Business address ideas?

hi

my husband is starting up his own roofing company and we are about to register the business name, we need to register it at a address, however as we dont need premises as yet,( i am going to do paperwork for the company at home to keep costs down for as long as possible) i am unsure about registering the company name to our family home, any ideas?

Regardless of whether or not you are a limited company or sole trader (or one of the other forms of business now available) you will still have to give the name and address on business documents and websites. (Business Names Act).

The Companies Act will be taking over the Business Names Act requirements in the near future but these requirements will continue.

Technically the address has to be one at which there will be someone prepared to accept documents on behalf of the company - an accountants or solicitors should be ok.

You can use a virtual office or mail forwarding service but the former can be expensive and the latter are often associated with dodgy traders (as well as not strictly speaking allowing you to comply with the law).

This is all tied up with the precept that for free trade to exist, people must know with whom they are trading.

Depends on the laws of the city/county you are in. You may be able to register to a PO Box.

Assuming you are talking about registering it as a Limited Company it will need a Registered Address which is a location where official documents can be sent and also where the register of members and company seal is held. An Accountant will usually allow use of their address as part of a package of doing end of year accounts etc. You will HAVE to have an accountant since the accounts need to be prepared in a certain format. For a small business it is unlikely to cost you a fortune but check costs with them beforehand. I would suggest you think carefully about using you private address as this could indicate that your home is being used as a business and may bring in issues of business rates/insurance as well as mortgage issues. If the business is being run as a Sole Trader there is no formal registration required and therefore all that needs to be done is contact HMRC and register with them for tax purposes. You will of course need appropriate insurance.

See the answer from the Trading Standards government stooge above. Big Brother is always watching you but good luck with your venture.