Registered Office

Emily-Kate

Hi guys,

I am home based.

I have just met a potential client who is currently a sole trader but wants to incorporate. Having recently divorced he is in rented accommodation and plans to move again soon so asked if I would act as the company registered office. I know that is a service larger, office based accountancy practices offer.


He seems genuine (how do you measure that?). He would appoint me as his agent, and I would prepare and file the annual accounts, CT etc.

What is the concensus? Am I being naive?

Feedback greatly appreciated.

Guest

If he is genuine them he won’t mind signing a change of registered office form for you to hold on file should you have any problems.
I’ve had debt collectors, speeding tickets, loan defaults etc for some of our registered office clients.
I certainly wouldn’t want them coming to my home.

blobbyh

I agree with Guest regarding the darker side of registered offices. When I used to collect debts for my old employer (the infamous window company), I'd visit the registed office - often the only address I had - and 'harass' them. Usually to no avail but would you want the same from other debt collectors chasing your own clients?

Emily-Kate

Some very good points! Thank you for your feedback.

Bluewednesday

Why doesn't he have a po box? One of our clients did this when they were moving and I didn't think they would be able to so I checked with Co House and it's absolutely fine!

deanshepherd

I think you were mis-advised.

I'm pretty sure you can't use a PO Box as the registered office unless it is at a physical location e.g. PO Box 32, 65 Baker Street, London.

blobbyh

help4u wrote: »

Also should you be unfortunate to receive these horrible debt collectors I think you would need to stick to your guns and know how to deal with them.

Going slightly off topic but if the debt's legitimate - legally and morally - and the client still refuses to pay what are we to do? Whether you work for yourself, in a practice, in industry or any other sector we all need someone within that organisation who's determined enough to collect cash from reluctant customers so we can get paid ourselves and stay in our jobs.

Thousands of employers go bust every year through unscrupuolus customers trying every means available to deliberately avoid paying their debts. I've seen dodgy clients even use their bookkeepers home address as the company address but we're there to collect cash on behalf of the company and the people it employs and IMO, the bookkeepers should arguably be more careful who they represent and what information they allow their clients to use.

As a side question, what do you MIP's do if you discover one of your clients has been (allegedly) stealing from their suppliers or trading fraudulently?

Monsoon

blobbyh wrote: »

As a side question, what do you MIP's do if you discover one of your clients has been (allegedly) stealing from their suppliers or trading fraudulently?

The textbook answer is that if you have a reasonable suspicion that they have enjoyed the proceeds of crime (i.e. money or goods they are enjoying that they are not entitled to) then you have to submit a SAR to SOCA.

Bluewednesday

Yes Dean it was at a physical location, it just needed po box and the post office it was held at.

blobbyh

Annette owned you there Dean...

blobbyh

Monsoon wrote: »

The textbook answer is that if you have a reasonable suspicion that they have enjoyed the proceeds of crime (i.e. money or goods they are enjoying that they are not entitled to) then you have to submit a SAR to SOCA.

Has anyone here ever actually submitted a report to SOCA? I ask because last year our insecure phone system was hacked from Sierra Leone and over twelve thousand pounds of calls "stolen" in one weekend. Our FD at the time just said to withhold five thousands pounds as he believed the telcomms supplier shouldn't 'profit' from the proceeds of crime but beyond the IT guy calling the local old bill (who aren't really gonna be interested in a crime of this nature as for them, it's unsolvable), nothing of a higher level ever came of it.

Now we have a new FD and the creditor is also hassling us for the balance of their invoice. I suggested threatening them with a SOCA report, taking it to the next level and while we're sure the theft was committed by organised crime due to the origin of the calls, we aren't sure if this a reasonable route to go down?

Any thoughts please?

deanshepherd

blobbyh wrote: »

Annette owned you there Dean...

Fail..

deanshepherd

blobbyh wrote: »

Our FD at the time just said to withhold five thousands pounds as he believed the telcomms supplier shouldn't 'profit' from the proceeds of crime..

Are you serious?! Can't see that argument holding up in court. Your supplier has not committed any crime.

I suggested threatening them with a SOCA report.

I could have misread your situation but.. are you saying you are going to report your telecoms supplier to SOCA because your company was shafted by some criminals in Sierra Leone?

Interesting..

Monsoon

deanshepherd wrote: »

Are you serious?! Can't see that argument holding up in court. Your supplier has not committed any crime.



I could have misread your situation but.. are you saying you are going to report your telecoms supplier to SOCA because your company was shafted by some criminals in Sierra Leone?

Interesting..

Dean you made me LOL

I agree, withholding the amount on those grounds really is wishy washy. Apart from anything else how do you know what the margin is? The alternative is to pay in full and THEN make a SOCA report because they will have benefited from POC, assuming they made a profit on the calls.

IDK if you actually have to make a report though, in this case.

IDK if I would, either...

blobbyh

The SOCA report is only a theoretical course of action at the moment to get the creditor to take our complaint more seriously. Local plod is not interested as previously mentioned. While our phone system has taken the brunt of the blame, the fact is it was secure while under BT for years, but as soon as the IT guy switched to a new telecoms provider we were hacked within a month, thus making us question the security of the new provider.

As it's almost certain that the crime was organised, the SOCA route seems viable even if it eventually proves fruitless and had this happened to your own businesses (and I hope it doesn't), I think maybe you'd have a little more empathy. Arguably, not reporting it at all would seem more irresponsible as surely the words 'Serious' and 'Organised' aptly sum up a twelve thousand pound theft from a hostile country suspected of terrorist involvement?

I see what you're saying regarding paying the whole cost Monsoon but the simple fact is that were we to do this, chances are we'd be the whole cost out of profit rather than just the portion we've paid so far.

Bluewednesday

I think you can't tell someone that you are making a SOCA report about them under the 'tipping off' rules

blobbyh

Thanks Annette hence the "Has anyone ever actually done one before?" request!

deanshepherd

I still don't get it.

Your telecoms supplier have not benefited from any crime 'of their own' therefore, as I understand it, you cannot make a report to SOCA.

It would be like my car getting vandalised and me reporting my local garage for profiting from the crime when I pay them to fix it!

If you know who these people from Sierra Leone are then by all means report them but that will not help one iota in resolving your issue.

As Annette mentioned, it is an offence to tip someone off that you are going to report them so you can't even use it as leverage. If you do then you could be in a lot of hot water.

If you want a definitive answer then contact David Winch of mlrosupport.co.uk but I am pretty sure he will say the same.

As for your more pressing issue, if the same happened to me I must admit I would be seeking recompense from my provider just as I would from my credit card company if I was subject to fraud there.

It actually seems strange that your former FD was happy to stump up £7k of the monies. Perhaps he discovered a few fruity premium rate numbers? £12k is a lot of calls over one weeked. I hope he had a good time!!