The orientation of the seismic action is known to have a non-negligible effect on the seismic behaviour of buildings. However, modern earthquake-related standards only partially cover the effect of this factor and results of practical utility on this topic are still limited. To address this issue, a methodology enabling the determination of the critical angle of seismic incidence in the context of Lateral Force Analysis is proposed. The analytical methodology determines the critical angle of seismic incidence for the storey displacements and the interstorey drifts of buildings that conform with standard-based provisions for linear static analysis. The applicability of the methodology is illustrated for three buildings comprising different typologies in plan and in elevation. The accuracy of the analytical results obtained is validated by performing a parametric lateral force analysis of the buildings for different orientations of the bidirectional seismic action.