Virtual Office Dublin: Frequently Asked Questions

A virtual office is service that gives your business a real, professional address along with mail handling and on-demand access to office space without the cost or commitment of renting a full-time physical office.

With Office Suites Club’s virtual office in Dublin, you get a prestigious address at 20 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, which you can use on your website, invoices, business cards, and all company correspondence. We receive your mail, notify you instantly via our app, and give you full control over what happens to each item – scan it, forward it, collect it, or shred it.

You also get on-demand access to meeting rooms, day desks, and focus rooms at Harcourt Street whenever you need a physical space to meet clients or work from. It’s the complete professional presence of a Dublin office, at a fraction of the traditional office cost.

A Dublin virtual office suits a wide range of businesses and individuals, including:

• Startups and new businesses that need a professional registered address before they can afford physical office space.
• Sole traders and freelancers who don’t want their home address published on invoices, the CRO register, or their website.
• Remote workers and distributed teams who need a central Dublin address for correspondence and occasional in-person meetings.
• Overseas companies and non-resident directors establishing an Irish business presence or registering with the Companies Registration Office.
• UK companies seeking an EU address for trading in Europe post-Brexit.

• Established businesses implementing a hybrid working model who need a touch-down space and professional address without a full-time lease.

If you need a legal, professional Dublin address without paying for a permanent office, a virtual office is without doubt the best solution.

FOR BANKING, CRO AND ESSENTIAL TAX REGISTRATION – the Pro Plan is sufficient

For opening a business bank account, registering with the CRO, and using the address on your website and business correspondence, our Pro Plan includes a signed contract confirming your right to use 20 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 as your business address.

This is accepted by the majority of Irish banks and financial institutions as valid proof of your connection to the address and can also be used to show proof of address to other organisations that you are registering with.

The Pro Plan is also generally acceptable for entry level essential tax registration with the Revenue Commissioners.

FOR REVENUE VAT REGISTRATION & SPECIALISED TAX REGISTRATIONS – the Resident Plan offers stronger evidence

This is where the evidential bar is meaningfully higher. Revenue Commissioners require applicants to demonstrate a real physical presence at their Irish address. Having an address, or even a standard address contract, may not be sufficient on its own, Revenue want to see evidence of genuine, regular, physical connection to a location in Ireland.

Our Resident Plan is specifically built for this. It includes a signed Licence Agreement – not just an address contract – that records your legal right to independently access and use physical coworking space at 20 Harcourt Street for 4 days per month, with your own FOB access to the building.

That distinction matters more than it might appear. There is a significant difference between a bookable day pass as single-use visitor credential and independent FOB access, which gives you the same building access as a permanent tenant. A day pass records a visit. FOB access records an occupancy.

When Revenue are asking whether a business genuinely operates from its registered address, the answer that a company holds independent, recurring access rights to physical workspace – 4 days per month, 48 days per year, documented in a formal Licence Agreement – makes a materially stronger case than minimal or occasional access arrangements.

We’ve also written a blog post on this exact topic called Can I register for Vat using a registered office address?

An important caveat:
We are not tax advisers and cannot guarantee the outcome of any Tax application – In our experience, Revenue assess multiple factors beyond the address alone. Independent tax advice is always recommended.

A virtual office address alone, without any corresponding right to access and use the physical premises does not qualify as a trading address in Ireland. 

However, both our Pro and Resident Plans have been designed to to go beyond a simple address service, providing businesses with a documented, contractual right to access and use the physical premises making both plans eligible for trading address purposes in Ireland.

Note that the level of evidence supporting your trading presence does differ between the two plans:

The PRO Plan includes a signed contract confirming your right to use the address, along with on-demand access to day desks and meeting spaces. This facilitates the performance of your business activities at the physical address. 

The RESIDENT Plan on the other hand provides for Forty-eight independently accessible days per year, formally documented in a Licence Agreement. This provides your business with a recurring pattern of physical occupancy and puts you in the strongest possible position when demonstrating that your business genuinely operates from its Irish address.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, many of our members sign up before their company is formally registered as you often need an address to complete the registration process in the first place.

You can sign up for your virtual office plan now and provide your company details to us once your registration is complete. This will allow you to use the address in your incorporation / business set up documents from the very start and will avoid any need to use your home address to register your business. 

