The first set of changes introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCT Act) came into force on 4 March 2024. Since this date, every company must ensure that its registered office is located at an “appropriate address” at all times.
What is an appropriate address?
An appropriate address is one where:
- A document addressed to the company, and delivered there by hand or by post, would be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company
- The delivery of documents there is capable of being recorded by the obtaining of an acknowledgement of delivery
All this means is that a PO Box will no longer be suitable for use as a registered office address. However, if any other office satisfies the above conditions, it can still be used. This includes registered office services provided by accountants, solicitors, and company formation agents.
If any company abuse the rules and uses inappropriate address as a registered office, Companies House will change it to a default address. The company will then be given 28 days to provide an appropriate address before being stuck off the register.
Appropriate registered email address
With the new changes companies are required to provide an appropriate registered email address to Companies House. Companies House will only use the email addresses for communication purposes and will not be made publicly available.
An email address is deemed appropriate if, under normal circumstances, messages from Companies House are likely to be seen by someone acting on the company’s behalf.
New companies must provide a registered email address when incorporating. Existing companies will need to include this information in their next confirmation statement.
New statement of lawful purposes
Under the new changes, companies will have a duty to confirm that their company activities are lawful. This will apply to both new and existing companies.
As part of the company registration process, subscribers (the founding members) must confirm that the company is being formed for lawful purposes.
Existing companies will be required to make the same confirmation when submitting their annual confirmation statement.
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