A registered office is the official address of a legal entity assigned by every entrepreneur as part of the incorporation process. It can also be referred to as a legal address, legal seat or domicile. Along with a registration number, a registered office is a mandatory feature for any type of legal entity and thus forms the required public records in most jurisdictions.

The purpose of the legal address is to reach government institutions and receive official correspondence there. A registered physical address is required to receive official correspondence from tax authorities, banks, partners, customers, shareholders, etc. However, the registered office does not necessarily have a correspondence compartment. Therefore, entrepreneurs must ensure that their correspondence reaches them when it is needed.

Legal Address Requirements
The registered address must be in the same country where the company is registered. The documents that confirm your registered address are: articles of incorporation for most types of company or partnership agreement for most types of partnership. Most jurisdictions do not allow you to use a PO Box as your registered office, as it must be an actual and publicly available address. You can only use it if it is attached to the full address with house number and zip code.

If necessary, the address of the registered office may be changed by the director or other officer of the company in accordance with the company documents. Make sure you get a properly prepared confirmation of any such change (protocol or minutes) to present to your bank, auditor, partners, etc. upon request.

Renting a legal address
You can always choose to use a rental service at your registered address, or in other words – to use a third-party address. Renting a legal address offers many advantages. First, it offers you privacy by protecting sensitive information of your home address. Second, it's a cost-saving option when you don't need to rent real office space, especially abroad.

There are several aspects to consider when choosing a registered address for your business. For example, in some countries (Latvia, Lithuania) an actual rental agreement may be required for the tax authorities. Or some addresses are heavily overused or even blacklisted by banks or tax authorities. You may want to look up the information provided on Google Maps for the location of your legal address and scan some articles on the web related to the address offered to you.