Somewhere in the United States for bank statements, IRS letters, supplier post and marketplace correspondence to land, opened and scanned or forwarded on your instruction. It is a mailing address under US postal rules, and this page is honest about what that does and does not get you.
$50 for the year, as listed in our packages. Federal postal rules require a signed USPS Form 1583 and two forms of identification from every mailbox customer — we say so here rather than after you have paid. General information about US rules, not tax or legal advice.
The rules come from the Postal Service, so we will quote them rather than paraphrase.
Under the US Postal Service's rules, a business that accepts mail on behalf of other people is a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency — in the Domestic Mail Manual's words, “a business that, in whole or in part, accepts the delivery of U.S. Mail on behalf of another person or entity as a business service.” Your post is delivered to the agency, which holds it for you, opens and scans it, or remails it to you with new postage. That is the whole mechanism, and it is what every “virtual address” on the market is.
A non-resident founder needs one for a plain reason: things get posted. The IRS posts your EIN confirmation letter to the mailing address on your Form SS-4, and the SS-4 instructions say that address will “generally” be used on all the company's tax returns. Banks post cards and statements. States post annual-report reminders. Suppliers and marketplaces post cheques and notices. Without a US address, all of it goes to a country the sender may not ship to, or nowhere.
What it is not matters just as much. It is not your registered agent address — that is a separate legal role with its own rules, covered on our registered agent page. It is not proof that you live or work in the United States. And whether a particular bank or marketplace will accept it as your company's principal address is that institution's decision, not ours and not the Postal Service's.
Each is a rule, not a preference — and each is why some addresses get rejected.
A mailbox at a mail-receiving agency must be written with “PMB” and its box number as a separate line. The Postal Service expressly forbids folding the box number into the building's suite number — its own example of what is not permitted is “10 MAIN ST STE 11-234” — and may return mail that omits the PMB. Any provider promising you an address that looks like a private office suite is promising something USPS rules do not allow.
One signed form per person receiving mail, with a current primary photo ID and a second form of identification. The Postal Service's list of primary IDs includes a US or foreign passport, so you do not need US documents. Social Security cards, birth certificates and credit cards are expressly not accepted as either form. We complete the form with you on a live video call — the rules allow that in place of appearing in person.
Your registered agent must have a physical street address in your formation state and be present in business hours to accept legal documents in person. A mail-receiving agency does not meet that test, and in most states neither does any virtual mailbox. Brio's registered agent service is the separate thing that does.
Many institutions' verification systems can tell a mail-receiving agency address from a residential or office address, and each sets its own policy on whether to accept one as a principal business address. We will tell you honestly which of your accounts it is likely to suit as a mailing address, and we will not tell you it is guaranteed to pass anyone's checks.
All four of these are handled before your first letter arrives.The PMB format, the Form 1583, the identity check, and a straight answer on where the address will and will not be accepted.
The honest split. The right-hand column is where people get into trouble.
Whether a mailing address is acceptable as your company's principal office address is decided by your formation state, and by each bank or platform for its own purposes. We check the state rule before you file, and we will tell you when the answer is no rather than let you find out from a rejection.
Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. The two lists above describe what US postal rules and common institutional practice allow, not what is right for your company. Whether an address choice affects your tax position or your state filings on your facts is a question for a qualified US tax professional.
The address, the paperwork the Postal Service requires, and what happens to your post afterwards.
Your company's name and yours on a compliant PMB address. We complete PS Form 1583 with you on a video call, check your two forms of identification against the Postal Service's list, and file the form as the rules require.
Post is opened and scanned on your instruction, so an IRS letter or a bank notice reaches you the day it arrives rather than weeks later. You choose what is scanned, what is held and what is shredded.
Bank cards, cheques and originals are remailed to you with new postage, as the rules describe. International forwarding needs a customs declaration and some items cannot be sent to some countries — we tell you before we post, not after it is returned.
The IRS's EIN confirmation, a state annual-report notice, a bank's request for documents. We know what these look like and we tell you when one lands, because a missed letter is how a company quietly falls out of good standing.
The SS-4 mailing address is generally used on all the company's tax returns, and a later change has to be reported to the IRS on Form 8822-B. We use the address consistently on what we file for you, so the IRS is writing to one place.
If you cancel, USPS rules say neither of us files a change-of-address with the Post Office; instead the agency keeps remailing your post for at least six months after termination, unless you instruct us in writing not to. We follow that rule rather than letting your mail bounce.
Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. What we do is provide a mailing address that complies with USPS rules, complete the paperwork those rules require with you, and handle your post as you instruct. What we do not do is advise you on your tax position, or tell you that an address will satisfy any particular bank.
The paperwork is not ours to waive. USPS rules require a signed PS Form 1583 and two current forms of identification from every person who receives mail at a mailbox, with the signature made in the physical or live-video presence of the agency or acknowledged before a US notary. If the details on the form do not match the identification, the rules require us to refuse the application. Anyone offering a US address with no identity check is either not following those rules or not telling you about them.
