When starting a sole proprietorship, it's easy to forget one important thing: some CEIDG data is publicly available. This means anyone can search for your company and verify the information disclosed in the register. This is especially problematic if you list your home as your business address. In such a situation, your home address may begin to function as your business address.
However, this problem can be mitigated. If you don't want your place of residence to be so easily associated with your business, it's worth carefully considering what address you enter in CEIDG and whether you actually need to designate your apartment as your permanent place of business.
Address in CEIDG: how to avoid exposing a private apartment to public view?
When establishing a sole proprietorship, we must provide data that will be transferred to the Central Registration and Information on Business (CEIDG). Some of this data will later be publicly available, so it's important to be mindful of the address we enter in the application.
Pursuant to Article 5, paragraph 1, point 6 of the CEIDG Act, the entry shall include: delivery address and – if the entrepreneur has such a place – address of permanent place of businessThis is an important distinction. We don't always have to designate a private residence as a place of business if it isn't actually a permanent place of business.
This is also confirmed by the government website biznes.gov.pl, which indicates that the only address entered in CEIDG can be the delivery address and does not have to be a private residential address. If the business is carried out mobile, at clients' premises, or without a single fixed location, the "no fixed location" can be indicated.
However, one rule must be remembered: the address entered in CEIDG cannot be random. According to Article 17 of the CEIDG Act, an entrepreneur must have legal title to the real estate whose address is listed in CEIDG. This may be, for example, ownership, lease, lending, or virtual office contract, provided that it gives the right to use a given address for the purposes of entry in CEIDG.
Virtual office instead of a private address
A virtual office is a service that allows you to use someone else's address for business purposes. It typically includes the ability to list this address in the CEIDG (Central Registration and Information on Business), receive correspondence, and sometimes scan, store, or forward it. It can also serve as a place to receive clients, organize conferences, or provide a daily office space.
One of the easiest ways to increase privacy when working with a sole proprietorship is to use a virtual office. delivery address in CEIDG you can indicate the office address, not your apartment.
This solution is acceptable, but you need to take care of the basics. First and foremost, you must have the right to use this address, for example, based on an agreement with the virtual office operator. This is based on Article 17 of the CEIDG Act, which requires legal title to the property whose address you provide in the entry.
You can also indicate the virtual office address as permanent place of business, but only if that's truly how you run your business. It shouldn't be automatic or "for convenience" if the office is only used for receiving mail.
For example, this will be easier to justify if the service includes the use of a desk, meeting room, or office space, or if you regularly meet with clients there. Then, such an address is not just a mailbox but actually serves as a place from which business is conducted.
Objection to sharing contact details
The final step is to limit the visibility of contact details in CEIDG. This primarily includes data such as: Phone number, e-mail adress adres strony internetowej, if we provide them in the application.
Pursuant to Article 5, Section 1, Item 7 of the CEIDG Act, these are the entrepreneur's contact details, other than the mailing address and the address for electronic mailings. Article 43, Section 1 of the CEIDG Act allows for the objection to their disclosure in CEIDG.
However, it is worth stating clearly what such an objection does not do. It does not conceal the delivery address or the address of the permanent place of business. Therefore, if we care about maximum privacy, the objection itself is not enough - we also need to carefully consider what address we enter in CEIDG.
Summary
In summary, running a sole proprietorship doesn't have to mean automatically disclosing your private residential address as your business address. It's worth checking, already at the CEIDG registration stage, whether you actually have a permanent place of business and what address you want to indicate for service. A virtual office can be a good solution, provided we have the right to use his address and this corresponds to the actual way of doing businessIt's also important to remember that opting out of sharing contact information won't hide addresses entered in the CEIDG (Central Registration and Information on Business). Therefore, it's crucial to complete the application carefully, rather than amending it only after your private address becomes visible online. If you're unsure which address you can safely provide, it's worth consulting your situation before submitting or updating your entry.
