Registered office

What it means

The registered office is the address in the commercial register where documents are served on the company. Service there is valid even if the company does not physically sit at it.

Registration requires the property owner’s consent with a certified signature, or the title deed if the company owns the premises. Without it the register will not make the entry.

The registered office is not the same as an establishment where the company actually operates. A company can have its registered office in Bratislava and a shop or workshop in another town. The establishment is not registered as the office; its opening is notified to the trade licensing office, and local fees or permits are often handled at its address.

How it works in practice

The address determines which offices have jurisdiction and feeds into local taxes. Most correspondence, however, runs electronically through the official mailbox rather than by post.

Changing it is a register entry and must flow through to contracts, invoices, the website and registrations. Forgotten places surface as a returned letter or a fine.

When setting up a small s. r. o., the client often wants the registered office in their own flat. Consent, however, has to come from the property owner: the other co-owners too if the flat is jointly owned, and the landlord, not the tenant, if it is rented. If consent cannot be had, or the client would rather not ask, a virtual office that also receives the post is the answer.

What to watch out for

Uncollected post at the registered address leads straight to trouble: service counts as valid, deadlines run, and the company learns of the case once the decision is already final.

When a company registers for VAT, the tax office sometimes checks whether it really is at its registered address. If the site inspection finds no name on the letterbox and nobody who knows the company, registration is delayed, and meanwhile the company cannot invoice with VAT even though contracts are already signed.