What is the registered address of a company?

Improve your company’s image by choosing the right address for your company.

Prestigious addresses at reduced cost.

An address approved by FPS Economy.

What is the registered address of a company?

The registered address or office of a company is its administrative and legal address. It is this address that appears in the company’s articles of association.

The registered office obviously has important legal consequences, for example in the event of a dispute.

It should not be confused with the place of business, which is the location where the company actually conducts its business: offices, stores, warehouses, etc. A company has only one registered office but can have several places of business.

The function of the registered office is purely legal.

Under Belgian law, a director can use their private residence as their registered office. If the director leases the property, they can only do so if the terms of their lease allow it. Landlords rarely accept having a registered office located at their property because this carries the risk of being taxed on their rental income.

Improve your company’s image by choosing the right address for your company

The registered office is very often the company’s façade. Choosing the right address can be a decisive factor for customers. This can significantly change their perception of the quality of your business.

All your direct or indirect contacts will communicate with you via your company’s registered office. Some professions such as consultants, lawyers, financial services need to give a positive and reassuring image to their clients. The address and location are important.

Law firms, for example, will choose Avenue Louise as the location for their offices. An internationally renowned avenue and a guarantee of quality for customers.

In terms of location, Brussels plays a central role. The Brussels-Capital Region is very popular with Belgian and international entrepreneurs. Its strategic location and bilingual status are undeniable assets.

Setting up your registered office in one of the 19 municipalities of Brussels allows you to choose your language preference: French or Dutch. This is ideal for a foreign entrepreneur, of French origin for example, who can use their preferred language of communication in their dealings with the tax authorities.

In addition, Brussels plays a central and neutral role at community level. A Walloon company, and conversely a Flemish company, will not be labelled with a community label if they are domiciled in Brussels.

Prestigious addresses at reduced cost.

Any entrepreneur starting a company could be scared by the cost of a head office in Brussels, especially if it is strategically located.

This is a common misconception: many coworking centres in the Brussels region offer business address services at very democratic prices.

For €75/month+VAT, you can benefit from an attractive location in Brussels, the hosting of your company in a very nice building and a complete infrastructure. All this allows you to develop your company with attractive headquarters without having to lease premises under a traditional lease formula which is much more rigid.

An address approved by the FPS Economy

There is still a plethora of domiciliation centres, which has led to certain abuses in the sector and encouraged organised fraud by certain companies that use fictitious addresses.

The law on the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and the limitation of the use of cash that came into force on 18/09/2017 also applies to domiciliation and coworking centres.

To host a company, a coworking centre must meet specific criteria and respect a certain number of rules. Approval – which is never definitive – is granted and regular checks are organised by FPS Economy to ensure compliance with the rules and procedures put in place by the domiciliation centre. Withdrawal of approval means that the centre no longer can host companies. Entrepreneurs must therefore change their registered office with all the inconvenience that entails.

When an entrepreneur decides to domicile their company at a domiciliation or coworking centre, it is essential that the latter is approved by FPS Economy and can provide the entrepreneur with proof that the conditions for retaining its approval are met.