With a virtual office, a company does not receive most official mail on paper at the registered-office address. Legal entities registered in the Commercial Register have had an electronic mailbox at slovensko.sk mandatorily activated for delivery since 1 July 2017, and official and court decisions reach them electronically. Paper mail at the virtual address is received and forwarded by the office provider. The biggest risk is the legal fiction of delivery, when a document is deemed delivered after 15 days even if you have not read it.
A virtual office is now a common and legal way to have a representative address without the cost of premises. The question that worries entrepreneurs most, however, is not “where is my office” but “how will important mail reach me”. The answer has two layers — electronic and paper — and mixing them up is exactly what causes missed deadlines and needless penalties.
What does delivery mean with a virtual office?
Delivery with a virtual office must be split into two separate channels. The first is electronic delivery of official and court documents to the electronic mailbox, which runs completely independently of the physical address. The second is paper mail from private senders, suppliers or banks, which really does arrive at the virtual-office address and is handled by the provider.
This distinction is key. Many entrepreneurs imagine that everything will come in envelopes to their address. For a legal entity this is not the case — a substantial part of communication with authorities and courts now runs electronically.
How do official and court decisions reach a company?
Legal entities registered in the Commercial Register with a seat in Slovakia have their electronic mailbox mandatorily activated for delivery since 1 July 2017 (from 1 June 2020 this also applies to legal entities not registered in the Commercial Register). This follows from Act No. 305/2013 Coll. on e-Government. Through this mailbox, the tax authority, courts, the Commercial Register and other bodies send you decisions, calls and notices.
In practice this means that the office address — whether real or virtual — is not decisive for official decisions. A payment order, a tax-office decision or a court resolution will be in the electronic mailbox at slovensko.sk, not in the physical mailbox at the address. It is therefore important to have access to the mailbox and to set up e-mail notifications. When you move your company to a new address, do not overlook the related steps we summarised in our guide on changing the registered seat of a Slovak s.r.o.
What is the legal fiction of delivery and why is it risky?
The fiction of delivery is the most important concept of the whole topic. An official document is stored in the electronic mailbox and if you do not open it, it is deemed delivered after the 15-day storage period expires, as if you had collected it. It does not matter that you never read the message. From the moment of delivery, all deadlines start to run — for objections, appeal, payment and fulfilling the obligation.
Example: A court delivers a payment order to your mailbox. If you do not log in within 15 days, on the sixteenth day it is deemed delivered and the deadline for an objection starts to run. By the time you find out something arrived, the decision may be final and enforceable. That is why it is not enough to activate the mailbox — you have to check it regularly or have reliable notifications.
How is paper mail delivered to a virtual address?
Paper mail from private parties — invoices, contracts, statements, advertising — is received at the virtual-office address by its provider. A decent service standard is that it informs you of a received item without delay, scans the envelope or contents and, as agreed, either keeps the mail for collection or regularly forwards it to an address you specify.
The scope of this service differs between providers, so clarify in advance how often mail is forwarded, whether scanning is included and how a registered item requiring a signature is handled. A good provider can also receive registered mail on the basis of a power of attorney.
Does electronic delivery also apply to a sole trader?
Here there is an essential difference between a legal entity and a natural person. For natural persons and natural persons — entrepreneurs (sole traders), activating the electronic mailbox for delivery is voluntary, not mandatory. A sole trader therefore does not automatically receive official decisions electronically; most communication can continue on paper.
There is a flip side: if a sole trader voluntarily activates the mailbox for delivery, the same fiction of delivery as for companies starts to apply. Before voluntary activation, consider whether you will actually monitor the mailbox regularly.
What to watch for when choosing a virtual-office provider?
When choosing a provider, do not decide on price and the prestige of the address alone. Above all, verify how mail receipt and forwarding is handled, whether you get a notification on the day of receipt and how quickly you can access the item. It also matters whether the provider has a real legal relationship to the address (ownership or lease with consent to register the seat), so the registration holds up during a Commercial Register check.
A reliable provider will also help you with the initial registration of the seat and with its later change, so the whole delivery agenda stays in one place.
What mistakes do companies make with delivery?
The most common and most expensive mistake is ignoring the electronic mailbox. The company relies on everything arriving in an envelope at the address, while decisive decisions lie unread in the e-mailbox until the fiction of delivery marks them as delivered. The second mistake is failing to set up notifications or entrusting access to a single person who leaves the company and takes the login details with them.
The third typical mistake is choosing a cheap office provider without proper mail handling — a registered paper item is not collected in time and returns to the sender. In all three cases the solution is the same: active access to the mailbox, set-up notifications and a provider that handles mail reliably and with documented handover.
Correctly set-up delivery determines whether an important decision reaches you in time, or whether you discover a problem only after the deadline has passed. We will help you set up a virtual office and access to the electronic mailbox so that nothing slips through.
FAQ
Do official decisions arrive at my virtual-office address?
For a legal entity, usually not. Official and court decisions are delivered electronically to the electronic mailbox at slovensko.sk, which companies registered in the Commercial Register have had mandatorily activated for delivery since 1 July 2017. The seat address, whether real or virtual, is not decisive for these documents. You therefore need to check the mailbox regularly and set up notifications.
What happens if I do not open a message in the e-mailbox?
The fiction of delivery applies. An official document is stored for 15 days, and if you do not open it in that time, it is deemed delivered as if you had collected it. From that moment the deadlines for appeal, payment or fulfilling an obligation run. An unread payment order can thus become final and enforceable without you knowing about it.
Can the virtual-office provider receive registered mail for me?
Yes, if you give them a power of attorney. A good provider will also receive registered paper items, inform you without delay and, as agreed, keep the mail or forward it. Before signing the contract, verify whether receiving registered items and scanning are part of the service, so that an item requiring a signature does not return to the sender.