Accounting

Company formation & filings

Registered office address service

Every company registered in the UK must have a registered office: an address in the jurisdiction of incorporation, England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, where official documents can be served and which is published on the Companies House register for anyone to see. Since 4 March 2024 the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act has required that this be an appropriate address, meaning one where a document delivered would be expected to come to the attention of someone acting for the company and where delivery can be acknowledged. A PO box alone no longer qualifies, and Companies House can move a company with a non-compliant address to a default address and eventually strike it off.

from £69/yr · fixed, per year

Next deadlines

  • Companies House identity verification for directors and PSCs, phased in from 18 November 2025
  • Confirmation statement due within 14 days of your review date, at least once every 12 months
  • Companies House accounts due 9 months after your year end (a 31 December year end files by 30 September)
  • Corporation Tax payment, 9 months and 1 day after your year end (a 31 December year end pays by 1 October)

Fees

Packages, fixed and published

£69/yr

Registered office address (1 yr)

£99/yr

Registered office + director service address

£129 first yr

Address service + we file the change at Companies House

Who this is for

Registered Office Address

Companies and LLPs across the UK that do not want a home address on the public register, directors who have moved or expect to, non-resident-owned companies that need a UK registered office, companies whose current address is a former accountant or formation agent, and start-ups formed from a kitchen table that want a professional official address.

What is included

Inside the fixed fee

  • Use of our London address as your company's registered office on the Companies House register
  • Official post from Companies House, HMRC and the courts opened, scanned and emailed the same working day
  • Director service address at the same location in the £99 package, keeping home addresses private
  • The change filed with Companies House for you in the £129 first-year package
  • Compliance with the appropriate-address rules in force since March 2024
  • Annual renewal reminders and a straightforward exit if you move the address elsewhere

In detail

How registered office address works

Using a home address satisfies the rule but publishes where you live, permanently and searchably, which is why most directors prefer not to. Our registered office service at £69 a year provides a London address that meets the appropriate-address test, with all official post from Companies House, HMRC, the courts and other government bodies opened, scanned and emailed to you on the day it arrives, with a note where something needs action by a date. The £99 package adds a director service address at the same location for every director, so that no home address appears on the public register at all; residential addresses are still supplied to Companies House but are kept off the public record.

The change is made by filing form AD01 for the registered office and form CH01 for each director's service address, both online using the company's authentication code and both free of Companies House fees. Our £129 first-year package includes filing these for you and confirming when the register has been updated; the standard packages provide the address details for you to file yourself. Where a home address appears in historic filings because it was once the registered office or a service address, an application can now be made to Companies House to suppress it from those documents, and we explain the process.

The service is a compliance product, deliberately. It covers the registered office and director service address functions and the handling of official post. It does not provide a trading address for customer deliveries and general correspondence, a London telephone number or meeting rooms, which are virtual office services sold by other providers. Keeping the two separate matters because the registered office must be monitored for the letters that carry deadlines: Companies House reminders and penalty notices, HMRC enquiries and determinations, and court documents, which once served at the registered office are treated as served on the company. Those are scanned and flagged immediately; a separate alert goes out for anything from a court.

Renewal is annual with a reminder a month in advance. A company can never be without a registered office, so a client leaving the service must file a new address before the service ends, and we agree the date in writing and confirm the change on the register. Non-resident-owned companies, which have no other means of meeting the registered office requirement, receive the first year within our non-resident formation packages and renew at the standard fee. Everything is handled online and the fees are fixed and published.

Process

From first message to filed

  1. Tell us your situation

    A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.

  2. Fixed fee in writing

    You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.

  3. Send records, review the draft

    Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.

  4. We file, you get the receipts

    Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

Salary versus dividends

Paying yourself from a company involves two routes with different tax treatment. Salary through payroll is a company expense and builds a National Insurance record; dividends come from post-tax profit at lower personal rates. Undocumented drawings that are neither become director's loans, with a 35.75% section 455 charge if not repaid within nine months of the year end.

Director's loan accounts

A director's loan account records money moving between a director and the company that is not salary or dividend. If the director owes the company money nine months and one day after the year end, the company pays section 455 tax at 35.75% of the balance, refundable only when the loan is repaid. Loans over £10,000 are also a benefit in kind unless interest is charged at HMRC's official rate.

The VAT registration threshold

The £90,000 VAT threshold is measured over any twelve consecutive months, which is why a strong quarter can tip a business over unexpectedly. Registration must follow within thirty days of the end of the month the threshold was crossed. Below the threshold, voluntary registration is worth considering when customers are VAT-registered businesses and costs carry VAT.

