What is the difference between a registered office and a tax office?

The difference between registered office and tax office exists and, although it is not common, as the two addresses usually coincide, this does not necessarily have to be the case.. Image, political or fiscal reasons lead some organisations to separate their registered and tax domiciles, by changing the convenience of matching the two for the advantages of ensuring that there is a difference between the registered office and the tax office.

Perhaps the main difference between a registered office and a tax office is the public nature of the former. At the same time that the company is registered in the Mercantile Register, an address is provided. This is presumably where the administration of the business will be carried out, an information available to the public and public institutions.

Another point of distinction with the fiscal domicile and which helps to better understand what a registered office is is the fact that, while self-employed persons do not need to declare a registered office (which is compulsory for companies), these self-employed professionals will have to register a tax domicile for taxation purposes.

Thus, we could summarise with regard to the registered office that:

This must be recorded in the notarial deed.
Thanks to its entry in the Commercial Register, this address is made public.
It may or may not coincide with the tax domicile.
It is not obligatory to declare it in the case of self-employed professionals.

Once the registered office of a business is established, any change must be arranged by public deed.

What is the tax headquarters?

From the point of view of obligations, the difference between registered office and tax office is very clear.. Depending on the determination of the tax domicile, the entrepreneur's tax and fiscal responsibilities are defined.

The law establishes requirements for each territory that may vary throughout Spain, but which must be taken into account when reporting to the Tax Agency.

In order to understand what tax headquarters is, these aspects must be taken into consideration:

This is an address that does not necessarily have to be the same as the address where the company is managed.. In the case of the self-employed, it may coincide with that of their home.
It is not of a public nature and, in fact, only needs to be notified to the tax authorities.
Its importance lies in the fact that this is where the person in charge of the business receives the notifications sent by the Administration.

A change of tax domicile could be notified by means of form 036, which is used to register in the census of business people, professionals and withholders.

The difference between a registered office and a tax office has to do with the public nature of the former., This is not necessary in the second case; and the fact that, while the registered office is understood to be the place where the company's activity is carried out, in the second case it is only necessary to collect notifications from the Tax Agency.

A example of registered office and tax office would be the case of a business that deals with the production of handcrafted footwear, which has three facilities: a manufacturing centre, a retail outlet for shoes and an office for the management of all business-related matters.

In this case, the address of the office would be the registered office, as it is where the administration of the company is carried out and from where all decisions are taken; it may or may not coincide with the tax office. In this case, the entrepreneur could use the difference between the registered office and the tax office to his advantage in order to benefit from more advantageous conditions in relation to its tax obligations, if the location of the different properties of the business gives it this option.