Anyone used mvlonline

[Maslins]

To Maslins I have a couple of questions,

a) I read on your MVL Online Ltd website that it can take up to 3-6 months for the entire process to complete, that seems like a long time but given HMRC etc. its sort of understandable, how long into the process would it take to receive the moneys after either CGT or Entrepreneurs Relief has been paid ? One Voluntary Liquidation Company is claiming around 8 days or so wait until you get your money after liabilities have been paid (is this realistic ???), they are charging around 6x more than yourselves though and going through their list of staff I couldn't find a single licensed person with the insolvency register which I thought to be strange given their company report / bank balance which was quite high and number of years they've been trading.

also b) The question of the insurance bond, will I get a copy of it BEFORE the money in my bank account is transferred to yourselves for liquidation purposes ? where can I check to see if its authentic ?

thanks, I'll pm you with this also but note I posted on the 'Anyone used mvonline' thread if you want to go public with your answers ...

Hello,
a) in most cases we'd be able to pay out a large chunk of the funds within a few days of receiving them. Main two reasons we hold onto some funds (exactly how much decided on a case by case basis) is to pay the third party disbursements, and in case HMRC decide actually your company does owe them some money.

Re CGT/entrepreneurs relief, that will be payable based on your personal tax return (which we won't get involved with). That therefore won't come out of the company funds.

Like you say the 3-6 months is waiting for HMRC to confirm everything's settled up and they're happy for the company to be liquidated.

I'm sure that other firm you're talking about will have someone there who is a licensed insolvency practitioner...if not, I don't see how they'd be able to sign off the liquidation.

b) We've got a general bond, which we can provide you with a copy of if you insist. This covers us for all funds we control in client accounts.

The specific penalty bond taken out for each case is based on a monthly form we submit to the insurers, showing all cases outstanding at that time (ie liquidations in process), together with payment as appropriate based on all the balances we control.

It therefore isn't the case that we'd take out a specific bond in your company's name before you transferred funds.

Does that help? PS happy to answer these questions in public as I'm sure if you've got these questions other people do too. I therefore won't bother replying to your PM separately. Obviously if you want to discuss your specific case (including amounts/other confidential information) then I suggest that's done privately...but in that case it'd be easier for us if you emailed it (info at mvlonline.co.uk) rather than PM.

[ELBBUBKUNPS]

Regarding the control of funds, I spoke to one Insolvency practice and explained to them about being parnoid about not having access to the company funds during the process, but they indicated to me they could actually transfer the £ into my personal account at the start of the process and then have it listed as a debt I owe the company, I assume it would be marked as a director loan or something that I need to pay back and that would happen once the formal ok is recieved from HMRC to close the company, is this possible ?

Also another question regarding 'worse case', what happens if HMRC does not approve the liquidation say for example they start questioning your IR35 position ? Looking at your FAQ section the company funds appear to be in your account before HMRC says yes or no ?

[Maslins]

Regarding the control of funds, I spoke to one Insolvency practice and explained to them about being parnoid about not having access to the company funds during the process, but they indicated to me they could actually transfer the £ into my personal account at the start of the process and then have it listed as a debt I owe the company, I assume it would be marked as a director loan or something that I need to pay back and that would happen once the formal ok is recieved from HMRC to close the company, is this possible ?

Also another question regarding 'worse case', what happens if HMRC does not approve the liquidation say for example they start questioning your IR35 position ? Looking at your FAQ section the company funds appear to be in your account before HMRC says yes or no ?

Like I say we could normally pay out a large chunk of the cash within a few days of us receiving it. The main reason for holding onto the remainder is exactly like you suggest at the end, in case HMRC decide they're not happy with something.

Ignoring possible accounting/tax issues (ie 4% interest to avoid BIK, S.419/S.455/whatever it's called these days where there's a 25% temporary tax on director loans) there's no reason why you can't take some/all of the funds out prior to the liquidation starting, so leaving them as a director loan. We don't recommend this generally, because:
1) the potential tax complications outlined above, 2) HMRC may argue the initial "loan" you took which was then cleared by a deemed distribution upon liquidation was actually a dividend, and hence you lose all the benefits of CGT over divis,
3) if an unexpected liability does creep out of the woodwork, and we've got no company funds to pay it, we need to chase the director for the funds. Not a nice position for us to be in, or for you.

Re your worst case scenario, yes, that's a possibility. At that point we would likely control the majority of the company funds...but otherwise no different to if you still had control of them. It'd still be down to you/your accountant/adviser to argue the case with HMRC, come to a conclusion, and then the company would have to pay any possible additional tax due. The only difference would be whether you or we would write that cheque.

Perhaps worth reading this Contractor Weekly thread which sort of discusses this issue.

Whilst I understand the discomfort of not controlling the funds, perhaps worth stressing we get no benefit from having control of the funds. There's no benefit to us of stringing things along whilst we sit on big client bank balances. We want the liquidation done and dusted as quickly as you do.

[PorkPie]

Quick Question

If you're on VAT flat rate scheme, there's no point in leaving VAT registration open as you wouldn't be able to reclaim VAT back on cost as it's less than £2000 right?

[Maslins]

Quick Question

If you're on VAT flat rate scheme, there's no point in leaving VAT registration open as you wouldn't be able to reclaim VAT back on cost as it's less than £2000 right?

Guess so...though you could always apply to get yourself taken off the FRS (but still stay VAT registered) to coincide with ceasing to trade.

It's typically ~£250 VAT at stake, so given the sums involved some will decide not worth going to too much effort to get it back, but every little helps.

[PorkPie]

Guess so...though you could always apply to get yourself taken off the FRS (but still stay VAT registered) to coincide with ceasing to trade.

It's typically ~£250 VAT at stake, so given the sums involved some will decide not worth going to too much effort to get it back, but every little helps.

Thanks - that possibly answers my next question - how much approx are the disbursements? Guess around £250?

[Maslins]

Thanks - that possibly answers my next question - how much approx are the disbursements? Guess around £250?

Bit more than that typically:

£995+VAT our fee
~£300+VAT statutory advertising
~£200-350 bond price, amount dependent on asset value (£25k-£250k). If asset value above £250,000, bond price will be higher too. No VAT payable on the bond.

The disbursements will be broadly similar to any other MVL firm...they just sound more when sitting alongside a £1k fee as opposed to a £5k fee.

We've done a total costs page giving a few demos of what you'll actually end up paying.

[PorkPie]

Perfect - thanks Chris

[sbakoola]

If I were to got with MVL online which offices do you have available for me to travel to in order to sign the papers in front of a legal witness ?

[Maslins]

If I were to got with MVL online which offices do you have available for me to travel to in order to sign the papers in front of a legal witness ?

Signing the Dec of Sol in front of us wouldn't achieve anything, it needs to be signed in front of a qualified solicitor. Any solicitor will do, so I suggest you ring round a few firms local to you to see if they'll do it/what they'll charge (shouldn't be more than £50, they're not giving any legal advice, literally just confirming they saw you sign it, and hopefully also certifying your copy photo ID is a true likeness of you).