Moving office is often the last thing on a founder's mind once the boxes are unpacked. CAC still expects to hear about it, and fairly quickly.
The filing deadline once you move
A company must notify CAC of a change to its registered address within 14 days of the change. The clock starts on the date of the actual move, not when the decision to move was made.
This is a short window. A company that moves at the end of a busy month can easily let the deadline slip while dealing with everything else a relocation brings.
Why a PO box or mailbag will not work
CAC does not accept a PO box or a private mailbag as a registered office. The address on file has to be a physical location.
This can trip up small businesses, especially ones that started out using a mailbox service for correspondence. Check your registered address against this rule even if you have not moved recently, since an old filing may already have this problem.
The annual return alone does not update this
Some founders assume that listing the new address on the next annual return is enough. It is not.
The law treats the annual return and the address-change notice as two separate duties. Filing one does not excuse the other, even though both end up showing the same address eventually.
If your company has moved and only the annual return reflects it, the address-change filing is still outstanding, and still measured against its own deadline.
The prerequisite that can hold up the filing
Up-to-date annual returns and PSC information before CAC processes most post-incorporation filings, and an address change is no exception.
A company with unpaid annual-return penalties, or with significant-control information that has gone stale, can find this filing stuck before it even reaches payment. PSC disclosures when you register a company explains what CAC expects to stay current on that second point.
Check your annual return status before you start the address change. Clearing an old penalty first is faster than discovering the block halfway through a filing.
Keeping proof of the new address on file
Keep a copy of the lease, utility bill, or tenancy agreement that shows the new address and the date you took it on. This is useful if a bank or CAC ever questions when the move actually happened.
Update your address with your bank and any regulator you deal with once CAC's filing is done, rather than assuming one update covers all of them.
You can start a CAC company registration if you have not yet registered, and the CAC registration hub links the rest of this series for a company already on the register.