Enterprise registration with mailbox address? Hidden risks and mitigation
In China, an important condition for an enterprise to start up is to have its own domicile (registered address), which is also an important matter for enterprise registration. For various reasons, some enterprises will take the virtual address (mailbox address) as their domicile. Since such enterprises do not actually operate at virtual addresses, they are usually unable to be contacted through their registered domicile. According to the Interim Measures for the Management of Business Abnormal List, the enterprises will be included in the list of business anomalies if they cannot be contacted through their domicile or place of business.
How to grasp “cannot be contacted through domicile” in practice? If enterprises can be contacted by other means (for example, through registered or publicized phone numbers, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses), will the Administration for Market Regulation (“AMR”) mark the relevant companies as “abnormal”? The answer is yes.
According to the circular of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (the current AMR) on issues related to the spot check of enterprise publicity information, any of the following circumstances can be regarded as “the registered domicile or place of business cannot be contacted”:
1. Through on-the-spot inspection, the owner of the property right of the registered domicile or place of business, the property management company or the relevant departments can issue certification materials to confirm that the enterprise does not actually exist.
2. Through on-the-spot inspection, it can be confirmed that the registered domicile or place of business does not actually exist.
3. If a special letter has been mailed twice to the registered domicile or business place of the enterprise, but no one has signed for it.
Therefore, enterprises can be marked as “abnormal” as long as they meet one of the above three situations, even if they can be reached in other ways. The AMR confirmed this caliber in the consultation column of the official website.
Therefore, for an enterprise with a virtual address as its registered domicile (registered address), only publicizing its valid telephone number, e-mail address and mailing address is not enough to avoid the risk of being listed as “abnormal”. If you need to avoid such risks, the only two feasible ways are:
1. When looking for a virtual address, pay attention to screening, it is best that this virtual address is a centralized registered address filed by the AMR, such an address is equal to the address on the whitelist, and generally there will be no “unable to get in touch” situation.
2. If it is not the address on the whitelist, it is best for the lessor to provide front desk and official letter collection services to ensure that the AMR can get in touch with them.
It should be noted that even the virtual address provided by the development park is not completely insured, and the enterprise should ask whether there are tax payment requirements for the enterprise in the park. Based on the consideration of attracting investment, if no tax paid after a enterprise is registered for a period of time, they will persuade the enterprises to relocate, and they may coordinate the local AMR to label the enterprise with “abnormal” by alleging the enterprise cannot be reached via its domicile.
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