A registered office is an official address of any legal entity, which gets assigned by every entrepreneur during the establishment process. It may also be called legal address, legal seat or domicile. Along with a registration number, a registered office is an obligatory attribute for any type of legal entity, thus composing the necessary public records in most of the jurisdictions.

The purpose of the legal address is to be reached by the government institutions and to receive official correspondence there. A registered physical office is required to receive official correspondence from tax authorities, banks, partners, customers, shareholders, etc. However, registered office doesn’t necessarily come with correspondence box. Thus, the entrepreneurs must make sure that their correspondence will reach them, when it is necessary.

Legal address requirements
The registered address must be located in the same country, where the company is incorporated. The documents, which confirm your registered address, are: Articles of Incorporation for the most type of companies or Partnership Agreement for the most type of partnerships. In most of the jurisdictions you will not be allowed to use a PO Box as a company’s registered office, because it must be an actual and publicly available address. You can use it only in cases, when it is attached to the full address, with house number and postcode.

If it is necessary, the address of the registered office can be changed by the director or other officer in control of the company according to the corporate documents. Make sure that you receive a properly performed confirmation of such amendment (Protocol or Minutes) in order to present it upon request of your bank, auditor, partners, etc.

Renting a legal address
You can always choose to have a rental service of your registered address, or in other words – to use a third-party address. There are many benefits of renting a legal address. Firstly, it provides you privacy by shielding sensitive information of your private home address. Secondly, it is a cost saving option, when you do not have to rent an actual office space, especially in a foreign country.

When choosing a registered address for your company, several aspects must be taken into consideration. For example, an actual rental contract may be required for tax authorities in some countries (Latvia, Lithuania). Or, some addresses are heavily overused or even black-listed by banks or tax authorities. You might want to look up the information provided on Google Maps on the location of your legal address and scan some articles on the internet that are associated with the address you are offered.

In general, the tax system in France is determined by the votes of the French Parliament, which determine the types of taxes that can be levied and the tax rates that can be applied. Taxes are then collected by the central government, local governments and the Social Security Association (ASSO). All persons who are resident in France for tax purposes are subject to French tax, whether they are individuals or legal entities, whether they live in France or only have their domicile, principal residence, place of work or economic interest in France - they all become so treated taxable. In addition, a person who is a tax resident of France, regardless of nationality, is also taxable on their worldwide income.

There are different types of taxes in the country such as B. Production and import taxes, Value Added Tax or Value Added Tax which is a consumption tax applicable to goods and services located in France, Taxes on petroleum products, Taxes on wealth including local property taxes on real estate, Capital gains taxes applicable on disposal of assets are payable, taxes on the sale of buildings (in addition to local taxes), inheritance, gift, transfer of business and registration of vehicles (total tax should not exceed 75% of income), as well as inheritance and gift taxes applicable to gifts and inheritances attack.

Income taxation in France
Income taxes in France include corporate tax, income tax for individuals, tax for social purposes which is a calculated tax on all income available to individuals in a year and is a subject to industrial and commercial profits, land income, non-commercial and agricultural profits, salaries/wages, pensions/annuities, movable income, capital gains. These taxes are usually payable in the year after the income is earned by filing a French tax declaration stating the total taxable income received. The declaration should be filed by the normal filing deadline.

Personal income tax
Applies to all the incomes gained during any individual business activity in the country. However, those tax payers whose personal net income does not exceed €7,920 are exempted from the income taxation. It is calculated in accordance with the total income of the household which is equally distributed between each member of the household.

Corporate income tax
This type includes annual tax made by corporations and other commercial entities and can be applied to approximately 1/3 of French companies with a standard rate of 33.3% and generally based on company’s turnover.

Capital gain tax
Capital gain tax needs to be paid on the sale of land, buildings, and shares. It includes 19% capital gains tax and a 15.5% social charge which is 34.5% in total. In addition, there is also a supplementary tax on large gains. It comprises 5 different French tax rates depending on the amount of profit gained.

Residence tax
This tax applies to all buildings which have such extras as gardens, garages, private car parks etc. needs to be paid by any person who has a residential unit at his or her disposal.

Land tax
The property tax on built lands is applied to properties built in France. The taxable properties consist of all permanent constructions, i.e. buildings (blocks of flats, houses, workshops, warehouses, etc.). The tax base is equal to 50% of the notional rental value of the building (i.e. the value set by the tax administration) and on land/location value. There are many exemptions and exceptions. In 2005, the product amounted to €17.73 bn.

Professional tax
This tax concerns people who are self-employed in France which amount is calculated by multiplying the taxable net by the rates approved by each local beneficiaries (communities and organizations) within limits set by national legislation.

Denmark has a corporate tax rate of 22%. Companies that operate under VAT have to pay tax on purchases at 25%. Certain services, like those related to newspapers and journals (published more than once a month), intra-community and international transport, and others, benefit from a 0% VAT rate.