Virtual Office Glossary: Key Terms for Business Owners

Don’t know your trading address from your registered office address? No idea what the Know Your Customer (KYC) standards are?

Our virtual office glossary provides definitions for all the most important terms relating to a virtual office address, including some things all small business owners and entrepreneurs should know.

Virtual office terms

A

Address verification

During the set-up process for your registered office address, virtual office providers (like us) must verify the address of every Person of Significant Control (PSC) and Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) to ensure they comply with UK Money Laundering Regulations.

Anti-money laundering (AML) checks

To ensure compliance with relevant legislation, providers complete a number of anti-money laundering (AML) checks before setting up your registered office address. This involves a combination of document verification, automated authenticity checks, liveness and biometric verification, AML/sanctions screening and a compliance team review.

B

Business bank account address

The official location registered to your company’s bank account, which can be a registered office address, trading address or a correspondent address.

Business rates

Local property taxes paid by businesses who use properties such as shops, offices, factories and warehouses. Virtual offices are exempt from business rates.

C

Companies House

The UK government agency with which you register a company. Companies House is responsible for incorporating and dissolving limited companies, maintaining the public register of companies and making company information available to the public.

Company Formation:

The legal process of registering a business as a separate corporate entity, such as a private limited company.

Correspondence address

A specific location where you receive statutory mail, official letters and legal documents related to your business, but not the location where you live. 

Confirmation Statement

An official document that UK limited companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) must file with Companies House every year to verify that the information held about the business is correct and up to date.

Co-working space

Office space that is available to owners and employees from multiple businesses, which can be rented on a flexible basis. Typically, co-working spaces allow businesses and sole traders to rent only the space you need on flexible terms, whether that’s a single workstation or dedicated office. 

Customer portal

An online login area where end users can access services. In the context of virtual office services, the customer portal is where you can access your digitised business mail and statutory correspondence.

D

Digital mail

Scanned and digitised versions of your business mail, made accessible via a customer portal as part of a virtual office service.

Director service address

The address where a company director receives official government mail. The director’s service address is publicly available information on the Companies House register.  You can also use your virtual office address as your director service address to ensure full privacy on the Companies House register. 

E

Envelope scanning

The digital imaging of the envelope or packaging of physical mail. In the context of a virtual office, some service providers offer envelope scanning to share images of the mail received by a service provider before it’s collected by the recipient, while gating mail scanning behind more expensive product tiers.

F

Forwarding address

An address that mail is forwarded to after it has been delivered to an alternate address. For example, business mail could be sent to a virtual office address before being forwarded onto the recipient’s home address.

H

HMRC

HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) is the official tax, payments, and customs authority for the United Kingdom. 

Home address 

The street address of your private residence, that business owners can use their home address for company registration. However, doing so puts your personal privacy at risk, because this address will be made public on the Companies House register. Using your home address as your trading address or registered office address can also impact your business’s professional reputation.

Hybrid working

A combination of remote and office-based working, where a business owner or employee works some of the time at home, and some of the time in an office or co-working space. Hybrid working arrangements can be based around set days of the week, or on a more flexible basis. 

I

Identity verification

We verify the identity of every Person of Significant Control (PSC) or Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) to ensure we comply with our Customer Due Diligence (CDD). To verify your identity, we accept a passport, photocard driving license or National Identity Card.

Incorporation

The legal process of forming a new limited company or limited liability partnership with Companies House. Incorporation creates a new legal entity that has an identity distinct from the business owner.

K

Know your customer (KYC)

Know Your Customer (KYC) standards protect financial institutions against fraud, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing. This involves establishing the identity of a customer, understanding the nature of their activities, ensuring that the source of funds is legitimate, and assessing the money laundering risks associated with the customer.

L

Limited company

A type of business structure where the company is a separate legal entity from its owners. This offers company directors limited liability and keeps their personal finances safe in the event the company gets into financial difficulties. Limited companies must be registered with Companies House before it starts operating.

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)

A type of business structure which is a separate legal entity from the business owners. In a limited liability partnership, some or all of the partners have limited liability, while each partner is not responsible for the misconduct or negligence of the others.

London business address

A type of registered office address service that provides your company with a London business address. This is ideal for industries that benefit from appearing to be based in London, or a prestigious location like Shoreditch.

M

Mail forwarding

A service that sends mail received at one address to another address specified by the recipient. Business mail forwarding is often offered by virtual office service providers alongside a registered office address. Business mail and official statutory notices are sent to the virtual office address, before the service provider forwards that mail to an address or the recipient’s choice. A mail forwarding service is often supported by digital mail scanning.

Mail handling

The process of receiving and sorting incoming post, before that post is scanned and digitised, and / or forwarded on to the recipient.

Mail notification

Virtual office address providers will send mail notifications when they receive and digitise incoming post to inform the recipient that there’s new mail to view within a customer portal, or that there’s new post available to collect.

Mail scanning

The process of digitising company mail and making it available via an online customer portal or shared via email.

N

Non-UK resident

A non-UK resident is someone who doesn’t live permanently in the UK, but who earns a taxable UK income, for example people earning income from UK rental property while living abroad. Non-residents only pay tax on their UK income and not any income earned from employment or businesses based in another country.

