Letterhead Format

What is a Letterhead?

A letterhead is the printed header at the top of a business's letter paper: its name, address and contact details and, for a company, the registration details the law expects on its correspondence. It tells the reader who is writing and how to reply, and it is how a bank, a government office or a customer recognises a letter as coming from your business. Without one, formal letters look improvised, and a company that leaves out required details falls short of its disclosure rules.

Companies, LLPs, partnership firms, proprietors, schools, clinics, societies and trusts all use one for anything that leaves the office on paper or as a PDF: quotations, offer letters, experience certificates, NOCs, replies to notices and letters to banks. Many offices keep a printed stock of blank sheets and type onto it; others add the header to each letter as it is written. Some recipients insist on it: a bank or a university may accept an employment or salary certificate only if it is on the employer's letterhead and signed by an authorised person.

The rules depend on country and business form. In India, section 12(3)(c) of the Companies Act, 2013 requires a company's business letters, billheads and letter paper to show its name, registered office address and Corporate Identity Number (CIN), with its telephone number, and fax, email and website where it has them; LLPs have similar rules. In the UK, the 2015 trading disclosure regulations require the registered name and number, the part of the UK where the company is registered and its registered office. The US has no general federal rule, but some states require licensed trades to show a licence number — check the state licensing board.

A letterhead identifies the sender; it does not make a letter binding or official. What commits a business is the content and the signature of someone authorised to sign, and a letter on genuine letterhead signed by someone without that authority can be disowned. A letter on letterhead is not a tax invoice either, even if it shows a GSTIN, which is required on tax invoices rather than on letter paper. And using another organisation's name or letterhead without permission — to produce an offer letter, a salary certificate or an NOC — can amount to forgery, whatever the reason given.

What to put in a Letterhead

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write a Letterhead

1. Put the registered name at the top

   Use the name exactly as it appears on the certificate of incorporation or registration, including ‘Private Limited’ or ‘LLP’ — ‘Kaveri Agro Foods Private Limited’, to take an illustrative name, not ‘Kaveri Foods’. A brand can sit beside it and a short tagline underneath, but the legal name must be the one the reader sees. Banks, tax offices and courts deal with the legal entity, not the brand.

2. Give the registered office and contact details

   For a company, the address must include the registered office. If you work from a different address, show both and label them, so replies go to the right one. Add a telephone number, an email address and the website if you have one. A role-based address such as accounts@ or info@ on your own domain keeps old letters answerable after the staff who sent them have left.

3. Add the registration numbers that apply

   An Indian company prints its CIN, and an LLP follows its own disclosure rules. A UK company shows its registered number, where it is registered — England and Wales, for example — and its registered office. GSTIN is optional on a letterhead, though many businesses add it because customers ask. Set the numbers in one line of small type, at the top or in the footer, and check every character against the certificate.

4. Size the header for A4 or Letter

   Letters in India, the UK, Australia and most of the world go on A4 (210 × 297 mm); the US and Canada use US Letter (8.5 × 11 in). Design for the paper you will print on. Keep the header to a compact band, so a one-page letter stays on one page, and leave margins wide enough that no printer clips the edges and no hole punch bites into the footer.

5. Write the letter under the header

   Start with a reference number from your own series, such as KAF/HR/014, then the date, the recipient's name and address, and a subject line that says what the letter is about. Keep the body short and specific. Close with the name and title of the person signing, who should be someone authorised to commit the business to what the letter says.

Common mistakes

• Printing only a brand or trading name, so the reader cannot tell which legal entity is writing and an Indian or UK company falls short of its disclosure rules.
• Keeping an old registered office address after a move, which sends replies and legal notices to a place nobody checks.
• Treating a letter on letterhead that shows a GSTIN as though it were a tax invoice, which gives the buyer no valid document for claiming input tax credit.
• Making the header so tall that a short letter spills onto a second page, leaving the signature stranded on a page of its own.
• Signing blank sheets of letterhead in advance, which lets anyone type a commitment above your signature.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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