If you’re looking for more information on getting set up, take a look at this post titled How to set up a Virtual Office

We offer three virtual office plans, each designed for a different level of business need – from basic CRO compliance through to a full physical presence at 20 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2. There are no setup fees or deposit required and yearly plans offer a 25% saving over monthly.

1) STARTER PLAN
Suitable for businesses that only require an address for a CRO registered office with postal forwarding and without the need to receive mail from other sources or access to physical spaces. This plan is for compliance purposes only – it does not include dynamic mail management, unrestricted business address use, a signed contract, or access to meeting spaces.

2) PRO
Unrestricted use of the address for all purposes –  CRO, Revenue correspondence, banking, trading address, website, and business cards. Includes our dynamic mail management app with real-time notifications, a signed contract, on-demand access to meeting rooms and day desks at member rates, and a Dublin (01) landline number available as an add-on.

3) RESIDENT
Everything in the Pro Plan Plus a Coworking desk with access to lounge & shared areas for 4 days per month PLUS a Signed Licence Agreement demonstrating an official business presence with formal access to a physical workspace for trading purposes – which is particularly relevant for businesses seeking to demonstrate a ‘real physical presence’ at their Irish address for Revenue VAT or other specialised tax registrations.

PHONE ADD-ON

A Dublin (01) landline number with call divert, or a live call answering service, is available as an add-on to both Pro and Resident Plans. Select during sign-up or contact us to add at any time.

Not sure which plan is right for you? Contact our team and we’ll help you decide. 

We’ve also got some great blog posts on this topic like this one titled Top 5 considerations for a virtual office 

To activate your account we require the following KYC (Know Your Customer) documents all of which can be submitted online:

• A copy of photo ID (passport or driving licence).

• A proof of address (a recent utility bill or bank statement).

• Completion of a short online onboarding questionnaire where you can tell us how you’d like your mail to be managed.

These are Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements a legal obligation for all TCSP-licenced providers in Ireland. They are standard across all regulated service providers and are in place to protect both you and the integrity of our address.

The entire process is handled online immediately after sign up and typically takes no more than 15 minutes to get your account activated.

Please note: to be eligible for the service, at least one officer or director of the business must be resident in the EU, UK, or US.

You can be fully set up and using your new Dublin business address on the same day you sign up and in most cases. within 15 minutes.

The process is entirely online: choose your plan, complete the short onboarding form, submit your ID and proof of address, and you’re live. No waiting for paperwork to arrive in the post.

If you’re in the process of setting up your company and don’t yet have all your business details finalised, that’s not a problem – sign up now and send us the business details once they’re available so you can start using the address straight away on all your set up documents.

No. You do not need a suite number, mailbox number, or any other suffix.

Your address reads exactly as follows:

[Your Business Name], 20 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, D02 H364, Ireland

This gives your business a clean, professional address identical to a standard business address.

In addition to your formal registered business name, you can also receive mail under a registered trading name at no extra cost. Both names covered under the same plan.

Up to two company directors can also receive mail in their personal names under the same account, provided the mail is connected to the activities of the business. 

Please note this flexibility applies within a single entity. If you operate two separate companies, each will require its own paid account – the plan covers one legal entity and its associated trading names and directors, not multiple independent businesses.

When each piece of post arrives, you receive an instant notification via our app and by email, along with a photo of the envelope so you know exactly what’s arrived. 

You then choose what happens to it either for each individual item, or by setting a default automatic action for all your mail:

• Open & Scan: We open the item and scan it to high resolution. View and download instantly in the app or online portal.

• Forward: We post the item to any address you choose, anywhere in the world. Items are consolidated where possible to reduce costs.

• Collect: Pick it up from us in person. 

• Store: We hold the item securely.

• Shred/Recycle: We securely dispose of the item. Your scanned copy remains in the cloud for future viewing.

You can change your default action at any time, and override it for any individual item whenever needed.

Nothing changes, and this is one of the primary reasons many of our members choose a virtual office in the first place.

When post arrives at 20 Harcourt Street, our team receives it and you get an instant notification via our app and by email, along with a photo of the envelope, so you always know exactly what has arrived and can decide what to do with it, from wherever you are in the world.

Your options are the same whether you’re in Dublin or abroad:

•  Have it opened and scanned so you can read it immediately on your phone or laptop.

• Forward it to wherever you currently are – any address, anywhere in the world.

• Store it securely until you’re back in Ireland.

