18 Nov Virtual Office: what it is and what it is for
Let's start with a riddle: Which business do you think gives the most confidence to its customers, one that is located in a neighbourhood like the one in this first photo?
... or one located in a neighbourhood similar to the one in this second photo?
I bet you got the answer right. The first option is undoubtedly a more appropriate location if we want to transmit prestige, credibility and confidence in our clients. When we talk about business, the image we give is very important, whether you want to accept it or not.
You may be interested in:
- VIRTUAL OFFICES AND DOMICILIATION OF COMPANIES -
Where did the idea of the virtual office and direct debiting come from?
The idea was conceived in 1994 by Ralph Gregory, founder and president of Intelligent Office, when he founded the so-called 'Virtual Office Inc'.
This concept has evolved due to the ability of businesses to operate remotely through the use of constantly evolving technology. The emergence of software such as Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom and many other platforms have allowed entrepreneurs to reduce office rental costs. This flexibility has given start-ups the ability to team up outside of the most prestigious locations and thus reduce costs, but this does not prevent them from taking 5-star locations as their social and business address.
For many businesses, a prestigious postal address may be irrelevant, but for most it makes a crucial difference. If you are a lawyer and you intend to access a certain clientele, you will want to make sure that your postal address is in a prestigious location in Madrid, otherwise your clients might think that your skills are as lacking as your actual business address. This is not exactly a good idea for business.
Download our free e-book and discover all the benefits of Commercial Domiciliation and the Virtual Office.
What are the advantages of a virtual office?
Virtual offices and business addresses are becoming increasingly popular among entrepreneurs. They are perfect for entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. They are also ideal for companies entering new sectors, looking to simplify internal administration or simply for companies that need to have a digital presence.
If your business meets any of the situations described above, you should consider a virtual office or business address. It can offer you great benefits. For example, having your business address (fiscal and postal) in a good neighbourhood, or in an important business area. In addition, in the case of a virtual office, a telephone answering service and meeting rooms at your disposal, whenever you need them. All of this exponentially improves your professional image.
Virtual office and business domiciliation offer a wide range of benefits to business owners.
- They raise the level of professionalism of your business. If you normally work from home and do not have any kind of virtual service, you will be forced to put your home address and telephone number in your contact details. But, with the services offered by virtual offices and domiciliation, you convey a sense that your business is fully established and trustworthy, which helps to convince your customers.
- You are not tied to a single location. You can access your business anytime, anywhere, as long as you have the right devices. This flexibility, offered by virtual offices and domiciliation, allows you to control your business without compromising your free time.
- The absence of a physical office means you don't have to spend time commuting to and from the office. These two virtual services allow your business to be where you are and not where your office is. That will give you time to do other tasks, so you will be more productive overall.
- And finally, the costs of hiring a virtual office or a domiciliation are usually much lower than renting a traditional office or even a coworking space. coworking.
How much does a virtual office in Madrid cost?
The total monthly cost of your virtual office or direct debit will depend on:
- The services you require. With each service you add, your monthly cost will increase.
- Location. Virtual office addresses and business addresses in Madrid in prestigious areas will invariably cost more.
Prices for business addresses typically range from €25 to €60 per month for a basic postal package, which only provides a prestigious business address and mail receiving services.
Moving up a step, renting the full range of services offered by a virtual office in Madrid, including access to meeting rooms, a dedicated reception service for phone calls to your company and more, can cost between €100 and €300 per month, depending on the provider you choose and the services included.
With these fee ranges, and depending on your location, you can see that the price of renting a business address or virtual office can be a mere fraction of what it would cost to rent a physical office space. For entrepreneurs and start-ups looking for a more professional image, renting a business address or virtual office could be the perfect solution.
As you move forward, these two services may no longer be suitable for your growing team and you may prefer to be in a single office. In this case, you may want to look for a coworking space, offices or perhaps your own facilities. coworking in Madridoffice space or perhaps your own premises.
Meeting Room at The Shed Coworking Madrid
The future of virtual offices
According to Servcorp COO Marcus Moufarrige, the virtual office concept has not yet reached its full potential. He argues that as the coworking trend continues the progression of professionals towards more flexible workspaces, virtual offices will be the next logical step.
Virtual offices have several important advantages over coworking spaces. One great example is that with a virtual office, you can personalise your business for the community in which you operate by having a local address and phone number. According to a Servcorp study, 80% of people trusted a business more if it had a local address.
All in all, 2019 is shaping up to be another exciting year as more people embrace work-life balance and enjoy the freedom and flexibility offered by today's technology-driven business culture. The virtual office concept continues to gain momentum and we look forward to welcoming many more entrepreneurs, remote teams and digital nomads over the coming year, and supporting them on their journey of growth.
If you need more information about what a virtual office can do for you, download our ebookhere.
