Business to business letter detailing change of name of business

The most basic business information has to be kept accurate and representative of your business. Changes of name by businesses are quite common, and there are a range of legal issues attached.

A business name, by itself, is not a legal entity. It is, however, the property of the owner, and can have considerable value as goodwill. So it's important to maintain details of your ownership of the name.

Important note: In some countries, formal registration of business names is a statutory process, in others, it's not required. To safeguard the value of your business name, you will need to research methods of creating a form of ownership.

The name of the business can change for many reasons:

Marketing reasons
Change of ownership
A new name is coming into operation as a result of a new product line
A franchising agreement
Use of a new corporate name in relation to the business

In each of these cases, your clients need to know your new name, not only to find you in the phone book, but because in some cases they may be dealing with a new legal entity, as in the case of the franchise or corporate entity.

Your business clients do need to know this information.

Businesses must maintain accurate records of their clients and suppliers.
Accounts must, by law reflect the correct identities of their subjects.
Tax records must show proper names and legal entities.

This means you need to provide them with useful information concerning your change of name.

You must provide:

The full new name of the business
The date of commencement of trading under that name
Date of cessation of any old business or trading name
Any relevant information concerning a related corporate entity, including change of the corporate name from a previous name
Plenty of notice of the change of name, with a date of commencement

Example:

Addressee

Your Reference
Our Reference
Contacts

Dear……

Change of business name / trading name

Please be advised that as of (insert date) this business will be trading as (insert full new business name) and will no longer be trading as (insert full old business name).

Please adjust your records and billing details accordingly.

Optional text (franchise name)

Please be advised that this business is now part of the (insert full name of franchise) group / franchise and is obliged to trade under this name. It will be appreciated if you adjust your records and billing details accordingly.

Optional text (corporate name)

Please be advised that this business is now trading as a corporate entity, not as a sole trader / partnership.
The new name of the business is ABCD (business name) a division of (corporate name).
The business is now trading under the corporate name of (insert full corporate name including descriptor of company type, like Ltd, Inc, etc.)

Please adjust your records and billing to reflect the new details.

Yours sincerely

Signed
Title
Date

Disclaimer

Please note:

This text is intended for advisory and guideline purposes only.

Any business letter can become a legal document, so check your content properly before issuing.

Any executable or statutorily defined document should be checked for compliance with legal requirements, and you should seek legal advice regarding its contents.