LTD vs LIMITED - what is the difference?

Hi,

i have registered my LbS company with the "LIMITED" ending. I am not sure what is the difference between LTD and LIMITED. Some resources say that these are exactly the same and I can interchange between them whenever i please but someone else has told me that if i choose the "LTD" ending i am not legally allowed to use the "LIMITED" ending.

Does anybody have a definitive answer? :|

 

You can use either. That's the definitive answer.

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If you incorporate a company as limited you can use limited or Ltd but if you incorporate as Ltd then you can only use Ltd and not Limited.


Anna

 

Haha here we go - 2 different answers again

 

LTD is a permitted alternative to Limited. In law, its the same word, therefore whichever you register with is irrelevant.

A company registered as "LTD" has a legal obligation to display its name as "company name LTD" or a permitted alternative e.g. "company name limited". Who do you think will take action against you and on what grounds if you use "limited" instead of "LTD"?

As you require something definitive, why not read the legislation for yourself:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/contents

and the Regulations:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/1085/contents/made

 

Despite having always been taught that the treatment quoted above was correct I couldn't find anything in the legislation that supported my view regarding use of Ltd and Limited I decided to give Companies House a call.

Their response was that for documents submitted to Companies House you must use the name that is shown on the incorporation certificate so if you incorporated as Limited you must show Limited on documents submitted to companies house and cannot use the abbreviation Ltd. I was also told that Companies House will now reject any documents which use the wrong suffix (this may not have happened prior to CA2006).

Companies House also said that other than Companies House documents, a company is free to use Ltd or Limited regardless of what was used on incorporation.

Anna

 

That was very thorough of you!

I can see (sort of) why this is. If you incorporate as ME LTD then your official company name is ME LTD, not ME LIMITED. Thats the official name and so I guess must be on companies house official documents.

But in everyday use, you don't have to give the official company name to the letter, because the law states that you can use permitted variations and gives guidance on what these variations can be - LTD/limited being one such variation that is accepted in law.

So the bottom line is, don't worry about it. Just get it right on you companies house documents, although with webfiling, its pre-populated for you anyway

 

You can legally use either as under law they mean the same thing.

 

Haha brilliant, I also wondered about this. Thanks for doing that.

 

Because I'm lazy & time poor (e.g. I shorten June to Jun) I went for Ltd. ....note the dot...it's important if you're anal about abbreviations!

 

my full title is Limited but on business cards/van sign writing i have Ltd. as it looks neater

Why all the fuss i do not know though, unless you or a competitor is at each other for naming rights

 

Because small details matter

 

Ltd is an accepted contraction - that's it.

 

wouldn't know mate, i don't deal in small details

 

no need to labour the point.

 

it makes no difference. my company is PJ Worldwide Limited but i am shortcutting it as PJ Worldwide Ltd. nobody can register the second name i have mentioned legally.
Also i suggest using trading names that do not have to be registered.