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A new supplier's onboarding form asks for your Sdn Bhd's registered address. Two lines further down, it asks for your business address. The labels sound interchangeable, and it is not always obvious which address belongs on which line.
Registered address vs business address is a question of purpose. Your registered address is your company's official address, the one shown on its record with SSM, the Companies Commission of Malaysia. Your business address is where clients, suppliers and couriers reach you, usually the place where the business operates. Formal requirements and changes to your company's record are matters for SSM or your company secretary.
The Registered Address: Your Company's Official Address
The registered address is also known as the registered office. SSM describes the registered office as the place where a company's documents and records are kept.
The registered address is also a matter of public record. SSM supplies information about companies to the public, and the company profile it offers through its information services lists the registered address as its own item, next to the business address.
The Business Address: Where Clients and Couriers Find You
A business address is where the business operates or deals with customers: usually the office, shop, studio or workspace where you work, meet clients and accept deliveries. It is the address people use to find you, write to you and visit you, so it belongs wherever customers and suppliers look for your details.
Where Your Business Address Shows Up
You will usually print your business address in the places clients and suppliers see most often:
• the footer and contact page of your website
• quotations, invoices and receipts
• business cards, letterheads and email signatures
• delivery and courier instructions
• online directory and marketplace listings
Operating, Trading and Mailing Addresses
Supplier forms and contracts use several labels for the business side. An operating address and a trading address usually mean the place where the business is carried on, which is the same idea as a business address. A mailing or correspondence address is where post should be sent, and it may or may not be the same as your business address.
When a form uses a label you are unsure about, ask the organisation what it will use the address for. The answer usually tells you which address to give.
Registered Address vs Business Address Side by Side
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Registered address
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Business address
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What it is
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Your company's official address, as shown on its SSM record
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The place where your business operates or deals with customers
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Main purpose
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Part of your company's official record
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Day-to-day contact with clients, suppliers and couriers
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Where you usually see it
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Company profiles supplied through SSM's information services
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Website, invoices, business cards, letterheads and email signatures
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Who usually sees it
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Anyone who obtains your company's profile, and organisations that ask for it on forms
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Clients, suppliers, visitors and delivery services
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Can One Address Do Both Jobs?
Whether one address can serve as both for your company is a question for SSM or your company secretary. It concerns your company's official record, so their answer is the one to rely on.
Choosing the Address Clients See
For a company that works from its own office, the business address is usually that office. The choice is harder for people who work from home or on the move: a consultant who works from a spare room but wants a city address on proposals, or a small online shop that keeps its stock in a storeroom and needs a dependable address for letters and parcels.
Your Home Address
Your home address is one you already have. The trade-offs are privacy and perception: your home appears on every invoice and website footer, clients may turn up at your door, and a residential address can make a growing business look smaller than it is.
A PO Box
A PO Box keeps your home address private. It does not show clients where you are based, though, and nobody can visit you there, which matters once clients expect to meet you.
A Commercial Address
A commercial address in an office building can give clients a more established impression of the business. If you do not need a full office, a virtual office address is one way to have such an address: you use a building's address on your business cards and correspondence, and a provider receives your post.
Using a Virtual Office Address for Business Correspondence
For founders who work from home, a virtual office address keeps the home address off business cards and the website without the need to rent an office. Clients still have a real place to write to.
Servcorp's Address Package is one example. It gives your business an address at Level 33, Ilham Tower, in the KLCC business district of Kuala Lumpur, to use on your business cards, marketing materials and business correspondence. Servcorp's team manages your mail and couriers and can arrange mail forwarding to wherever you are working.
Final Thoughts
Knowing what each address is for usually settles which one a form wants. Where a label is still unclear, the organisation asking can tell you what it needs.
Anything that touches your company's official record is worth confirming with SSM or your company secretary. For the address clients see, choose one you are happy to print on your website and business cards, and one that matches the way you want your business to come across.
Frequently Asked Questions
