Ever wondered about the legal ins and outs of your Letterheads, Invoices, and Business Cards? Well, fear not, because we’ve got the scoop on the must-haves to make your stationery legally rock-solid and impressively professional.
Sole Trader
If you’re a solo act, you’ve got options! Trade under your own name or pick a snazzy business name. But hold up – if you go for a business name that’s not your own, splash your name and business address on all letterheads and order forms.
Partnership Powerhouse
Spruce up your letterheads, order forms, receipts, and invoices with the names of all partners and the main office address. Got a long list of partners? No worries, just point them to where they can find the full scoop.
Limited Company
For our limited companies, your letterhead and order form game needs to be strong. Print or electronic doesn’t matter – include:
- Your full registered company name
- Company registration number and place of registration
- The company registered address and your place of business if it’s different
And guess what? You can include director names too, but it’s totally optional!
But wait, there’s more! Most letterheads spice things up with a telephone and fax number, a slick website URL, and an email address.
Extra Goodies for Certain Businesses
Some businesses get to add extra flair to their letters and orders:
- Investment companies (according to the Companies Act 1985) need to shout it out.
- Companies skipping the ‘limited’ in their name? They should drop a line that they’re a limited company.
- Companies with share capital, you’re cool either way, but if you want to show off, it’s all about the paid-up share capital.
- Charitable companies, if ‘charity’ isn’t in your name, let the world know you’re a charity on your stationery and include your charity number too!
Legal Disco, Courtesy of Crown Copyright
Now, here’s the legal lowdown – the info we just dropped is from the Crown copyright guidelines found at Companies House. For the freshest deets, head over to their site.
Get ready to make your Business Stationery the talk of the town – legally, of course!
Correct at the time of publishing.