Not sure whether you need this, a registered agent, or both?Most companies need both and they are different addresses. Fifteen minutes on a call sorts it, and it costs nothing.
Every statement below is drawn from the US Postal Service's Domestic Mail Manual (section 508.1.8 and 608.10, read 3 September 2026) or the IRS's Instructions for Form SS-4. Where a rule belongs to a bank or a state, we say so.
| Question | What the rule says |
|---|---|
| Who has to sign Form 1583? | Every person who receives mail at the mailbox — the Postal Service requires a separate form for each addressee. A company can list the people who may receive its mail. |
| Which identification is accepted? | A current primary photo ID — the USPS list includes a US or foreign passport — plus a secondary form such as a lease, an insurance policy, a vehicle or voter registration, Form I-94, or a second primary ID. Social Security cards, birth certificates and credit cards are not accepted. |
| Do I have to be in the US to sign? | No. The rules allow the signature to be made in the agency's virtual presence — real-time audio and video — or acknowledged before a notary commissioned in a US state. |
| How must the address be written? | Street address on one line, “PMB” and the box number on the next. The Postal Service does not permit the box number to be merged into the building's own suite number. |
| Can I use it on my Form SS-4? | Lines 4a–4b of the SS-4 take the entity's mailing address for correspondence, and the instructions say that address will generally be used on all tax returns. A later change is reported on Form 8822-B. |
| Can it be my registered agent address? | No. A registered agent needs a physical street address in the formation state and presence in business hours; a mail-receiving agency is not that, and our registered agent pages say the same. |
| What happens to my mail if I cancel? | Neither side files a change-of-address with the Post Office. The agency must remail your post for at least six months after termination unless you instruct otherwise in writing, and you provide the forwarding address on Form 1583. |
| Will my bank accept it? | That is the bank's decision under its own verification policy, and it varies. We will tell you what we have seen, and we will not promise an outcome. |
All of it comes from the Postal Service's Form 1583 requirements. None of it is optional and none of it is ours to waive.
You should be wary of any address service that does not ask for these. The identity check is a federal postal requirement, and an address issued without one is an address the Postal Service can stop delivering to.
The company, and each person who should be able to receive post in their own name. If we formed the company, we already have most of it.
You show your two forms of identification, we check them against the Postal Service's list, and you sign in our live presence — which the rules accept in place of appearing in person or visiting a notary.
On your SS-4 if the EIN is still to come, with your bank where it accepts one, and with suppliers and platforms. We tell you the exact three-line format, PMB included, so nothing is returned as undeliverable.
Scanned the day it lands, forwarded with new postage, or shredded — per your standing instructions, with the letters that matter flagged to you.
Ready when you are.$50 a year, the paperwork done with you on a video call, and your post handled on your instructions.
Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. The answers below are general information about US postal, IRS and state rules, not advice on your position.
No. A PO box is a box at a Post Office. This is a private mailbox at a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency — a street address with a PMB number, which is why it can receive courier deliveries and why post addressed to it is written with a street line. The Postal Service treats the two differently and applies its CMRA rules, including Form 1583, to this one.
Sometimes, and we will not tell you more than that. Banks and fintechs set their own verification policies, and many of their systems can distinguish a mail-receiving agency from a home or office address. Some will accept it as a mailing address and ask for something else as the principal address; some will not. We will tell you what we have seen work, and we will never present this address as bank-approved, because no bank has approved it in advance.
No, and this is the mistake we most often have to unpick. A registered agent must have a physical street address in the formation state and someone present in business hours to accept legal documents in person. A mail-receiving agency does not satisfy that, and in most states neither does any virtual mailbox. Our registered agent service is the separate thing that does. Most companies need both, and they are different addresses.
No. The Postal Service's rules allow the Form 1583 signature to be made in the agency's virtual presence — real-time audio and video — rather than in person, and a foreign passport is on its list of accepted primary identification. You will need a second form of identification too; the accepted list is on this page.
The rules are specific, and they protect you. Neither you nor the agency files a change-of-address order with the Post Office. Instead the agency must keep remailing your post to the forwarding address on your Form 1583 for at least six months after the relationship ends, unless you have told it in writing not to. After that period, remaining First-Class and priority mail is returned to the Post Office. So an IRS letter does not simply vanish the day you cancel — but do update your address with the IRS on Form 8822-B all the same.
As the mailing address, usually. As the principal office address, it depends on the state — some require a street address for the principal office and some will not accept a mail-receiving agency for it. We check the rule for your formation state before anything is filed. Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. Whether an address choice has tax consequences on your facts is a question for a qualified US tax professional.
$50 a year. Form 1583 completed with you by video, your post scanned or forwarded on your instruction, and a straight answer about what the address can and cannot do.
