Page 4 - Perfect Balance - Sle Trader Guide

How to choose your trading name
When deciding upon a business name for your sole trader business, you can trade using your own name or come up with a branded name that suits your business.
You have a lot of flexibility when choosing your business name, though there are a few restrictions to bear in mind.
Avoid naming your business similar to your competitors
Do not include the words ‘limited’, ‘Ltd’, ‘limited liability partnership’, ‘LLP’, ‘Public limited company’ or ‘PLC’
Make sure the name is not an existing trademark
Ensure it does not contain words associated with the government, unless consent has been granted
If you decide to choose a branded name rather than your own name, you will need to include this as a ‘Trading As’ name within any official documentation. You can use ‘t/a’ for short.
For example, if your name is Joe Bloggs, but your business name is ‘JB Plumbing’.
On documents such as invoices, you will need to write ‘Joe Bloggs t/a JB Plumbing’.
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Companies House and The Trademark Register are useful for checking if any names you have in mind are not already being used.
https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/
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