Virtual Office Space

A guide to business addresses in Australia, published by Dotto

Virtual Office Space · Box 04

Business names and their addresses

ASIC keeps three addresses for a registered business name: an email address, a service of documents address and a principal place of business. The email address stays off the public register. The other two appear on it, except that an individual whose place of business is their home has only the suburb, state or territory and postcode shown.

General informationFrom ASIC’s pages on changing a business name address, checking your details, hiding personal details and registering a business name.

The entry, field by field

Drawn below as a card, the three addresses ASIC asks for, each summarised in our words from ASIC’s change of address page.

Business name · addresses
  1. Email addressASIC’s usual channel for official letters to the holder, among them the registration record, renewal reminders and invoices. It is kept off the public register.
  2. Service of documents addressSomewhere in Australia, either a street address or a PO Box. ASIC can send some notices here, and anyone else can use it to post to the business or serve documents on it. The register shows it online.
  3. Principal place of businessWhere the business is mainly carried on: a street address in Australia, and a PO Box won’t do. Public, except that for an individual running the business from home the register shows just the suburb, state or territory and postcode.

Questions about these addresses

Can the service of documents address be a PO Box?
Yes. ASIC accepts a physical street address or a PO Box in Australia for it.
Can the principal place of business be a PO Box?
No. It must be a physical street address in Australia.
What if the business runs from home?
If you operate as an individual and your place of business is your home, the register shows only your suburb, state or territory and postcode for it. The service of documents address is shown in full, so ASIC’s advice to anyone worried about their home address being published is not to use it there, and to use a PO Box or their accountant’s address instead.
How quickly must changes be made?
Within 28 days of any business address changing, and that includes the business email address. Changes are made in ASIC Connect, under “Lodgements and notifications”, by choosing “change business address”.
Does that update the companies register too?
No. A change on the business names register doesn’t flow through to the companies register, so a company that also holds a business name may need to update both.
How can you see what the public sees?
Search the business names index on ASIC Connect, which shows the details members of the public can see. It leaves out the holder’s home address (unless it is the service of documents address), the email address and anything ASIC has agreed to hide. Your ASIC Connect account shows everything.
Which details can ASIC hide?
ASIC can suppress details such as the principal place of business address, the ABN and the business name holder, and agrees only in limited cases: where public details would seriously endanger someone, or in other exceptional circumstances. It cannot hide the business name, its registration date, its registration status or the current service of documents address. Evidence it mentions includes a letter from the Australian Electoral Commission confirming silent elector status, a court order or a police report.

Before you register

To register a business name you need an ABN, or to have applied for one, in which case you need the ABN reference number. The application asks for the business name holder’s details and the address of the business, and the fee has to be paid within 10 business days of the application being approved, or ASIC refuses it. Once paid, the name should be registered within 48 hours, and ASIC emails a record of registration.

The holder can authorise someone else in writing to register the name, and ASIC gives accountants, lawyers, online websites, family and friends as examples. It calls them authorised lodgers, and recommends they put the holder’s own contact details on the application so ASIC can reach the holder directly.

Anyone concerned that publishing their details could put them in danger is asked by ASIC to get in touch before registering the name.

The same address on other forms

A business name needs an ABN before it can be registered, and the ABR has its own rules for the business address and postal address: see addresses for an ABN. A company has a third set again: see registered office and principal place of business.