Do you need to change your legal entity?
Hello Sellers!
We have identified several threads like this one opened by with questions on the process for Legal Entity change, so today we want to summarize the documents that Amazon may require depending on the type of business.
Special shout-out to our who is a real expert on this topic! Thank you!
Note: We're aware that Account Types and Selling Plans can be confusing. To clear things up, there will be a follow-up post specifically explaining the differences between the two.
In the meantime, feel free to use this thread to ask any questions you have on this topic. We'll gather them all and send them to our partner team for answers.
Here are the documents that Amazon may require if your business is registered in the United Kingdom:
-Private limited liability companies registered in the United Kingdom: You may be requested to provide one or more of the following documents:
- Current Appointments Report (CAR) dated from the past 180 days
- Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the business and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
- Articles of Association
- Memorandum of Association or Statement of Capital – this document displays the shareholders and the division of the shares and is sometimes referred to as a Share allotment document with breakdown of shares.
The Companies House documents can be obtained from https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
-UK Partnerships: The documentation must come from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). These documents are not available on request from HMRC and you should be keeping a record of your correspondence with HMRC. You must provide one the following document:
- HMRC correspondence: This document must contain the UTR number, name and business address of the partnership and may be one of the following:
-Letter reminding of Tax Return to be completed
-Letter confirming the registration of the partnership with HMRC
- Most recent Tax Return of the partnership: This must contain the UTR number, name and business address of the partnership
- Online VAT certificate
- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill
- Certificate of Registration for Value Added Tax (VAT)
- Partnership Agreement: This document states who is involved in the partnership and what percentage of the partnership they are responsible for. It is not required to have the document on every partnership
- Additionally, you may be requested to provide a copy of a Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the business and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
-Sole Proprietors in the United Kingdom: You must provide one of the following documents from HMRC as a proof for Sole Proprietorship. Some of these documents are issued on a one-off basis, or they may be issued once in a year.
- Self-Assessment Welcome letter: This is issued only once
- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions bill
- Certificate of registration for Value Added Tax (VAT)
- Online VAT Certificate
- Letter confirming your VAT number, following a VAT1 application
- Correspondence from HMRC acknowledging UTR number
- Notice to complete Self-Assessment Tax Return
- Self-Assessment Statement
- Short Tax Return
- Additionally, you may be requested to provide copy of a Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the Sole Proprietor or the Trading Name and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
-Registered Charity in the United Kingdom: You must provide all of the following documents at the time of registration:
- Governing Document
- Current Appointments Report
- Charity Commission Report
- Confirmed list of all the trustees – this must display their full name and date of birth. The document must be dated and signed.
- Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the business and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
You can find further information in the help page Information required to sell on Amazon.
Please let us know if you like posts like this by giving it a thumbs up 👍 or down 👎.
Sarah.
Do you need to change your legal entity?
Hello Sellers!
We have identified several threads like this one opened by with questions on the process for Legal Entity change, so today we want to summarize the documents that Amazon may require depending on the type of business.
Special shout-out to our who is a real expert on this topic! Thank you!
Note: We're aware that Account Types and Selling Plans can be confusing. To clear things up, there will be a follow-up post specifically explaining the differences between the two.
In the meantime, feel free to use this thread to ask any questions you have on this topic. We'll gather them all and send them to our partner team for answers.
Here are the documents that Amazon may require if your business is registered in the United Kingdom:
-Private limited liability companies registered in the United Kingdom: You may be requested to provide one or more of the following documents:
- Current Appointments Report (CAR) dated from the past 180 days
- Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the business and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
- Articles of Association
- Memorandum of Association or Statement of Capital – this document displays the shareholders and the division of the shares and is sometimes referred to as a Share allotment document with breakdown of shares.
The Companies House documents can be obtained from https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house
-UK Partnerships: The documentation must come from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). These documents are not available on request from HMRC and you should be keeping a record of your correspondence with HMRC. You must provide one the following document:
- HMRC correspondence: This document must contain the UTR number, name and business address of the partnership and may be one of the following:
-Letter reminding of Tax Return to be completed
-Letter confirming the registration of the partnership with HMRC
- Most recent Tax Return of the partnership: This must contain the UTR number, name and business address of the partnership
- Online VAT certificate
- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill
- Certificate of Registration for Value Added Tax (VAT)
- Partnership Agreement: This document states who is involved in the partnership and what percentage of the partnership they are responsible for. It is not required to have the document on every partnership
- Additionally, you may be requested to provide a copy of a Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the business and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
-Sole Proprietors in the United Kingdom: You must provide one of the following documents from HMRC as a proof for Sole Proprietorship. Some of these documents are issued on a one-off basis, or they may be issued once in a year.
- Self-Assessment Welcome letter: This is issued only once
- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions bill
- Certificate of registration for Value Added Tax (VAT)
- Online VAT Certificate
- Letter confirming your VAT number, following a VAT1 application
- Correspondence from HMRC acknowledging UTR number
- Notice to complete Self-Assessment Tax Return
- Self-Assessment Statement
- Short Tax Return
- Additionally, you may be requested to provide copy of a Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the Sole Proprietor or the Trading Name and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
-Registered Charity in the United Kingdom: You must provide all of the following documents at the time of registration:
- Governing Document
- Current Appointments Report
- Charity Commission Report
- Confirmed list of all the trustees – this must display their full name and date of birth. The document must be dated and signed.
- Utility Bill, Bank Statement or Credit Card Statement in the name of the business and dated from the past 180 days. Documents from financial service providers or online digital banks are not acceptable.
You can find further information in the help page Information required to sell on Amazon.
Please let us know if you like posts like this by giving it a thumbs up 👍 or down 👎.
Sarah.
14 replies
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
Thanks for this @Sarah_Amzn.
One of the biggest problems is the two different things having the same name, ie. 'Individual' - with no explanation as to what they both are..
Some of us 'oldies' have been campaigning / making suggestions for YEARS suggesting to change the name of at least one of them, to make it clearer, but nothing has ever been taken on board.
The other thing is, new sellers assume that the Individual ACCOUNT is the same as sole-proprietor, ie. just on your own.
Quite some time ago, someone suggested that the sign-up page should be in the format of a flow-chart, so that new sellers did not make a mistake of the wrong type of account (legal entity). PLUS including the fact that if buying to sell for profit they need to be registered with HMRC as self-employed - many newbies think they can just source goods and sell them to make a bit of money on the side (!) without even thinking of keeping accounts etc.
Oh gosh, I could go on, but this should not be my job - it is up to Amazon to make things clearer on the sign-up page, before new sellers even do sign up !
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
@Sarah_Amzn - this needs to be pinned at the top of the page - someone today started a thread about changing entity, but your thread has already disappeared off the first 2 pages.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
Should be HIS Majesty !!
Seller_RlZVPg3d6ZUGP
Just to add too, most of the mentioned sole trader documents are generally not accepted when you come to re-verify as Amazon seem to only accept a new UTR confirmation which is becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain
