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Registered Office

What a registered office address is in Singapore

A registered office address is the address a Singapore-incorporated company records with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) as its official address. It is where formal correspondence is sent, and it appears on the public register. It is a statutory concept, and it is not the same thing as the address a business puts on its website.

Why the address exists at all

A company is not a person. It cannot be found at home, and it cannot be handed a letter. The registered office solves that: it gives every company a single, publicly known location at which it can be reached formally, and at which official correspondence is directed.

That is the whole purpose, and it explains the character of the requirement. The address is not there to impress anyone. It is there so that a regulator, a court, a creditor or a counterparty always has one place to send something important and know it has gone to the right company.

It follows that the address is public. Anyone who looks the company up on the register can see it. For a founder using a home address, that is worth understanding before it is filed rather than after.

How it differs from a business address

The distinction matters because the two are chosen on different grounds. A business address is a commercial decision. A registered office address is a compliance one, and the question to ask of it is not how it reads but whether things sent to it are reliably received and acted on.

Registered office, business and correspondence addresses
Registered office addressBusiness addressCorrespondence address
What it isThe company’s official address of record, held on the public register.The address the company presents publicly and commercially.A destination chosen for business post.
Who relies on itGovernment bodies, and anyone serving formal documents on the company.Clients, suppliers, banks and partners.Whoever you give it to.
Where it appearsOn the public company register and on official filings.On your website, cards, invoices, contracts and proposals.Wherever you nominate it, and nowhere else.
Typical postStatutory notices and official correspondence.Commercial and client correspondence.General business post.
Is it required?Singapore-incorporated companies are generally expected to maintain one. Confirm the current requirement.Not a legal requirement, but almost universally used.Not a legal requirement.
Can one address do all three?Often, yes — but only if the premises are suitable for that use.Yes.Yes.

What the address has to be able to do

Described generally, a registered office address is expected to be a real location rather than a delivery point, capable of receiving correspondence addressed to the company. There are also expectations around access to the address and around the company records kept in connection with it, and a change of address is notified to the registry rather than simply made.

Those expectations are stated deliberately in general terms here. The details — what must be available, when, to whom, and within what period a change must be notified — are set by the registry, they are specific, and they change. This page is not the place to learn them.

Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the requirements above are summarised in general terms only. The rules that apply to your company — including anything concerning accessibility of the address, the keeping of registers, and how a change of registered office is notified — should be confirmed with ACRA or with a qualified corporate services provider or lawyer before you act on them.

Using a third-party address

Companies commonly use their own premises, a director’s address, or a third-party provider such as a corporate secretarial firm or an address service. The third option exists because the first two have costs: premises change, and a home address, once filed, is on the public record.

A provider should expect to verify who you are and who controls the company before accepting an appointment, and should be able to tell you plainly what happens to correspondence when it arrives, how quickly you are told, and what becomes of your mail if the arrangement ends. A provider unwilling to answer those three questions is answering them.

Where Pagar & Co. stands today

Pagar & Co. is preparing to open and is not yet accepting clients. We are not taking registered office appointments, and we do not describe our premises as suitable for any particular company’s registered office in advance of assessing it — approval of the premises for that use is not yet confirmed, and nothing on this page should be read as confirming it.

What can be said plainly: the premises are at PS100, 100 Peck Seah Street, Singapore 079333, in Tanjong Pagar. The service is built around receiving correspondence, recording it on arrival, notifying you, and then holding it for collection or forwarding it on. Pricing is available on application.

Whether any address — this one included — may be used as your company’s registered office depends on the premises and on the requirements that apply to your company. Confirm the position with ACRA or a qualified professional. We are not lawyers and this is not advice.

Common questions

Is a registered office address the same as a business address?
No. A registered office address is the address a company records with the companies registry as its official address, and it appears on the public register. A business address is simply the address a company uses publicly and commercially. The same address often serves both, but they are different things and are chosen for different reasons.
Who sends mail to a registered office address?
Government bodies and regulators, the tax authority, banks and insurers, and any party serving a formal document on the company. Because these items can carry deadlines, what matters most about a registered office address is not where it is but how reliably things that arrive there are recorded and passed on.
What happens if correspondence sent to the registered office is missed?
Formal correspondence is generally treated as having been properly sent once it goes to the address on the register, whether or not anyone reads it. That is the practical risk in an address nobody is watching. Confirm how service of documents applies to your company with ACRA or a qualified professional.
Can a residential address be used as a registered office address?
In some circumstances a residential address may be used, subject to conditions and to the approval of the relevant authorities. Whether that is open to you depends on the property and on the scheme that applies to it, so it should be confirmed with ACRA and the relevant housing or planning authority rather than assumed.
Can a post office box be used as a registered office address?
A post office box is generally not accepted as a registered office address in Singapore, because the address is expected to be a real location rather than a delivery point. Confirm the current position with ACRA before relying on it.
Does Pagar & Co. provide a registered office address?
The service is being built with registered office use in mind, but Pagar & Co. is not open yet and we do not confirm any address as suitable for a particular company’s registered office in advance. Suitability is assessed case by case before onboarding. Pricing is available on application.

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