Keeping Your Business Name When You Form an Irish LTD

1. Separate the brand from the person doing business

A business-name registration identifies the person behind a trading name; it does not create a company or provide limited liability. Incorporation is different. Under section 25 of the Companies Act 2014, the company becomes a body corporate from its incorporation date. You and the LTD are not simply two spellings of the same proprietor.

That distinction matters even if you own every share, use the same premises and serve the same customers. A trading-name certificate in your personal name is not evidence that the company is the registered proprietor. Keep the old business-name record, the incorporation certificate and the new corporate business-name record as separate items in the handover file.

Start with a short identity schedule: the existing individual proprietor, the proposed or incorporated company, and the public trading name. Add the relevant numbers under their proper labels rather than writing 'registration number' without saying which registration. This helps a formation provider, bank or accountant see what has actually changed.

• CRO FAQ: a business name does not create a separate legal entity
• Companies Act 2014, section 25: effect of incorporation

2. Choose the company's legal name before relying on the old brand

The new company's full registered name and its trading name can be different. For example, an illustrative company called Sample Studio Trading Limited might trade as Sample Studio. If the company uses a name other than its full corporate name, assess the corporate business-name registration requirement rather than assuming the incorporation application covers both names.

An existing business-name certificate does not guarantee that the wording will be accepted as a company name. CRO also warns that business-name registration does not give exclusive rights or clearance against other rights. Check the company and business-name registers and relevant trade marks before spending on replacement signs or stationery.

Give the formation adviser alternatives and explain whether retaining the brand is essential. Do not order a new company name and then discover that a licence, customer contract or brand dispute makes the planned trading identity unsuitable. A company-name check is a preparation step, not a reservation of every possible right to the brand.

Incorporation itself uses Form A1 and the constitution. It is not completed by changing the name on an old sole-trader certificate. Wait for the company to exist before treating it as the new proprietor.

• CRO: business-name registration, corporate names and name checks
• CRO: required company incorporation steps

3. Use the ownership-change route, not an ordinary particulars amendment

CRO distinguishes a change to registered particulars from a change of proprietor. RBN2, RBN2A and RBN2B belong to the particulars-change family. The ownership-change guidance instead describes the existing proprietor ceasing under the name and the new proprietor registering it. For an individual moving the business to an LTD, that means reviewing RBN3 for the individual and RBN1B for the company.

The same human can sign in different capacities without making the proprietors identical. An individual filing their own cessation is not the company applying for its trading name. Have the presenter check the applicant and the capacity of the signatory on each submission.

Use the table to distinguish tasks, not as a recommendation to buy every service. If the company already exists and has an appropriate legal name, a new incorporation may not be needed. If it does not yet exist, a business-name order alone will not create it.

• CRO: change of ownership versus changes to particulars
• CRO: current business-name form categories

4. Prepare the company's RBN1B details accurately

The current RBN1B asks for the business name, nature of business, principal place of business, adoption date, body-corporate name, company number and registered-office details. It also identifies the email address to receive the certificate. Use the exact company details from the incorporation record; do not put your old sole-trader business-name number in the company-number field.

The form requires a meaningful activity description. Its notes reject a PO box or care-of address as the principal place of business. A registered office and the place where the business operates are separate questions: do not automatically copy an address-service provider's details into every field.

RBN1B is signed by a director or secretary of the applicant company. Confirm the filing route and who obtains the signature with the provider. Keep the approved application and final certificate where the company can retrieve them, even if an adviser is the presenter.

• CRO RBN1B: corporate applicant, address, signature and certificate fields
• CRO RBN2B: changes to a corporate business-name record

5. Coordinate the dates without treating either filing as a transfer agreement

The new business-name application is due within one month of adoption. CRO's RBN3 notes require cessation notification within three months after the business ceases under that name. These are different clocks. The three-month cessation window does not extend the company's one-month registration window.

Before the individual stops and the company starts, agree a truthful sequence with your advisers and presenter. Identify when the individual actually stops trading under the name and when the company adopts it. Do not backdate a form to make a messy handover look tidy, or cease prematurely while the individual is still accepting new work under that identity.

RBN3 identifies the old business-name record and cessation date. For an individual, the individual normally signs; the form separately addresses cases involving a deceased proprietor. It is not the company's application and does not itself transfer a contract, domain or trade mark.

Processing time and a statutory submission deadline are not the same thing. Leave time for queries, retain submission evidence and check the resulting record. A payment receipt, draft form or expected certificate is not proof of completed registration.

• Registration of Business Names Act 1963, section 6: registration timing
• CRO RBN3: cessation date, signatures and three-month requirement

6. Deal with trade marks, domains and other brand assets separately

Do not mistake the CRO proprietor record for ownership of everything associated with the brand. IPOI treats a trade mark as intellectual property that can be assigned or licensed, with a separate process for recording a change of ownership or interest. An RBN1B application is not that process.

