We thank Ms Long Meiyin for her letter, "Business owner used my address to register his business" (Sept 1).

Ms Long expressed concern that a residential address could be used as a company address, and that "there are no existing mechanisms to check and authenticate the use of a residential address as the company address".

Companies are required to provide the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) with a registered office address to which all notices and communication by businesses, government agencies and members of the public can be sent. A residential address can be used as the registered office address.

We received Ms Long's feedback as well as the business owner's updated registered office address on Aug 18.

We then reached out to the business owner, who explained that he was previously a tenant at the residential address and had since moved out. Thereafter, we informed Ms Long that her address is no longer used as the company's registered office address.

Companies are required to declare that the registered office address they provide to Acra is correct, and update changes to their registered office address promptly with Acra. Those who provide incorrect information are liable for a fine of up to $50,000 and/or jail of up to two years.

More than 99 per cent of companies registered with Acra provide the correct registered office address.

Acra conducts inspections to verify companies' registered office address, and investigates complaints. In addition, we are working on ways to check unauthorised use of residential address as registered office address.

Members of the public who have reasons to believe that any information in the register is incorrect may write to us at ED_investigation@acra.gov.sg

Kate Hia
Head, Corporate Communications Department
Accounting and Corporate
Regulatory Authority