMEs with its 'Think Small First' approach to reducing the administrative burden for smaller companies. It makes it easier to set up and run a company, whilst remote and virtual communications can be more readily used for communications with shareholders.