Advice needed on billing for a past contract

[badbarry]

In a previous tax year 2004, I still have some days outstanding to bill. I converted to permanent a few years ago, but for reasons of lethargy and poor management I still have a significant amount of days outstanding.

I was going through an umbrella company at the time, but that arrangement is long expired.

Basically I need to set up a legal structure to bill those days, get the agency to submit an invoice, and have a purchase order raised. I have the goodwill of my present employer to do this, however the question is this.

Generally, it is going to be troublesome for an umbrella agency to bill for days in a previous tax year, it is just troublesome.

Can I set up a limited company as of today, and run the invoices and billing through that? The company and structure will appear to have been constructed long after the fact of the work being done.

Ignoring for a second the issue of cost of setting the company up, this would seem to be the path of least resistance

In essence to put myself as a sole trader would be the most natural fit with the circumstances, or to raise a personal invoice, however due to the legal structures between agencies and large employers this is unlikely to be easy for them.

My best guess at the moment is to run it through a new limited company and be done with it; not to bother worrying too much about it.

Does anyone with any legal understanding of these matters have any advice.

Quite a mess really, and I have been a bad businessman on my own account.

cheers

[NotAllThere]

The fact that the debt is in the past tax year is immaterial. It's possible there's a legal debt still in place. The work was done, no-one's been paid. Of course if brolly or agency or client have folded in the meantime, you're stuffed.

The client is only obliged, however, to pay the agency (on receipt of invoice). The agency is only obliged to pay the brolly. Then the brolly MAY be obliged to pay you.

You can't set up a ltd co to invoice, because the ltd co has NO CONTRACT.