I have never dealt with company restorations so should be grateful for some advice from those with more experience.
My client had set up a company with the intention of trading through it. She had loaned money to the company which was sitting in its bank account. The trading never happened, and it was decided to let the company die.
I told her to withdraw the money but she didn’t and Companies House has dissolved the company with £4,400 still in the bank account.
I would like to help her restore the company in order to get her some money back. However, on form RT01 you need to declare that "the company was carrying on business or was in operation at the time of the strike off.” Does this disqualify its use or does having a bank account balance count as being “in operation”?
It seems that before filing the form RT01, she needs to file a form BVC14 form V22 to apply for a waiver letter as presumably the bank balance counts as “property”?
At present, the accounts to 28 February 2021 and the confirmation statement for 17 February 2021 are outstanding. Will I need to attach paper versions of these to the form RT01 as I cannot file online because of the dissolution? Can I file the accounts on paper ahead of sending in the form as the penalty goes up from £375 to £750 if filed after 28 February 2022?
Thank you in advance for any replies or advice that you can give me.
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Thanks DavidEx
The RT01 route seems much cheaper than the court order route so would appreciate advice on whether it is possible?
No idea TBH. I just remembered seeing the question before and that came up when I searched.
If you're not up to speed on this you shouldn't get involved, if further fines are incurred due to delay, your name is in the frame ,
I have looked into this recently; unfortunately my client applied for the dissolution themselves before forgetting to withdraw the bank balance, and so are not eligible for the RT01 route so are having to follow the more expensive court order restoration process. As long as Companies House dissolved the company due to non-submission of accounts etc (rather than the directors applying for the dissolution), you should be able to use the RT01 administrative restoration process, which will save costs for your client.
I have however submitted an RT01 previously for another client, and I found that penalties were not levied on late submission of the accounts after the dissolution had actually taken place. I submitted the outstanding accounts on paper with the RT01 form, and made the client aware that they may receive a penalty once the accounts were finally received - but they never did. I would suggest that if you do submit the RT01 form, the client only makes payment for any late filing fees which have been actually levied and are showing as outstanding on the client's account with Companies House.
Yes, the waiver form needs to be obtained before the RT01 can be filed. In my experience, obtaining the waiver letter was a simple process and I don't recall it taking a particularly long time.
I am afraid I don't know the answer to your first question - I'd hazard a guess that the company was "in operation" but I think I would want to check this with Companies House. They have always been helpful when I have asked questions of them in the past.