• Shred it if it’s not needed, with your scanned copy retained in the cloud.

You can even set a default action for all your incoming mail so that routine post is handled automatically without you needing to log in for each item. The entire process is managed through our app or online portal – both of which work from anywhere.

Many of our members are based outside Ireland full-time and manage their Irish business correspondence entirely remotely. A virtual office at 20 Harcourt Street means your Irish business presence is maintained and your mail is under control, regardless of where in the world you happen to be.

Yes. Every item of post is automatically assigned a unique tracking ID. Its full lifecycle from arrival, notification, action taken, forwarding, delivery is logged and viewable in your online mail portal and app.

If you request forwarding, you can add options “tracked” delivery for full end-to-end visibility.

You can also view the complete history of all past mail items in your account at any time.

Your base subscription covers the address use and the core mail management service. 

Depending on how you would like your mail managed, there may be some small usage-based fees as follows:

• Incoming mail: 10 items per month included. Additional items €1.50 each. (Most members never exceed the included allowance.)

• Open & scan: €0.50 per page.

• Forwarding: €3 per item plus postage. Items consolidated where possible.

• Tracked forwarding: €16 per item plus tracked postage.

• Collection: Free of charge.

• Shredding/recycling: Free of charge.

• Storage: 30 days free included. After that, €0.05 per item per day – easily avoided by choosing forwarding, collection, or shredding.

• Outbound courier: Quoted on request.

There are no other fees beyond the above. Most customers find their monthly usage costs are minimal or zero.

We can offer two telephone call handing options, both divert only and live call answering:

OPTION 1:  CALL DIVERT
Dublin landline (01 landline number) with call divert to a number of your choice. This feature is available as an add-on to both the Pro Plan and the Resident Plan. You’ll see the add-on option during the sign up process. The Cost is €35 /month or €315 / year.

OPTION 2:  LIVE CALL ANSWERING
Live call answering in your company name is available as an add-on to both the Pro Plan and the Resident Plan. You’ll see the add-on option during the onboarding process (after you sign up)  
The add-on cost starts at €55 /month and full cost details can be found here

You choose the geographic location of the landline phone number (eg Dublin, London, etc).

Your calls are answered by a professional receptionist who will take a message or announce the call and patch it through to you, as you prefer.
You choose exactly how and in what name your calls are answered.

For more about call handling see our Call Handling FAQ’s (Prices are exclusive of Vat)

Monthly plans have a minimum initial term of 3 months. After that, you can end your plan at any time with 3 months’ written notice. There are no penalties for cancelling.

Yearly plans are paid upfront for a 12-month period. We’ll contact you in advance of your renewal date to confirm whether you’d like to continue.

You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time without penalty

Yes. If your business grows and you need more regular access to physical space, you can upgrade to a coworking membership or a private serviced office at any time, without penalty.

Many of our members start with a virtual office plan and scale into a physical presence as their business develops. Because you’re already in our system, the transition is seamless.

We have private offices and coworking spaces available at 20 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 and at our Blackrock Village location. Contact us to find out what’s available.

Our in-house virtual office support team is available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm, by phone, email, and live chat.

We are not a call centre or an outsourced support service – your account is handled by our own team and it’s post room which is physically based at 20 Harcourt Street. Most queries are resolved the same day.

You can also manage the vast majority of day-to-day tasks for example mail actions, room bookings, account settings, etc, directly through the app or online portal.

All virtual office providers in Ireland are required by law to hold a Trust or Company Service Provider (TCSP) licence. This is a legal requirement under Irish anti-money laundering legislation, administered by the Department of Justice.

A TCSP licence is not automatic. Providers must apply, pass background and compliance checks, meet ongoing regulatory obligations, and be subject to ongoing monitoring. It is the official authorisation confirming a provider is legally permitted to offer registered office address and company administration services in Ireland.

Office Suites Club is a fully authorised TCSP and you can verify this status independently.

Why does this matter to you? An unlicensed provider can be shut down by the authorities at any time, instantly leaving you without access to your post, forcing you to change your registered address, and potentially putting your company’s compliance at risk. 

Unlicensed providers are also less likely to carry out proper customer identity checks, which can bring reputational damage to the address itself.

Always confirm your provider’s TCSP status before signing up.

Find out more about TCSP’s and the regulatory environment on the Department of Justice Website for  designated persons

The terms and conditions governing the service can be found by clicking here