Since 1st October 2009, company directors can supply a ‘service address’ to Companies House as well as their residential address. To provide extra privacy to those who require it, only directors’ service addresses appear on the public record.
One of the changes made as a result of the Companies Act 2006 was to provide limited company officials with extra privacy should they require it, by allowing for service addresses to be provided.
The service address can be either the same as a residential address, the registered office address, or somewhere different entirely.
Directors still have to provide their registered address to Companies House, although it does not have to appear on the public record.
Only regulated authorities, including the police and HMRC will have access to the residential address if a different service address has been used.
One stipulation is that the service address must be a real address, where documents can be delivered – it cannot be a PO Box or a DX number.
You may decide to use your accountant’s address, or use a company registered office service from a third party supplier (there are hundreds to choose from on Google alone).
Of course, you may not be overly concerned at having your residential address on the public record, in which case you just use your residential address for both entries when setting up a company for the first time.
There is not currently a charge for updating your address details with Companies House.
You will need to fill in form CH01 to update your service address, either via a paper version (PDF) or the more commonly used WebFiling Service.
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