Said It Here

How to file incorporation paperwork without using your home address

Startup founders cannot afford commercial office space yet are uncomfortable putting their personal residence on public incorporation documents. This leaves them without a way to route mail away from their home or keep their private address out of public records.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Leasing a real office space
  2. 2
    Purchasing a commercial business address
  3. 3
    Searching for low-cost subscription services to handle business mail
  4. 4
    Considering renting an office space or lease
  5. 5
    Using a local nominee director and nominee shareholder service with a declaration of trust
  6. 6
    Setting up a foreign company in a jurisdiction where owners are not publicly searchable

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“I don’t yet have a physical office where the nonprofit is managed since I am just now starting it however I don’t feel comfortable putting my personal home address as I’ve heard that it will become publicly associated with the nonprofit.”source ↗

ImportantPangolin923 · r/nonprofit · 2 upvotes

“What have you all who have started an LLC done to route mail away from you if you plan on making your home address your place of operation.”source ↗

“I can't afford to rent an office space, lease a place, or take on a HUGE subscription”source ↗

“I am unsure where to go so I don't alert my parents to the junk mail.”source ↗

Ok_Virus_4819 · r/smallbusiness · 1 upvotes

“Trying to build a legal business without putting my name on a giant neon sign.”source ↗

“Ideally, a customer or competitor should not be able to start with my website, follow the company/payment trail, spend €10 on a company-registry report and end up with my personal name, address or other information.”source ↗

Feeling-Attorney5053 · r/Accounting

Where this came up

r/Accountingr/nonprofitr/smallbusinessprivacy

People with this problem also raised