- Your registered office is where ASIC and the ATO send official notices
- A registered office must be an Australian street address, never a PO box
- You have 28 days to tell ASIC when either address changes
- Late lodgement costs $102, or $428 once you pass a month
Sorting out registered office vs business address in Australia usually happens mid-form, so here is the short version: your registered office is the address ASIC and the ATO use to send official notices, and it must be a physical street address in Australia. Your principal place of business is where the company actually operates. Both are recorded by ASIC, they can be the same address, and if either one changes you have 28 days to say so, which is why plenty of founders hand the job to a registered office address service instead.
Registered office or principal place of business: which does ASIC want?
Both. When you register a Pty Ltd, ASIC asks for a registered office address and a principal place of business address, and it keeps both on the companies register.
| Registered office | Principal place of business | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Receiving official notices from ASIC and the ATO, and service of legal documents | The main address where the company actually carries on business |
| Must be in Australia? | Yes, under s142(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 | Yes, a physical Australian address |
| Can it be a PO box? | No | No |
| Shown on the companies register? | Yes | Yes |
| Occupier’s written consent needed? | Yes, if the company does not occupy the premises | Not applicable, you occupy it |
| Tell ASIC when it changes? | Yes, within 28 days | Yes, within 28 days |
The principal place of business vs registered office split matters most when the two differ, which is more common than founders expect. A cafe in Fremantle trades from the cafe, but takes its ASIC mail at the accountant’s office in the CBD. Nothing about that is irregular.
What is a registered office, and what does ASIC use it for?
It is the address where the company can be reached. Under s142(1) of the Corporations Act 2001, every company must have a registered office in Australia to which all communications and notices may be addressed.
The ASIC registered office requirements are short, which is the good news. ASIC’s own guidance sets out that the address:
- must be a physical street address in Australia, and cannot be a PO box
- is where ASIC sends official notices and letters, including your annual review statement
- is visible to anyone who purchases information from the companies register
- does not have to be an address where your company conducts business, and could be your accountant’s office
That third point is the one people miss. The registered office PO box question comes up constantly because founders assume a postal address is fine somewhere in the mix, and it is, just not here. ASIC lets you nominate a separate company contact address for correspondence, and that one can be a PO box. The registered office cannot.
Signage rules are lighter than most articles suggest. Under s144(1) a company must display its name prominently at every place it carries on business that is open to the public. Only a public company has to display its name and the words “Registered Office” at the registered office itself, under s144(2), and only a public company has to keep that office open set hours under s145.
A proprietary company is not required to open its registered office to the public at all, which is what makes an accountant’s address or a serviced address workable in the first place. Keeping track of which of these actually applies to you is part of the company secretary’s duties.
What is your principal place of business, and can it be the same address?
Your principal place of business is the main address where the company carries on business. If you run a physiotherapy clinic in Adelaide, it is the clinic.
Yes, it can be the same as your registered office, and for most small companies it is. A single-director consultancy operating from a home office in Brisbane will usually list that one address twice. ASIC will not accept a PO box for this one either, and it appears on the register the same way.
Can you use a virtual address as your registered office?
Yes, if the product is the right kind of product. The question we get asked most often is exactly that: can I use a virtual address as a registered office, and the honest answer depends on what you are buying.
An address service works as a registered office when it gives you a real street address, accepts service of documents at that address, and provides written consent from the occupier. A mail-forwarding subscription, a PO box with a street-style label, or a coworking hot-desk plan with no consent letter does not, whatever the marketing says. If a provider cannot tell you who the occupier of record is and confirm in writing that they consent, that product is not a registered office.
The trap is that ASIC will usually accept the lodgement anyway. You find out later, when a notice goes to an address where nobody will sign for it. So the question to ask a provider is not “is this ASIC compliant”, it is “will you give me an occupier consent letter, and will someone there accept a served document”.
Do you need the occupier’s permission to use someone else’s address?
Yes, in writing, and you have to tell ASIC you have it. Where the company is not the occupier of the premises at its registered office, the notice must state that the occupier has consented to the address being used and has not withdrawn that consent, under the note to s142(2) and s100.
This is not a formality buried in the legislation. ASIC’s Form 484 flow asks it directly: it asks whether the company occupies the premises, and if you answer no, it asks for the occupier’s name and whether that occupier has agreed. Occupier consent for a registered office is therefore a document you need to hold before you lodge, not after. Keep the signed letter with your company records, because ASIC can ask for it.
How do you change your registered office address with ASIC?
Through Form 484, “Change to company details”, lodged online. The mechanics are short:
- Pass a directors’ resolution approving the new address and record the date the change takes effect.
- Get the occupier’s written consent if the company will not occupy the new premises.
- Log in to the ASIC company officeholder portal, or have your registered agent lodge for you. Lodging yourself needs your ASIC corporate key.