O

Office

A traditional or physical location where companies work from. A traditional office typically provides a business with

• An address for post to be sent to
• An address for the business to be legally registered to
• A location where employees can work from
• A location where suppliers and customers can meet with the company
• Meeting rooms

Official correspondence

Formal government mail sent to a business, including tax notices, confirmation statements and legal reminders, sent from HMRC or Companies House. Official correspondence is sent to a company’s registered office address, or a director’s service address.

P

Partnership

A type of business structure where two or more people share ownership of the business, manage the operations and divide profits and losses. In a general partnership, all partners share liabilities and profits equally, while in other types of partnership profits might be shared based on different percentages.

Physical office

A genuine business office location where companies or business owners can work from. This is distinct from a virtual office that is based at a genuine address, but isn’t a physical office you can work from.

Person of Significant Control (PSC)

A person who owns or controls a company. A Person of Significant Control is usually anyone who has more than 25% shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of directors, and / or can influence or control the company or trust.

PO box

Short for post office box, a PO box is a secure box inside a post office or postal facility where you can receive mail and parcels instead of a residential or office address. Note that a PO box cannot be used as a registered office address or director’s service address as they are not genuine street addresses.

Professional business address

A ‘professional’ business address is any address that would be considered professional or prestigious by your customers or clients. By contrast, if you use your home address as your trading address or registered office address, your business’s credibility and trustworthiness could be brought into question.

Public register

The Companies House public register is the official UK government database containing the records and financial filings of registered companies, as well as information about the companies’ directors, including their role, nationality and correspondence address. The public register, as the name suggests, is publicly available information on the Companies House website. 

R

Registered email address

The official contact email provided to Companies House for official business correspondence. This includes reminders to complete documentation, or queries and challenges to information held on the public record. The registered office address is also known as the company formation address.

Registered office address

The official legal address of a company provided to Companies House at the point of incorporation. Every UK limited company and limited liability partnership requires a registered office address, and this must be a genuine physical address in the same jurisdiction as the business operates in (i.e. England, Scotland or Wales).

Registered office address service

A service that provides you with a registered office address to use when incorporating your business with Companies House. A registered office address service is used by business owners that don’t have a dedicated office space to avoid having to use their home address, although it might not include additional virtual office service features like mail scanning and forwarding, or WhatsApp Business phone numbers.

Remote-first business

A business that treats remote working practices as the primary way of operating, rather than operating from a central office. A remote-first business often benefits from virtual office services, including a registered office address and director service address, mail scanning and forwarding services, and a WhatsApp Business phone number.

Remote working

A working practice where an owner or employee works away from the business’s main place of operations, for example at home or a co-working space.

S

SAIL address

An address where a UK limited company keeps its statutory registers for public inspection, instead of its registered office address. A SAIL (Single Alternative Inspection Location) address must be in the same UK jurisdiction as the company is registered.

Service address

Another term for a director service address, a service address is an official correspondence address used by company officers, including directors, secretaries and people with significant control (PSC).

Sole trader

A type of business structure where one person owns and runs the business, retaining all profits and, from a legal point of view, is considered the same as the business itself. This means the business owner’s personal assets can all be used as collateral against the business’s debts.

Statutory Mail

Official correspondence sent by government bodies or other regulatory agencies to businesses or company directors. Examples of bodies that send statutory mail include HMRC, Companies House or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

T

Trading address

The physical location where a business performs its daily operations, which could be an office, shop, warehouse or residential address. Sometimes known as the business address, a trading address can be the same as the registered office address, but they have different purposes, and the trading address is not added to the public Companies House register.

U

Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)

Similar to a Person of Significant Control, the Ultimate Beneficial Owner is the person who ultimately owns, controls or benefits from a company.

UK business address

The official physical location of a UK company, although there are different types of UK business address, including trading address, registered office address and SAIL address.

V

Virtual business address

Also known as a virtual office address, a virtual business address is a term for a registered office address offered by a provider like Hoxton Mix. A virtual business address can be used as the official registered office address with Companies House, as well as the public-facing trading address used on websites, invoices and other collateral.

Virtual mailbox

A digital mailbox where customers can manage your business mail online, and access scanned copies of their business mail, which is a common feature of virtual office services. Some virtual mailbox providers utilise AI to further enhance their services, including automated tagging and categorisation.

Virtual office

Provides businesses with a professional physical address and supporting services, including mail handling, WhatsApp Business phone numbers and business banking services. A virtual office allows small businesses and entrepreneurs to operate professionally and build credibility without the high cost of leasing actual office space.

W

WhatsApp Business

A set of communication tools designed for businesses, including the free WhatsApp Business app. WhatsApp Business functionality can be enhanced by the WhatsApp Business Platform (API), which offers automated messaging functionality, product catalogues and more intuitive chat organisation.

WhatsApp Business phone number

A dedicated phone number used to register for the WhatsApp Business app, allowing businesses to connect with customers instantly, anywhere in the world. A WhatsApp Business phone number can be a mobile, landline, VoIP or virtual phone number.

White-label registered office service

A registered office service resold by a different company as its own, for example an accounting firm, law firm or agency. White-label registered office services offer many of the benefits you get when you purchase the service direct, but the end client only sees the reseller’s brand name and customer portal.

Workspace

The physical or digital area where someone does their job, whether that’s a physical workspace at home or in an office, or a shared software system.