Dissolved company restoration unpaid CT

Limited business, due to close due to Director ill health, CT bill of 9k unpaid.

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Ill try and be as concise as possible, this has been causing me hell over the past 2 years with worry.

Ran a Ltd business, TO circa 100k/year, paid VAT, CT etc. on time throughout initial 3 years trading.

I was sole director and fell unwell with mental health issues and subsequently could no longer work.

Ive filed for voluntarily closure of the company with Companies House and the 2 month expiration date for anyone to object to this is coming up next week, so hopefully it'll be dissolved.

The company owed about 9k in CT and I've received letters to my previous known address regarding this recently.

With the company being dissolved, will this put an end to my issues?

I understand HMRC can apply to restore the business but given I've stated exactly why I ceased trading, that there are no assets and that I personally have no assets to cover this CT bill, is it likely they'll pursue it for a sum of that amount?

Replies (15)

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By MikeM86
13th Jan 2018 12:01

.

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Scalloway Castle
By scalloway
13th Jan 2018 12:23

If the company is dissolved then any debts die with the company.

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By Ruddles
13th Jan 2018 12:29

If HMRC have been trying to contact the company regarding its CT affairs, I'm surprised that they haven't objected to the striking-off. Even if they don't, did you comply with all of the requirements of the striking-off procedure, in particular the notification of all creditors - including HMRC?

If the company owes £9k in CT, what happened to the profits?

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Replying to Ruddles:
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By MikeM86
13th Jan 2018 12:47

Basically no.

I wasn't aware of the process and just submitted the DS01 form to companies house.

The profits are spent on wages, suppliers etc. The 9k was from the previous years return, they allowed me to do a repayment plan to pay the CT bill but there was 9k left of that after I ceased trading.

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By andy.partridge
13th Jan 2018 12:41

From the limited information supplied it sounds as though you have taken for yourself the £9,000 that was meant to be paid to HMRC.

Is that correct and if it is, do you think there is nothing dishonest about it?

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By MikeM86
13th Jan 2018 12:49

It was from the previous years tax return, we had a huge drop in business and I used money to keep the business going as long as I could.

Prior to that we'd paid all Tax, VAT etc. up front, even having an early repayment bonus for paying early.

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Replying to MikeM86:
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By andy.partridge
13th Jan 2018 12:59

The following is on the DS01 which you signed, so I am not sure what your excuse is:

"Warning to all applicants
It is an offence to knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information on this application.

Notify all parties
Please ensure that you send copies of this application to all notifiable parties e.g. creditors, employees, shareholders, pension managers or trustees and other directors of the company within 7 days from the day on which the application is made.

Failure to notify interested parties is an offence. It is advisable to obtain and retain some proof of delivery or posting of copies to notifiable parties."

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By MikeM86
13th Jan 2018 13:24

Have you got any advice for me to do in my situation?

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Replying to MikeM86:
By Ruddles
13th Jan 2018 15:02

Hmmm ... if previous year's profits were used to finance subsequent expenditure not covered by income then, in theory, that should have created a loss to reduce the prior year profits (and tax bill). There's little point in discussing the whatifs and wherefores now, but something isn't stacking up.

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Replying to Ruddles:
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By MikeM86
13th Jan 2018 15:20

We lost a major client around the time the CT bill was due - which was around £15k.

As opposed to pay out a large part of the cash flow on paying it in one go, I negotiated paying back to HMRC over a number of months. I continued to trade and make the repayments, up to the point of having 9k left over.

I was then unable to work and filed no further returns or did basically anything at all until 2 years later when I filed the DS01.

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By thevaliant
13th Jan 2018 13:50

I will be honest.

Although Andy Partridge is 100% right in what he says, the fact of the matter is that once the DS01 goes through (and pay no attention to that '2 months from date' rubbish Companies House trot out - it will be 4 months) and the Company is struck off, everything will go away.

It isn't right, and it isn't ethical, but it's what will happen.

Deep down you have nothing to worry about. HMRC probably won't object, and even if they do, they won't do anything else and Companies House usually just strike off eventually anyway (and HMRC won't pay for a formal liquidation process, especially if the tax is only £9k).

My advice - do nothing. Have you had anything from HMRC about the strike off?

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Replying to thevaliant:
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By Wanderer
13th Jan 2018 13:59

Quote:

once the DS01 goes through (and pay no attention to that '2 months from date' rubbish Companies House trot out - it will be 4 months)

Three months to the day of filing, last one I was involved in. Two months two weeks from First Gazette notice.

Companies House is a lot quicker than they used to be.

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Replying to thevaliant:
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By MikeM86
13th Jan 2018 14:12

This is kind of what I was looking for.

I accept I've made mistakes along the way but I do stress that if I'd been able to continue working this wouldn't even be an issue because I'd have paid it all off and probably still be in business now.

I'll see what happened with the dissolving of the business, if that goes through then I hope I'm able to just draw a line under it all and move on.

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Replying to thevaliant:
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By andy.partridge
13th Jan 2018 15:06

Sorry to sound prissy, but I'm nor sure that is the best advice for a professional to give a complete stranger on a public forum.

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By legerman
14th Jan 2018 13:02

As a general observation, I have every sympathy for a company owner in this position, and it is for this reason that the strike off of a company, without having to liquidate, is available.

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