When starting a company ASIC advises that you will need to set up a registered office to be the company’s official legal address. It must be a physical address, not a PO Box. 

It’s a great idea to use your accountant’s office address as they are experienced with dealing with paperwork. It is vital to keep your registered office current, here are some examples of clients that didn’t:

1. They used their home address as their registered office, moved house and didn’t advise ASIC. A few years later, they were advised by their bank their company had been deregistered for not paying the annual ASIC fee. The ATO had sent legal enforcement action letters to the company’s registered office.

2. They used their home address as their registered office and the ATO had sent a Director’s Penalty Notice to the registered office. The client ignored the importance of the letter and then incurred a personal debt with the ATO of almost $100k.