Dissolved company - how to pay TAX on the invoices

Paid invoices but dissolved company - don't know how to pay tax on these invoices

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Hello

To my surprise, I recently found out that my company got dissolved but received no notification about it. Unfortunately, the registered business office I worked with did not update their records and they haven't forwarded me any mail via post so I received no notification.

I have a very small business with 3 invoices over the last 2 years that come to a total of £12,000. One invoice  was issued as self-employed in Oct 2015, one under the company in 2016 and the last was issued this year, 2 days after the company got dissolved as I did not know at that time that the company was dissolved. This would have been my first annual return for the company and I wanted to submit all invoices through the company. 

How do I do the annual return and pay tax on these invoices?

What can I do with the invoice issued to an dissolved company? Do I need to inform my client and ask them to cancel it?

What about the invoice as self-employed for which I haven't submitted a self-assessment as I was going to put it through the company?

I have little knowledge in this area and I haven't been able to find a clear answer on how to proceed. 

Your help would be appreciated.

Dana

Replies (10)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
21st Jul 2017 14:18

Well, that's the problem you have when deal with fly by night accommodation offices.

I'm afraid that you're going to have to either start a new company (using an address where you receive the mail) or apply to have your existing company restored to the register. Which could be expensive.

Ultimately, whilst you can delegate running the company to some registration agent, it's up to you to see that they're doing their job. You could have checked it for free on the Companies House website. You could have registered for email alerts which would've prompted you that time limits were approaching.

You say you have very little knowledge, which, to be fair, is not uncommon. You need to engage an accountant to point you in the right direction and the fact that you no longer have a company should demonstrate this vividly.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By DanaB
21st Jul 2017 23:22

Thank you so much for your reply. I went down the route of getting help from a friend who is an accountant and was looking for new clients. Unfortunately, it didn't really work well for me. I also entrusted the company to the registration agent and their professional services so, I didn't think to worry about it. The agent admitted it was their fault in this and suggested to help me to re-open the company. Would that be the best way forward?

I now know that I could have checked through the Companies House but I had no idea before.

Thanks for flagging these things and for taking the time to reply.
Dana

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By John R
21st Jul 2017 17:18

I agree with lionofludesch.

You cannot, in any event, include self-employed invoices in the company's accounts. The company was a separate entity from you as an individual, so if you carried out work on a self-employed basis as evidenced by the invoice, this will need to be disclosed as income from self-employment to HMRC. I am wondering whether the other invoices were in fact for sales or work that was actually undertaken by you personally rather than by the company. If the work relating to the "company" invoices was in fact carried out by you personally, you cannot label them as company invoices retrospectively. Was the company name including the word "Limited", shown on the invoices, engagement letters etc. given to your clients?

I assume you have a bank account in the name of the company in which case this will probably be frozen shortly once the bank finds out about the dissolution. Any balance on this and any other assets owned by the company now belong to the Crown!

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Replying to John R:
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By DanaB
21st Jul 2017 23:14

Thank you John
Yes, both of the invoices was for work that I actually undertook. The name of the business remained the same apart from adding LTD to it when I opened the company. Yes, I did add LTD to my invoice.

So, what I understand is that
- I need to do a self-assessment for the 2015 self-employed invoice (my accountant friend had advised me to put it through the business-it's apparent now that is wasn't the most professional advice).
- I can submit the invoices through a new company. Given the hassle with the ltd. I am not sure I want to open another one so, I wouldn't do it if I didn't need to.

My remaining questions are:
- What to do with my only invoice addressed to the company?
- What to do with the invoice addressed to a dissolved ltd company and what implications are there for my client?

Thank you so much!

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RLI
By lionofludesch
21st Jul 2017 17:29

I hadn't thought of that, but the OP could be in the unenviable position of having no access to the cash in the company's account, whilst being stuck with the tax bill on fees incorrectly invoiced in her own name.

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By kaff
21st Jul 2017 18:31

OP needs to understand that although she can start up a new company, the old invoices can't be put through that new company.

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Replying to kaff:
RLI
By lionofludesch
21st Jul 2017 18:52

OP is clearly out of her depth and just needs to pop along to her local friendly accountant and see what can be salvaged.

Sometimes you can battle through with a bit of help and sometimes you're just too far behind the starting line.

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Replying to kaff:
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By DanaB
21st Jul 2017 23:24

Dear Kaff

Thank you for your reply. So, you are saying that even if I opened a new company I wouldn't be able to put the invoices through it?

Dana

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Replying to DanaB:
RLI
By lionofludesch
22nd Jul 2017 09:45

DanaB wrote:

Dear Kaff

Thank you for your reply. So, you are saying that even if I opened a new company I wouldn't be able to put the invoices through it?

Dana

If you don't get the struck-off company back, you've no need to include its invoices anywhere.

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By Cheshire
22nd Jul 2017 09:04

No you would not, Kaff has already said that. You cannot put things through one limited that belong to another limited, nor sole trader things through a limited, vice versa etc.
Ditch your pal and get proper paid for (not as expensive as you think) advice as you sound out of your depth in sorting this little mess.

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