Yes, you can use a virtual office as your registered office address with Companies House. The address simply has to be an appropriate one where post can be delivered and acknowledged, which a virtual office is and a PO box is not.
It is one of the most common reasons businesses take a virtual office in the first place: a compliant company address that keeps your home address off the public register.
Here are the UK rules, the address types that often get confused, and how to set one up.
Can you use a virtual office as a registered office address?
Yes. Since March 2024, every UK company must have an appropriate address as its registered office.
An address is appropriate if a document delivered there would be expected to reach someone acting for the company, and if delivery can be acknowledged. The full rules are on the GOV.UK registered office guidance.
A virtual office meets this easily. At Index House, post is delivered to our staffed building on Ascot High Street, signed for and recorded, which is exactly what the rule asks for.
Registered office, service address and business address
These three terms get mixed up constantly, and the difference matters.
- Registered office: the official address for your company on the public Companies House register. Statutory post goes here.
- Director’s service address: the official address for you as a director, also on the public register. A virtual office can cover this too.
- Business or trading address: where you actually do business and receive general post and parcels.
A full virtual office can serve as all three from one address. Some cheaper “registered office only” services handle just the official letters, so check what is included before you buy.
Does HMRC accept a virtual office address?
Yes. HMRC will write to your registered office and to any business address you give them, and a virtual office handles both.
Because it is a real address with mail handling, corporation tax, VAT and PAYE correspondence reaches you through the provider rather than your home.
Are virtual offices legal in the UK?
Yes, and they are regulated. Providers of business address services must register for anti-money-laundering supervision and verify the identity of every client.
That is why you complete ID checks when you sign up. Far from being a loophole, a proper virtual office is a compliant, well-established way to run a company address. Our guide to what a virtual office is explains the wider service.
How to use a virtual office as your registered office
- Choose a plan that includes a registered office address. Confirm it also handles general mail if you want one address for everything.
- Complete the provider’s ID checks.
- Enter the address as your registered office when you incorporate, or file a change of registered office with Companies House if your company already exists.
- Update HMRC, your bank and your stationery to the new address.
Changing an existing company’s registered office is free to file and takes effect once Companies House accepts it.
What to look for in a provider
Not every cheap address is a safe one. Before you commit, check three things.
- It is a real, staffed address, not a forwarding box, so it meets the appropriate address rule.
- Post is genuinely handled, with clear options to collect or forward.
- The provider is registered for anti-money-laundering supervision.
If you are based in or around Berkshire, our virtual office in Ascot covers all three, and you can pair it with a local presence in Reading, Slough, Maidenhead or Windsor.