Sole proprietor/trader to limited company
I’ve had a few people recently message me about this after posting on an old thread that I managed to successfully change my business status from sole proprietor to ltd co, so thought I’d just add the details here for anyone else.
The first thing I would say to do is email seller-verification-enquiry@amazon.co.uk explaining that you need to change from sole trader to limited company, (and whatever else needs updating: address, bank details etc), and ask how to go about doing it and what information is required.
I can’t remember exactly which documents they asked for but make sure you have a (printed not online) ltd company bank statement ready, which also matches the address of the company’s registered address.
If you’re VAT registered too as a sole trader and you’ve already transferred your number to the ltd co, make sure you have the updated certificate showing this.
Amazon also asked the following questions:
The reason for the change of Legal entity on your Seller account
The date for when you changed/will change the Business type
Please indicate whether the original business type will continue to exist
Please indicate the scope of the new business
The Beneficial Owner(s) of the limited company you want to register
They weren’t satisfied with my first few responses to “The reason for the change of Legal entity on your Seller account” and kept re-asking it. In the end I gathered that they basically wanted assurance that I wasn’t incorporating just to sell off the business to someone else.
My accountant also gave me a bit of advice and help with the process.
In the end the whole process was done within about a week thankfully.
If you have any specific questions feel free to ask here or message me.
0 replies
Seller_qRko2Zr2oMBH9
Thank you for the information it’s very useful!
Seller_s8hxDQCZG5Gu2
What reason for change of the Legal Entity did they accept?
Seller_GGzDKOkzQyKkd
I know this is an old thread but it is very helpful. However I do have a question which you or someone else may be able to answer.
Changing to limited company is something I have considered and so far have not gone ahead with it because of the distruption it may cause to my account. However it is a process I need to go through at some stage fairly soon.
I will want there to be more that just me as a director, there needs to be other people or at least one other person who can manage and take responsibility if I am not here. Does Amazon require all the details for each director, I expect they do? Also can there be more than one contact person for the account as clearly if I am not able to answer questions or phone calls then another director for example my husband or son or daughter will need to take over the responsibility. They will need access to the bank account and be able to process payments etc. All the usual business procedures.
This must be possible, I just want to be able to do so with as little disruption as possible. As a limited co is an entity in it’s self I know I will need to change all the tax details etc. My reasons for doing all this are quite simply that for a while I may need other members of my family to manage the business, so I would like it all sorted out so that they can do this.
There must be lots of companies selling on here with several directors, I am just not clear about how the information will be added to the account.
