Health SELARL and SELAS: where to set the registered office

When you set up or reorganise your professional practice company, a SELARL or a SELAS, one question quickly arises: which address to use for the registered office. Should you keep the one at the practice, a different address, or even a business address provider? The answer rests on a distinction that company law and your professional body treat separately, and one you had better settle clearly from the moment you draft the articles of association.

Registered office and place of practice: two distinct addresses

The registered office is the company's administrative address. This is where it is deemed to have its legal existence, the address shown on its official documents and the one used by the registry, the tax authorities, Urssaf or your bank. The place of practice is something else entirely: it is the practice where you see your patients, the address you declare to your professional body for your care activity.

These two addresses may coincide, and many practitioners simply place the registered office at the practice. They may also be separate. Nothing requires the company's administrative address to be the one where you practise, provided you draw the right conclusions in your articles of association and towards your departmental council.

Setting the registered office away from the practice: is it possible?

Yes. Company law allows a SELARL or a SELAS to set its registered office at an address other than the practice, including with a business address provider. This option is open to any company, and a professional practice company enjoys it like the rest.

One nuance is worth stating for a health-sector company. Your professional body reviews the articles of association and, where applicable, the domiciliation agreement. It is therefore wise to submit the plan to it beforehand, rather than presenting the business address as an unconditional acquired right. That way you secure your registration and spare yourself having to redo articles already filed. A business address for healthcare professionals designed for these requirements saves you time on this point.

Why separate the registered office from the practice

Separating the two addresses answers real situations. It is never compulsory, but keeping them apart offers advantages you weigh up according to how you are organised:

• a stable administrative address that does not change if you move your premises or refit your practice,
• a single, legible address when several partners practise at different sites,
• the option of keeping your home address off the company's documents when you practise from home,
• a clean separation between the company's legal correspondence and the day-to-day reception of patients.

Conversely, if you practise at a single, lasting site, placing the registered office at the practice remains the simplest solution, the one that keeps the number of addresses to manage down. The right choice depends on your plans and on how your company is likely to evolve, not on a uniform rule that would apply to everyone.

Separating the two ideas in your articles of association

The Ordre des médecins guide recommends dealing with the registered office and the place of practice in two separate articles of the statutes, because they are two different ideas. This wording prevents a common confusion: giving only one address, and letting people believe the registered office doubles as the place of practice, or the reverse.

In practice, one article sets the company's administrative address, another states where the care activity is actually carried out. If you open a second practice, or move your current one, this separation makes changes easier to follow and cuts down on needless amendments to the articles.

Registration on the roll: two attachments to keep apart

The company is registered on the roll of the departmental council for the place of its registered office. Each practitioner, meanwhile, stays attached to the departmental council for the place where they practise. These two attachments are not the same, and it helps to bear them in mind before settling on the office address.

The consequence is concrete. If you set the registered office in a department other than that of your practice, the company will come under one departmental council and you under another. This is not an obstacle in itself, but it is a factor to build in, especially when several partners practise in different geographical areas.

This duality explains why it is better to confirm the office address before incorporation rather than after. You then know which departmental council the company will be presented to, and you prepare the file accordingly. This habit avoids late corrections, always heavier once the company is registered and the articles are filed.

What a business address does not change

Choosing a business address for your company's registered office is an administrative decision. It affects neither what defines your practice nor your social security rights. In concrete terms, a business address does not alter:

• your pension fund, set by your profession (CARMF, CARPIMKO, CARCDSF, CIPAV) and not by the office address,
• your agreement with the health insurance fund, along with the zoning, which both follow your place of installation,
• your treatment claim forms, which carry your RPPS number and the address of your practice.

In other words, the office address organises the company's administrative life, not your relationship with the funds or with your patients. These elements follow the place where you are actually based, not the place where the company's post is received. A business address therefore neither gains you nor costs you any rights on this ground.

Above all, using a business address for the registered office never excuses you from declaring your real place of practice to your professional body. The address where you provide care must always be known to your departmental council, whatever address is chosen for the company's registered office. The two pieces of information coexist; they do not replace one another.

Patient post does not go to the registered office address

One point is worth repeating, even though it is covered in a dedicated article. Your patients' post must not be sent to a business address provider. Its staff are not bound by medical confidentiality and are not authorised to handle health data. Keep the registered office address for strictly administrative flows: Urssaf, tax, the registry, the bank. Everything to do with your patients continues to go through the practice.

How to decide in practice

The choice comes down to a few simple questions. Do you want a stable administrative address, independent of any future move of the practice? Do several partners work in different places, which makes a shared address useful? Would you rather draw a clear line between the company's legal life and the reception of patients? Depending on your answers, the registered office at the practice or a separate address is justified.

In every case, two habits are worth having: drafting articles of association that clearly separate the registered office from the place of practice, and submitting the plan to your professional body before fixing anything. A business address for healthcare professionals designed for these constraints spares you the back-and-forth and keeps your attention where it belongs, on your care activity.

Sources as at 20 September 2026: the public health code (rules of practice); the Ordre des médecins guide on professional practice companies; the commercial code. Domisiège, business address services in Tours, backed by the firm Épiphyse Conseil. This article gives general guidance and does not replace a review of your own situation.