Biz registration adddress - a little side business?

Business Money
1

OK, tell me the perils, pitfalls and regulations I need to know about for this.

In my quest for a place to register my new company, I talked to a friend who has a divorced mother in need of cash. She owns a property, currently empty, that has previously been a restaurant and a store. Empty business premises!

I asked my friend to propose the idea of allowing companies to register there for a fee, and the response (in principle) is “I’m interested.”

So what’s involved with setting this up? The mother is only really interested in letting the space to one tenant, presumably me, so I would then sub-let. Assuming we can make my rent proportional to the number of registrations, so it’s a profit-share, what else do we need to think about?

As far as I know, and I’m by no means clear on this, you’re supposed to have at least a desk with your name on it before the authorities will accept that it’s really your biz address. So I guess we’re looking at providing one cubicle-sized spot per customer with a desk, chair and a few props. Is that really all that’s required? It sounds too easy.

I’m not thinking in terms of a real business-centre. It’s a non-salubrious building in sunny Sanchong, but as a place to hang your business license it’s fine.

What’s the market for this? What could you charge, realistically, if the intention is to minimise work rather than provide a full service. What services are essential?

And how would one market such a thing? Other than inviting the luminaries of forumosa to hand over their cash?

Opinions, advice, etc appreciated.

2

I was at the MoEA today, and was told that there isn’t a limit to the number of businesses that can be registered at one location. I don’t know how it works in practise, but the theory sounds good.

3

Even if you need a desk with your name on. Can they all be on the same desk? Will a list of company names on the wall do?

In the UK, many businesses are not registered at the address they are located at. Sometimes it’s the address of the accountant.

Maybe it’s similar here?

4

They check whether the businesses registered there actually work from there.

5

–The going rate for Taipei city is between 2500-3000/month for a business address. (I sub-lease one out as a way to save on rent)

–My understanding is that there is a limit on the # of addresses you can register–perhaps an unspoken rule. Anyway, in my building it’s 3 for a 15 ping office.

–Also, the IRS will check your premises.

Mark

6

Loretta, did you ever make this idea happen?

I am thinking about opening a small business doing some trading between Taiwan and Europe. I am not sure if I can have my office registered in my home as I will need to convince my landlord to do some extra paperwork and pay some taxes for this.

The companies I talked to that rent out business addresses are reluctant to rent out to trading companies as the authorities might check that the company actually works from where it is registered.

If I could find, like you were planning, a place to rent a desk and an address to register my company it would be perfect for me. No need for a fancy place as I would likely not spend many hours there per week anyway.

If you never kicked this off, maybe someone could give me advice on other places to look.

Thanks!!!

7

Nope. Nothing came of it.

It turns out that although you can now legally register a business in many residential addresses, it’s not a blanket rule. In the case of my friend’s place, the accountant advised that we needed to get an engineer/architect survey first to register the building as a business address - too much work!

Meanwhile, I’ve moved and my new landlord is very accomodating. I asked him if I could use this address for a business, and he said “sure” - subject to me paying hte extra tax, which is only a few grand a month. It turns out that we can’t use this address because of some zoning issue.

It’s a real pisser, because I actually need to register two entities in the next month or so. I’m working on a creative solution, and I’ll let you know if it comes together.

8

The IRS? Damn it’s a long way to fly to visit a place they have no jurisdiction over. I think you meant the local tax office.