Virtual Office: what it is and what it is used for

Let's start with a riddle: which business do you think gives more confidence to its customers, one that is located in a neighborhood like the one in this first photo?

... or one located in a neighborhood 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 convey prestige, credibility and confidence in our customers. When we talk about business, the image we give is very important, whether you want to accept it or not.

- VIRTUAL OFFICES AND COMPANY DOMICILIATION

"Where did the idea of the virtual office and direct debit come from?

The idea was conceived in 1994 by Ralph Gregory, founder and president of Intelligent Office, when he founded the so-calledVirtual Office Inc.

This concept has evolved due to the ability of companies 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 that doesn't stop them from taking 5-star locations as their social and business address.

For many businesses, a prestigious postal address might 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 capabilities are as lacking as your actual business address. This is not exactly a good idea for business.

"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 that are 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 commercial domiciliation. It can offer you great benefits. For example, having the address (fiscal and postal) of your business in a good neighborhood, 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 this improves exponentially your professional image.

Virtual office and business domiciliation offer a wide range of benefits to business owners.

1. They raise the level of professionalism of your business a notch. If you normally work from home and don't have any kind of virtual service, you will be forced to put your home address and phone number in your contact details. But, with the services offered by virtual offices and home offices, you convey a sense that your business is fully established and trustworthy, which helps to convince your customers.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 space.

"How much does a virtual office in Madrid cost?

The total monthly cost of your virtual office or domiciliation 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 generally range from €25 to €60 per month for a basic postal package, which only provides a prestigious business address and mail receiving services.

Going up a step, renting all the 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 rate ranges, and depending on your location, you can see that the price to hire a domiciliation 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 one office. In this case, you may want to look for a coworking space in coworking space in Madridoffices or perhaps your own facilities.

"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 customize 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 in the coming year and supporting them on their growth journey.

If you need more information about what a virtual office can do for you,download our brochure here.

"Differences between tax domicile and registered office

The domiciliation of companies in the era of e-commerce, digital nomads, online businesses and the globalization of business activities, can become a real pain. If I work from home, my business is delocalized, I am a nomad worker, I run an e-commerce or my start-up is in full growth... Where the f*** am I domiciled in Spain? Of course, in a virtual office.

At this point, some doubts may arise with certain concepts that enter fully into the decision to use a virtual office: the tax domicile and the registered office.

The tax domicile is the place of the taxpayer in its relations with the Tax Administration. For individuals it is their usual place of residence.

For a company, the registered office is the place where it carries out its activity or its management and administration.

A commercial, social or fiscal domiciliation is not the same, what does each one consist of? The commercial domiciliation is the one that faces the public; it is the place where you receive your clients, the one that appears on your 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 office, according to the Capital Companies Act, is the place that appears in the Commercial Registry and where the company carries out the direction and management of its activity. On the other hand, the tax domiciliation is governed by the General Tax Law. That is to say, it is the place of location of the taxpayer in its relations with the Tax Administration. And in this case, it is not public knowledge.

But what happens if our business is delocalized? What do we do if we do not need a physical space to carry out our business? It is clear that the physical office is dead, but the domiciliation system is not. Therefore, the best solution is the virtual office, and more knowing that the law of capital companies, in its article 9, obliges all the companies to fix at their choice the registered office of the company in the place where the center of its effective administration and direction is located, or in which its main establishment or operation is located.

When you hire a virtual office or a business domiciliation, you are not renting a physical office, you are actually renting the virtual services that take up so much of your time, even though you work from home. 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 professional fiscal and social address, and a virtual office also offers you abusiness phone with a secretary/receptionist service.

Both provide you with the possibility of to rent meeting rooms in case of need. In other words, they give you a professional company image and the necessary means of communication of traditional offices. Therefore, it is 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 to a traditional physical office.

"What should you ask your virtual office or business address?

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, it should offer an effective mail management service that helps you stay organized.

Then, in the case of the virtual office, it should also have a professional receptionist to attend to the calls and visitors that you may have.

Finally, you should make sure that YOUR administrative needs are taken care of in a personalized way, basically work 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 home office for your business, rather than locating your team in one space, you are offering this benefit to your staff.

Important tip: If you are concerned about your employees' work capacity, you can use online productivitysoftware, such as Asana, ClearVoice and BetterWorks, where you and your employees can set up tasks and update and monitor progress.

Similarly, the fact that your employees can work remotely means you can expand your hiring to a much wider area, possibly even hiring people from all over the country. You're less likely to lose the talent you need due to geographic restrictions.

" Annex

Description of legal terms so you don't miss anything:

• Capital companies: companies constituted by virtue of a contract by which the partners pool assets for the exercise of a commercial activity to obtain profit, and share the profits among themselves.
• Relations with the administration: also called 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 norm that regulates the operation of capital companies in Spain. It was approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2010 of July 2, 2010.
• Corporate and tax domicile: the corporate domicile is the place where the activity of the company is carried out, the tax domicile will be where the notifications of the Tax Agency are received. In addition, the former is of public knowledge, while the latter is of a private nature.
• Tax Administration: is a public body in charge of applying and controlling the Spanish tax system, also known as "Hacienda".
• Form 036: it is a Census Registration form that is used to register as a company or self-employed and that we will present to the Tax Agency.
• Commercial Registry: 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 public and in which a certain event or right is recorded and authorized by the official himself, who will sign it together with the grantors.
• Natural person: is the human being (capable of assuming rights and obligations).
• Legal entity: a legal entity (associations, companies, corporations).
• Social security: a field of social welfare related to social protection or coverage of socially recognized needs, such as health, old age or disability.

AUTHOR: MÓNICA COCA

Freelance writer and screenwriter looking for good stories to tell. She can be found in all formats: articles, podcasts, novels and whatever comes up.