Identify who owns the logo, written material, registered marks, domain and social accounts. Ask whether each asset should be assigned, licensed or handled another way, and what approvals or provider processes apply. An invoice addressed to you for a logo or domain is useful evidence to review, not a universal transfer document.

Where a registered Irish trade mark changes ownership, IPOI's guidance calls for a recordal application and supporting evidence of title. Obtain appropriate advice on the agreement and recordal rather than assuming a company-number update is enough. Different registration systems, including EU or international marks, may need different handling.

Keep copies of the documents and access arrangements with the company records. Agree who controls domain renewals and account recovery so that brand continuity does not depend on a former contractor's personal login. Do not share passwords informally as a substitute for a proper ownership or administrator handover.

• IPOI: trade mark assignments, title recordal and licensing

7. Keep the trading name, but disclose the new company correctly

CRO's letterhead guidance says a body corporate trading under a business name must identify the corporate proprietor in relevant business letters, alongside the required company particulars. Using the familiar brand does not displace company-disclosure requirements. Website identity information must also be accessible as CRO describes.

Sample Studio Trading Limited trading as Sample Studio illustrates the relationship, but it is not a complete compliant letterhead by itself. Check the company name, legal form, registration particulars, registered office and other information required for the particular document. A business-name number is not a substitute for the company number.

Review quotes, terms, order confirmations, invoice templates, email signatures and website legal pages before the handover. Tell recurring customers and suppliers which legal entity is taking new orders and which payment details are genuine. Keep old records accurate: do not silently relabel historical sole-trader invoices as company invoices.

Also check premises disclosures and any required certificate display rather than assuming an unchanged shop sign settles everything. The name-display guide linked below covers physical identification separately.

• CRO: company and business-name letterheads and website disclosures

8. Keep Revenue, banking and contracts on the handover checklist

A company has its own tax-registration process. Revenue says a new company needs a CRO number before registering for tax, and it receives a Tax Reference Number for its own trading and returns. Continuing the same customer-facing name does not turn the sole trader's tax record into the company's record.

Ask the accountant to assess the relevant registrations, the individual cessation position and any business-transfer tax consequences. A CRO business-name cessation is not a tax cancellation or confirmation that all earlier returns are finished. The separate VAT and RCT transition guides linked below address those specialist questions.

Explain the new legal proprietor to the bank, payment providers, insurer, landlord and key customers. Ask each what evidence or consent it needs; do not assume a brand-name certificate alone changes a merchant account, insurance policy or lease. Existing deposits, unpaid invoices and customer obligations need an agreed treatment in the transfer plan.

These are checks to allocate to suitable advisers and providers. A routine name-registration order does not include negotiating contract transfers, valuing goodwill, preparing an intellectual-property agreement or determining tax relief.

• Revenue: registering a new company for tax

9. A practical handover example and ordering checklist

Consider a fictional designer who trades personally as Sample Studio. A newly incorporated Sample Studio Trading Limited is ready to take over new work. The designer stops accepting new business personally under that name on an agreed date, and the company adopts the trading name from the next agreed date. The filings should reflect those facts, not the date someone happened to start completing a form.

The individual and company keep separate records. The company registers its trading name, the old proprietor's cessation is addressed, and the website and new customer documents identify the company. Any trade mark or domain handover is documented separately. The unchanged brand is continuity for customers, not proof that every asset or liability moved automatically.

Before asking us to prepare an incorporation or business-name application, organise this brief:

• Confirm the current registered proprietor, business-name number and exact brand spelling.
• State whether the LTD exists and supply its exact legal name and company number if it does.
• Decide whether the company will use its full corporate name or a separate trading name.
• Identify the actual cessation and adoption dates, and the person responsible for each CRO submission.
• Check the operating address, registered office, activity description, signatory and certificate email.
• Allocate trade mark, domain, contract, payment-account and tax work to the appropriate providers.
• Review the new customer-facing identity and retain the old proprietor's historical records.
• Confirm the exact deliverables, exclusions, follow-up responsibility and total payable before ordering.

10. Buy the missing step, not an assumed all-in-one transfer

If you still need the LTD, compare our formation packages and explain that you already trade under an existing business name. Company formation prepares the new legal entity; it does not automatically re-register the trading name or transfer the old business.

If the company already exists, review our Business Name Registration service for the corporate registration work. Confirm whether assistance with the old proprietor's RBN3 can be provided and what is included. Do not assume a new-registration order includes cessation, trade mark recordal, contract changes or specialist advice.

Before authorising work, ask which applicant the service is for, what information is outstanding, how queries are handled and the total payable. Name acceptance and processing remain subject to the relevant authority's review. Incorporation does not guarantee tax treatment, banking approval, residency or immigration permission.