Is Virtual Office legal in India
Digital offices are legal to hire, which is why they are in such high demand for freelancers, small and medium-sized companies. It may be regarded as illegal as a result of the intricacy and confusion that might occur in response to the laws on taxation and registration of companies. Fortunately, this guide will speak about these things and how to employ a virtual office in the right way.
Digital offices are primarily used to provide the public with a business address, which in turn helps people to see that the company is fully established with a local presence. Many companies may not need a physical office to perform their duties, so they see little gain from renting out traditional office space. It’s worth reading how the virtual office works to make sense of the issues that are addressed in this document.
Meet all legal requirements to run a virtual office company in your state and city. To be on the safe side, you need to include your business in order to reduce your liabilities. Obtain the requisite licenses, permits and tax IDs. Consider buying an acceptable insurance cover and draw up the legal documents. Be aware that people frequently sign up for virtual office systems to carry out illegal activities.
Have your licenses.
When you’re ready to apply for licenses for your company that operates out of a virtual office, your first step should be to decide which licenses you need. The best way to do this is to contact the city or county licensing agency. The Authority should be able to tell you if you need a license and what conditions you need to fulfill. You should also inquire if there are any unique laws that apply to your virtual company and whether you need to pay business taxes or sales taxes.
The best thing about running your company out of a virtual office is you can work from anywhere. That said, you’ll need a physical base of operations where you can obtain official documents such as business licenses and state notices. You can choose a few options for the home base of your company.
When you ask to use the address of a family member or friend, you should be sure that they understand the legal ramifications of taking this obligation. You should also ensure that you communicate with this person on a regular basis so that you receive relevant correspondence as quickly as possible.
Once you have defined your physical base of operations, you can apply for any license or permit required for your company. In the license application, list the address where you have chosen to obtain your official documents, but make sure that your company is mainly run from a virtual office.
What is a registered office address in Virtual Office
A registered office address is a legal requirement of all limited companies and limited liability partnerships (LLP). Its purpose is to provide companies house, HMRC, and other relevant Government bodies with the official address for delivering statutory mail and legal notices.
It has to be a full, physical postal address in the same state where your company is registered. Both residential and non-residential addresses are permitted, but most commercial addresses are used. Your registered office doesn’t need to be in the same part of the county where you have your main trading activities or nor do you visit there. It is simply for receiving official mail and storing statutory records for inspection purposes.
You may have got your business registered but you will need to do it for all the states you been operating from. If your operations are from a single state then you can work along with one registration, but different cities require multiple registrations.
In case you are a service provider in multiple states without a physical presence there, you only need to get a registration in the state you are physically present. But if you are present in other states as a service provider or a good supplier then you need to obtain a GST registration in all the states you operate in. so, therefore, you need individual GST registration on all these states.
A virtual office address is a business center that is provided to the clients with a professional image without the stress of traditional images. Virtual office is taken by E-commerce, travel agents, real estate brokers, CAs, etc. For e.g., E-commerce sellers take the Virtual office address of the warehouses in the different states with the GST number.
Virtual office address with GST number explore the business and help to maintain the IGST from CGST and SGST. When you take a virtual office address with GST registration then there is no problem with invoices.
The benefits of GST registration are:
GST will help remove the effect of the tax in India. This is the way we can see that the crucial step forward reforming the indirect tax system in India.
The interstate business will be cheaper. The tax burden will be reduced for the companies since a uniform tax will be paid in all the states across the country.
For the international players, this uniform tax structure on indirect tax will help in ease of doing business.
It will also streamline the unorganized players as all the stakeholders who have already paid tax will compliance proofs to claims their set-offs. This will bring transparency in the system.