Legal Points to Consider When Designing Your Letterheads

Jul 12th 2012 by admin

Letterheads are an important aspect to your business’s printed literature and marketing materials. But there is certainly more to them than just the quality of the paper, and the design. You may be surprised to note that there are a number of legal requirements to consider.

In order to ensure your hard work isn’t wasted, these requirements are simple and easy to implement. They do however, vary depending on the nature of your company. Here are some outlines to bear in mind:

Sole Trader

For sole traders, the requirements are fairly simple. You can trade under your own name, or choose another. If you do trade under a different name, you must include your full name and business address on all your letterheads and business forms.

Partnership

If you’re a partnership, all letterheads, order forms, receipts, ad invoices need to include the names of all partners and the address of the main office. If you have a large number of partners, you can state an online location where a list of partners can be found.

Limited Company

Limited companies have a few more legal guidelines to stick to – in both print and online – when it comes to letterheads and stationery. These state that your letterheads and stationery must include:

  • The full, registered company name
  • Registered company number and place of registration
  • The registered company address and, if different, the address of the place of business
  • It is not a legal requirement to name directors, but if you do – all must be named

Also, in the UK, if you use your letterhead as an order form or invoice and you are VAT registered it is also advisable to put your VAT registration number on as well. Most companies also choose to include a telephone and fax number, website URL and an email address as additional points of contact.

Some final points to bear in mind include:

  • Investment companies (as defined by section 266 of the Companies Act 1985) must state that they are such
  • Companies exempt from using the word ‘limited’ in the name, must state that they are
  • Charitable companies who don’t use ‘charity’ or ‘charitable’ in their name must state that they are

Our prices for letterhead printing are extremely competitive; contact us to find out more.