The director does have another option, the correct one, which is to seek the advice of an Insolvency Practitioner. The complainant may be able to have the company reinstated on the register. A striking off is not necessarily the end of the matter.
It is a damning indictment of the system of administration of tax that this thread arises. The expectation of most people with uncomplicated affairs, that is income from straightforward sources, pay, pension, interest, dividends , is that the tax system should work to deduct the correct tax automatically. They assume that employers/pension companies/banks all report the numbers to HMRC, and the correct outcome will arise. This is perfectly reasonable, particularly in this digital age, and in fact long before the digital age. If HMRC cannot even make this level of automation work, how on earth are they going to make MTD work?
Is there a commercial rationale for incorporation? Or is it some wheeze to try and put the assets outside the reach of the creditors? If the business has run up debts, is it viable?
Are the labilities secured on the assets, if so you can't spirit the assets off to a limited company without potentially triggering an event of default.
They are obviously going through a bad time and talking to their accountant isn't a priority. They seem to be paying you. Why not ask them how they would prefer the relationship to work?
Agree with this. People in difficulty do start to behave differently. Ask if there is anything else you can help with, apart from compliance, best if you can get them on the phone. Years ago we used to talk about positioning ourselves as accountants into 'trusted advisor' role, don't hear so much about this anymore.
If the acquired company is indeed registered in Jersey/Guernsey, then it doesn't really matter what the accounting is. No accounts are filed with a public registry in those jurisdictions and if the shareholders want accounts they can be drawn up in accordance with Tax Haven GAAP, ie any old rubbish.
There is good advice for you here as to how to negotiate this, but in essence what the auditors want to do is reasonable, and you may want to give some thought (talk to your manager first) as to whether the lack of cross referencing is actually a risk to the business and could it be exploited? Could the system be changed easily, or at acceptable cost? Or is it just a case of turning on additional flags in the reports?
My answers
The director does have another option, the correct one, which is to seek the advice of an Insolvency Practitioner. The complainant may be able to have the company reinstated on the register. A striking off is not necessarily the end of the matter.
The client has presumably made sales in the period they were registered so there will be output tax. Also, can recover any input tax. Your fees?
Risky- if second UTR was because of an IVA the refund might go into the IVA.
It is a damning indictment of the system of administration of tax that this thread arises. The expectation of most people with uncomplicated affairs, that is income from straightforward sources, pay, pension, interest, dividends , is that the tax system should work to deduct the correct tax automatically. They assume that employers/pension companies/banks all report the numbers to HMRC, and the correct outcome will arise. This is perfectly reasonable, particularly in this digital age, and in fact long before the digital age. If HMRC cannot even make this level of automation work, how on earth are they going to make MTD work?
Is there a commercial rationale for incorporation? Or is it some wheeze to try and put the assets outside the reach of the creditors? If the business has run up debts, is it viable?
Are the labilities secured on the assets, if so you can't spirit the assets off to a limited company without potentially triggering an event of default.
Agree with this. People in difficulty do start to behave differently. Ask if there is anything else you can help with, apart from compliance, best if you can get them on the phone. Years ago we used to talk about positioning ourselves as accountants into 'trusted advisor' role, don't hear so much about this anymore.
A job for AI to get its teeth into then?
If the acquired company is indeed registered in Jersey/Guernsey, then it doesn't really matter what the accounting is. No accounts are filed with a public registry in those jurisdictions and if the shareholders want accounts they can be drawn up in accordance with Tax Haven GAAP, ie any old rubbish.
Look at it this way - the claim being submitted without your knowledge does protect you against being attributed with any responsibility.
There is good advice for you here as to how to negotiate this, but in essence what the auditors want to do is reasonable, and you may want to give some thought (talk to your manager first) as to whether the lack of cross referencing is actually a risk to the business and could it be exploited? Could the system be changed easily, or at acceptable cost? Or is it just a case of turning on additional flags in the reports?