Does anyone use an a virtual address for their Business?

Discussion in 'Starting & Running a Business' started by Ryan23, 16th Feb, 2018.

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  1. Ryan23

    Ryan23 Well-Known Member

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    16th May, 2016
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    Queensland
    Just wondering is anyone uses a virtual address for their company such as:

    Virtual Address - $49/month - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth

    Apparently they can be your registered office and virtual address and receive your mail and either forward it or scan it.

    Does anybody no if these services are reliable or have any good alternatives if your are working from home and don't want to use your residential address.
     
  2. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    I have no need for people to mail me things directly, so I simply use my accountant's address as my registered business address (I occasionally get legal threats from lawyers sent there :eek: ), and for everything else (bank statements / etc), I just use my home address.
     
  3. George Poullos

    George Poullos New Member

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    Be careful with these. Some government departments specify when you list your business address it must be a 'physical' address. Not a PO BOX or virtual type. If you're going to use a virtual address, make sure it acceptable.
     
  4. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    I think virtual addresses should be fine for most occaisions - except listing them as your home address on ASIC and drivers licences, but they could be used as an office address.

    But beware though because company documents must be served at the registered office and if they are served but you don't know about it this is no excuse. Years ago I acted for a real estate company which was wound up - they only knew about it when a liquidator came in and had the locks changed and took control of their office and bank accounts. Not good for business and they had to go to the Supreme Court to get the company reinstated, costing them about $50k. All because they did not know they had been served a statement of claim by an ex-employee for about $2k in missing commissions. Their address with ASIC had not been updated.

    An aside - There used to be a Chinese herbalist in pitt street which offered informal post office boxes and they called them 'units'. They must have all been hired by criminals who used these 'units' as their home address on their drivers licences etc.
     
  5. Brad Horan

    Brad Horan New Member

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    23rd Nov, 2017
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    It depends what you want it use it for. If you have a registered business name there are cases you must use your registered address for some documents (my business registered address is my accountant so I can use that if I wish). In most cases you do not need to provide a true physical address.
    I have used a virtual address and answering service for my business branch in Japan. That was purely for look as I was dealing with large corporations. It worked fairly well.
     
  6. BMAustralia

    BMAustralia New Member

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    7th Jul, 2018
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    Location:
    Gold Coast
    I used the post office address :) if you sign up for a Business account (it’s free) you receive a unique Postal Collect number which you forward all mail, parcels etc to. It makes life so much easier.