- Select Form 484, choose the change-of-address option, enter the date of change and the new address, and tick which addresses it applies to.
- Update your own registers, stationery and bank details, which ASIC’s lodgement does not do for you.
One detail worth knowing before you plan a move: under s142(3) a notice of change of address takes effect from the later of the seventh day after you lodge it, or a later date you specify in the notice. Lodging the day you move does not backdate anything.
On the deadline, there is a genuine trap in the public sources. The Corporations Act as originally enacted in 2001 gave 14 days, and that original text is still what several legislation mirrors serve up when you search for s142. It was amended in 2003.
The current consolidated s142(2) requires notice not later than 28 days after the date the change occurs, and ASIC’s own guidance and its Form 484 page both say 28 days. Twenty-eight days is the operative deadline. If you have been working to 14, you have been early, which is no bad thing.
What happens if you don’t tell ASIC within 28 days?
A late fee, automatically. For 2026-27, ASIC charges $102 where a lodgement or payment is up to one month late, and $428 once you are more than a month late. Those amounts are re-indexed every 1 July, so last year’s figures ($98 and $411) are already out of date.
The fee is the smaller problem. An offence based on s142(1) or s142(2) is an offence of strict liability, so intent is not part of it. More practically, ASIC keeps writing to the old address until the change is processed, which is how companies miss an annual review statement, accrue further late fees on the review fee, and in the worst cases get deregistered for a debt nobody knew existed.
What goes on the public register if you use your home address?
Your home address does, and it stays there. This is the part virtual-office vendors gloss over and law-firm explainers skip: a registered office is public information, and anyone who searches or purchases company information from the register can see it.
For a lot of founders that is a perfectly reasonable trade-off, and paying for an address you do not need is a waste. It stops being reasonable if you deal with the public, or simply do not want your street address searchable alongside your name.
Note that officeholders’ residential addresses are a separate field, and ASIC can suppress a residential address where there is a safety concern. That protection does not extend to the registered office.
How do you set a registered office when you are based overseas?
You use an Australian address, because there is no alternative. The registered office must be in Australia under s142(1), so an address in Auckland or Singapore is not available to you no matter where you and your co-founders live.
In practice that leaves three routes:
- Your Australian accountant’s or lawyer’s office, with their written consent.
- A serviced address that provides consent and accepts documents.
- Your resident director’s address, if they agree to it.
Two things get tangled together here and should not be. The registered office is an address obligation; having at least one director ordinarily resident in Australia is a separate requirement, as is each director holding a director ID. Solving one does not solve the other, and appointing an ASIC registered agent solves neither, though it does mean the lodgements stop being your problem.
How Sleek helps with registered office vs business address in Australia
Sleek is ASIC Registered Agent 47659, so Form 484 lodgements are something we file rather than something we explain. If you take our registered address, you get an ASIC-compliant Sydney CBD street address with occupier consent handled, every piece of official mail scanned to your account, and your home address off the public register. It runs at A$300 per year, GST inclusive, separate from any government fees.
Worth being clear about one thing that comes up on calls: the A$300 a year some people have heard quoted is Sleek’s ASIC compliance package, not a government charge. ASIC’s own annual review fee for a standard proprietary company is $342 in 2026-27, and you pay that whoever lodges for you. If you want to read around the wider obligations first, our compliance and governance FAQs cover the annual cycle.
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FAQs on registered office vs business address australia
Does my registered office have to be in the same state as my business?
No. The Corporations Act requires the registered office to be in Australia, not in any particular state or territory, so a Perth-based company can hold a Sydney registered office. What matters is that documents can actually be delivered and accepted there. Many companies deliberately use one stable address in a capital city while their trading location moves.
Who can accept legal documents at my registered office?
Anyone the occupier authorises to receive documents at that address, which is why the occupier consent question exists. For a home-based company that is usually you or another adult at the property. For a serviced or accountant’s address, the provider’s staff accept documents on your behalf, and you should confirm that is part of what you are buying rather than assuming it.
What is the difference between a registered office and a registered agent?
A registered office is an address; a registered agent is a person or firm authorised to transact with ASIC for you. The two often coincide because agents commonly provide an address as well, but they are separate appointments and you can have one without the other. Our guide covers what an ASIC registered agent actually does in more detail.
Do I need to tell the ATO as well as ASIC when my address changes?
Usually yes, and lodging Form 484 does not do it. ASIC’s records and the Australian Business Register are separate systems, so your ABN details need updating too, and so do your bank, insurer and any licensing body. Treat the ASIC lodgement as the legal obligation and the rest as the same-day admin that stops mail going missing.
What happens to mail sent to my old registered office?
It goes to the old address until the change takes effect, and after that it depends on who is still there. Because a change only takes effect from the seventh day after lodgement at the earliest, there is always a window where notices still go to the old address. Arrange a handover with the previous occupier for at least a month, and check your annual review date has not landed inside that window.
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