The domiciliation of companies in the era of e-commerce, digital nomads, online businesses and the globalisation of business activities can become a real pain. If I work from home, my business is delocalised, I am a nomad worker, I run an e-commerce business or my start-up is growing... Where the f*** am I domiciled in Spain? Of course, in a virtual office.
At this point, some doubts may arise regarding certain concepts that come into play in the decision to use a virtual office: the tax domicile and the registered office.
The tax domicile is the place of residence of the taxpayer in his dealings with the tax authorities. For natural persons it is their habitual place of residence.
For a company the registered office is that where it carries on its business or its management and administration.
Commercial, social or fiscal domiciliation is not the same, what does each one consist of? The business address is the one that faces the public; it is the place where you receive your customers, the one that appears on your business cards and where your mail arrives. The other two are of an administrative nature. They can be confused, but they are not the same. The social and fiscal domiciliation is used for more important paperwork.
The registered officeThe registered office, according to the Capital Companies Act, is the place where the company carries out the management and administration of its business. On the other hand, the tax domiciliation is governed by the General Tax Law. In other words, it is the place where the taxpayer is located in its relations with the tax authorities. And in this case, it is not public knowledge.
But what happens if our business is delocalised? What do we do if we do not need a physical space to carry out our business activities? It is clear that the physical office is dead, but the domiciliation system is not. Therefore, the best solution is the virtual officeAnd even more so, knowing that article 9 of the Capital Companies Act obliges all companies to establish their registered office in the place where the centre of their effective administration and management is located, or where their main establishment or operation is located.
When you hire a virtual office or a business address, you are not renting a physical office. In reality, you are renting the virtual services that take up so much of your time, even though you work from home, so you can focus on generating business and not get lost in calls and emails.A domiciliation should give you a a professional fiscal and social address, and a virtual office also gives you a business phone number.ompany telephone with a secretary/receptionist service.
Both offer you the possibility of to rent meeting rooms if necessary. In other words, they give you a professional company image and the necessary communication facilities of traditional offices. It is therefore ideal for those who want to give a professional image but are not yet ready or simply do not yet have the financial capacity to move into a traditional physical office.
What should you ask for from your virtual office or direct debit?
Once you have decided on one of the two services, you need to make sure you choose a good provider that you can trust. As a first step, they should offer an effective postal management service, which will help you stay organised.
Then, in the case of a virtual office, it should also have a professional receptionist to deal with any calls and visitors you may have.
Finally, you should make sure that YOUR administrative needs are taken care of in a personalised way, basically working with a team that listens to you, understands what you need and cares about your success.
Conclusions
Virtual offices and business addresses are not strictly useful for freelancers and lone rangers, but can also be interesting for managing a team of remote workers through these services. They can even be a source of talent recruitment for your employees.
Today, the expectations that employees have of their employers are changing and the ability to work flexibly, in the location they want and at the times that suit their other commitments, is becoming increasingly valued among workers. By renting a virtual office or a home office for your business, rather than locating your team in one space, you are offering this benefit to your staff.
Top tip: If you are concerned about the work capacity of your employees, you can use online productivitysoftware, such as Asana, ClearVoice and BetterWorks, where you and your co-workers can set tasks and update and monitor progress.
Similarly, the fact that your employees can work remotely means you can expand your recruitment to a much wider area, possibly even hiring people from all over the country. You are less likely to lose the talent you need due to geographical restrictions.
Annex
Description of legal terms so you don't miss anything:
- Capital company: a company formed by virtue of a contract whereby the partners pool assets to carry out a commercial activity in order to make a profit, and share the profits among themselves.
- Relations with the administration: also known as a legal-administrative relationship, it depends on two subjects, one of which must be the public administration, and it must also be governed by administrative law.
- Companies Act: this is the fundamental legal regulation governing the operation of capital companies in Spain. It was approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2010 of 2 July.
- Registered office and tax domicile: the registered office is the place where the company's activity is carried out, while the tax domicile is where the Tax Agency's notifications are received. In addition, the former is public, while the latter is private.
- Tax administration: is a public body in charge of implementing and controlling the Spanish tax system, also known as the "Hacienda".
- Form 036: this is a Census Registration form that is used to register as a company or as a self-employed person and which is submitted to the Tax Agency.
- Commercial register: is an institution through which, by virtue of the law, publicity is given to certain acts of commercial companies or individual entrepreneurs, which must be known or made available to the community.
- Public deed: this is a document that is processed before a notary and in which a certain event or right is recorded and authorised by the official himself, who will sign it together with the grantors.
- Natural person: a human being (capable of assuming rights and obligations).
- Legal person: a legal entity (associations, companies, corporations).
- Social security: a field of social welfare related to social protection or coverage of socially recognised needs, such as health, old age or disability.