Corporation Tax rates and marginal relief

Corporation Tax is not a flat rate. Profits to £50,000 pay 19%, profits above £250,000 pay 25%, and the band between is taxed at an effective marginal rate of 26.5% through the marginal relief mechanism. Associated companies share the thresholds, which catches directors who own more than one company and is the most common cause of underpaid tax in owner-managed groups.

Late filing penalties

HMRC's penalties for a late Self Assessment return are automatic: £100 the day after 31 January, £10 a day from three months late up to £900, then the greater of £300 or 5% of the tax at six and twelve months. Interest and separate late-payment penalties apply to the tax itself. Companies House charges £150 to £1,500 for late accounts, doubling for a second consecutive year.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

The biggest change to Self Assessment in a generation is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, now live for higher-earning sole traders and landlords and arriving for the rest in stages. Quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, built from digital records. The practical consequence is that spreadsheet-and-shoebox bookkeeping is ending for anyone above the threshold.

The Self Assessment calendar

Four dates govern Self Assessment: 5 October to register, 31 October for paper returns, 31 January to file online and pay, and 31 July for the second payment on account. Missing the January date triggers an automatic £100 penalty before any tax is even considered, so we treat it as the fixed point around which the rest of the year is planned.

Questions

Registered Office Address: your questions answered

What is a registered office and why does it matter?

The official address of a company on the Companies House register, where legal documents and official post are served, published permanently on the public record. It must be in the same UK jurisdiction as the company's incorporation. If it is your home, anyone can find it. Our service provides a London address in its place.

What is the appropriate-address rule?

Since 4 March 2024 a registered office must be an address where a document delivered would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting for the company, and where delivery can be acknowledged. PO boxes are not acceptable. Companies House can move a non-compliant company to a default address and ultimately strike it off. Our address meets the rule.

What does the £69 service include?

Use of our London address as your registered office for twelve months, with all official post from Companies House, HMRC, the courts and other government bodies opened, scanned and emailed to you on the day it arrives. It does not cover general business or customer mail, which should go to your trading address.

What is a director service address and do I need one?

Each director must give a service address on the public register, separate from their residential address which Companies House keeps private. Many directors use the registered office for this. The £99 package provides the service address for all directors as well as the registered office, so no home address appears anywhere public.

Can my home address already on the register be removed?

Changing the registered office removes your home from that field going forward, but historic filings remain visible. Since 2024 individuals can apply to Companies House to suppress their residential address from historic documents where it was used as a registered office or service address. We explain the application.

How is the change made at Companies House?

By filing form AD01 for the registered office, and CH01 for each director's service address, online with the company's authentication code. There is no Companies House fee for either. The £129 first-year package includes us filing these for you; otherwise we provide the address details and you file them yourself.

Can I use the address on my website and invoices?

You may state it as your registered office, which companies are required to show on their website and business letters anyway. It should not be presented as your trading premises or used for customer deliveries and general correspondence, which we cannot handle.

Does the service include a London phone number or meeting rooms?

No. This is a compliance service, not a virtual office. It provides the registered office and director service address functions and the handling of official post. If you need a trading address with mail handling, phone answering or meeting space, a virtual office provider is the right product.

What happens when HMRC or Companies House writes?

We open the letter, scan it and email it to you the same working day, with a note if it needs action by a date. Many clients find this more reliable than post to a home address, because the deadline letters that matter are flagged rather than lost in a pile.

What if I am served with legal proceedings?

Court documents served at the registered office are treated as served on the company. We scan and email them to you immediately on arrival and send a separate alert, because court deadlines are short. This is one of the main reasons the registered office must be an address that is actually monitored.

How do I renew or leave?

The service renews annually at £69 or £99 and we remind you a month before. If you leave, you must file a new registered office address at Companies House before the service ends, because a company cannot be without one. We give you the change date in writing and confirm when the register has been updated.

Can a non-UK resident use this service?

Yes. A UK registered office is a legal requirement for a UK company, and non-resident-owned companies have no other way to meet it than a service like this. Our non-resident company formation packages include the first year, and renewal is at the standard £69.

Where

A national service

Registered Office Address is a Companies House or HMRC filing that works identically wherever your business is based, so it has one page for the whole United Kingdom rather than a page for each town. The process, the fee and the turnaround are the same for a company in Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff or London. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland: all covered.

Related

Other services in company formation & filings

Get registered office address for a fixed fee

Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.

Get a fixed quote on WhatsAppEmail info@igiaccounting.co.uk
WhatsApp for a fixed quote