Hope someone can help advise on the best course of action with this one. I was contracting for a couple of years before I took on a permanent job that was paying the same as my contract rate so I went permanent. I started the process of closing down my company once I started my new job.
Everything seemed to be fine with the closure process, I requested my company to be struck off in in Feb 2015 but then several weeks later I had a letter from HMRC telling me that I had overpaid my VAT by £1030. By this time I had already closed my business bank account as my accountant had told me (wrongly I think) that it had to be dormant for 3 months for the company to be dissolved. I contacted the VAT case finalisation team and asked if the cheque could be issued to my personal account. A period of weeks passed before I got any response and was then told my request was being looked at by an assessor. Then I found out they had ignored my request and tried to automatically debit the money into my business bank account which failed as it was closed.
I spoke to them again and was told to send evidence of my business address and a copy of my personal bank account paying in book. I did as requested. Through a series of delays it was now mid-May and at this time I was told that my company was now closed therefore the outstanding funds would be tranferred to the crown.
Although I know as Director it was my responsibility to ensure all activities were closed down before closing the company I had no idea that I was in credit with the VAT and I feel that if the HMRC had responded within acceptable timeframes I would not have lost the money to the crown.
So the question! I understand if a company has been dissolved and there are funds outstanding it is possible to undertake administrative restoration accompanied by a letter from the treasury solicitor. And once the company is restored the funds are transferred back. But the way I read the rules is that you cannot apply for administrative restoration if you voluntarily dissolved the company:-
"You can apply if:
you were a director or shareholder
the company was trading until it was struck off
you didn’t voluntarily apply to have your company struck off"
Am I interpreting this correctly? If so I understand I have two options
1. Restore the company via courts (appears to cost £300-400)
2. Apply for a discretionary payment from the treasury solicitor without restoring the company.
I wondered if anyone has any experience of this and if so what is the likelihood of getting my money back without restoration (minus £300 Treasury Solicitor costs). If I take this approach it would be using a form DG2 and with the reason "It would otherwise be unreasonable or unconscionable for the Crown to keep the assets"
Or would I be better off restoring the company via the courts?
If anyone has any experience of the best approach I'd be grateful for your thoughts.
Everything seemed to be fine with the closure process, I requested my company to be struck off in in Feb 2015 but then several weeks later I had a letter from HMRC telling me that I had overpaid my VAT by £1030. By this time I had already closed my business bank account as my accountant had told me (wrongly I think) that it had to be dormant for 3 months for the company to be dissolved. I contacted the VAT case finalisation team and asked if the cheque could be issued to my personal account. A period of weeks passed before I got any response and was then told my request was being looked at by an assessor. Then I found out they had ignored my request and tried to automatically debit the money into my business bank account which failed as it was closed.
I spoke to them again and was told to send evidence of my business address and a copy of my personal bank account paying in book. I did as requested. Through a series of delays it was now mid-May and at this time I was told that my company was now closed therefore the outstanding funds would be tranferred to the crown.
Although I know as Director it was my responsibility to ensure all activities were closed down before closing the company I had no idea that I was in credit with the VAT and I feel that if the HMRC had responded within acceptable timeframes I would not have lost the money to the crown.
So the question! I understand if a company has been dissolved and there are funds outstanding it is possible to undertake administrative restoration accompanied by a letter from the treasury solicitor. And once the company is restored the funds are transferred back. But the way I read the rules is that you cannot apply for administrative restoration if you voluntarily dissolved the company:-
"You can apply if:
you were a director or shareholder
the company was trading until it was struck off
you didn’t voluntarily apply to have your company struck off"
Am I interpreting this correctly? If so I understand I have two options
1. Restore the company via courts (appears to cost £300-400)
2. Apply for a discretionary payment from the treasury solicitor without restoring the company.
I wondered if anyone has any experience of this and if so what is the likelihood of getting my money back without restoration (minus £300 Treasury Solicitor costs). If I take this approach it would be using a form DG2 and with the reason "It would otherwise be unreasonable or unconscionable for the Crown to keep the assets"
Or would I be better off restoring the company via the courts?
If anyone has any experience of the best approach I'd be grateful for your thoughts.
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