Reply to: Help, government seized £4.5k as Bona Vancantia

[piebaps]

Operating a Ltd company is not difficult however its also not something for the unwary. The law expects that a director has the skills knowledge and experience required to the office and as you've seen, is largely unsympathetic if you come up short.

[jmo21]

I accept that through inaction/obliviousness that I'm wholly responsible for what's happened. That doesn't stop me from thinking that it's dumb. I'm just trying to minimize the damage at this point - some people on this forum have been very helpful in this regard and I'm grateful.

FWIW, you won't be the first, nor the last caught by this.

If NLUK seems troll like to you, it's only because it's the {n}th time he's seen this/similar style posts where an OP is completely oblivious to how their company works (it's your responsibility to manage, it's the company's bank account etc), and expectations of what an accountant will do for them.

[samth85]

In the bigger picture this would have been nice but in no way replaces the fact the OP should have managed his financed better.

I know you're trying to troll me but I'll respond anyway.

I don't know about you but the whole reason I hire an accountant is to manage my finances for me.

I still don't think the OP would take responsibility even if they had.

I accept that through inaction/obliviousness that I'm largely responsible for what's happened. That doesn't stop me from thinking that it's dumb. I'm just trying to minimize the damage at this point - some people on this forum have been very helpful in this regard and I'm grateful.

[northernladuk]

True but I'd definitely expect my accountant to say "by the way... make sure you take everything out of the comapny account except £X to cover x/y/z"

Possibly, and looking at the number of excuses and facts that only come out later from the OP I'm not 100% they didn't. In the bigger picture this would have been nice but in no way replaces the fact the OP should have managed his financed better. I still don't think the OP would take responsibility even if they had.

[pr1]

Did your accountant or HMRC have access to your bank account to make the transfer. No they didn't.

True but I'd definitely expect my accountant to say "by the way... make sure you take everything out of the comapny account except £X to cover x/y/z"

[northernladuk]

Did your accountant or HMRC have access to your bank account to make the transfer. No they didn't.

[NotAllThere]

I guess it didn't occur to me that my bank account was so intertwined with my limited company

For future reference, it isn't your bank account. It's your company's bank account. That's why, when your company ceased to exist, the money in the bank account reverted to the crown.

[samth85]

It's worth filing for a discretionary grant. Done it in the past where clients companies have been struck off for non filing. There are some fees they skim off but in all cases I've dealt with, the grant has been successful.

Some of the confusion I have on this matter is the fact that there are two discretionary grants, depending on whether the company can (CB2) or cannot (CB3) be restored. CB2 has a £3000 limit, CB2 doesn't seem to have any. Both seem to cost around £300 plus the crown skimming an additional 5% off the top.

How do they qualify 'can' or can not' be restored? As mentioned in my first post I did try unsuccessfully to restore the company myself, but haven't yet done the process here: Company Restoration Guide - GOV.UK

This process will cost £600 or more, will I have to do this in order to determine whether or not my company "can be restored"?

[samth85]

Thanks for the replies. It's good to hear that I'm not alone in thinking my accountant should have forewarned me about this. I did send him an angry email, but he washed his hands of any wrong-doing:

"When you instruct us to close your company all we do is that we inform the Companies House accordingly with your order. As the director and company owner we assume that you are aware of all of the consequences and we don’t go through each and every results of the action."

I'm not sure I'd have any leg to stand on going after him though, he did send me a company dissolution form to sign which does state mention on it that "remaining assets will be passed to the crown". I guess it didn't occur to me that my bank account was so intertwined with my limited company that it would just automatically vanish like that.

I'm clearly not that clued up with these matters, but that's what I hired an accountant for!

Thanks anonymouse for the suggestion of Crichtons Company Restorations, I had no clue services like this existed. I emailed them and they said they can help get the money back, I'll get them to give me a quote.

If it's really expensive I'll look into restoring it myself, and if all that fails I'll go the route of a discretionary grant, which seems the most expensive but most likely to work.

£4.5k is a pretty large amount of money for me in the stage of life that I'm at now, I'm prepared to fight to get as much of it back as I can.

[handyandy]

It's not a stunt if it's a published part of the process though is it?

What he said + it is not HMRC.

It happened to me many moons ago and the bank did try to contact me but too late to do anything (not the banks fault). Fortunately the money still in the account was owed to HMRC (corp tax) so not a loss to me (although I did have a sense of loss for months after. Funny enough HMRC have an opportunity to prevent a dissolution of a LTD if money is still owed to them but they missed it too.

Check with your accountant (though they seem a bit crap) whether any of this would have been owed as tax but other than the discretionary grant thing mentioned elsewhere I think your only option is to pursue your accountant for incompetence - they should have insurance for this so if you threaten legal action they ought to cough up if it was an error on their part - but check your own actions - did you sign the dissolution form, where your instructions to the account clear and have you documented them?

Good luck.

[jmo21]

I know this may not be helpful right now, but my accountant told me that HMRC pulls this sort of a stunt all the time when it comes to company closures. I was so shocked. Regardless, I hope you get your funds out somehow.

It's not a stunt if it's a published part of the process though is it?

[siphr]

I know this may not be helpful right now, but my accountant told me that HMRC pulls this sort of a stunt all the time when it comes to company closures. I was so shocked. Regardless, I hope you get your funds out somehow.

[Craig@Clarity]

I’m a New Zealander who worked in the UK as a freelancer between 2016-2018, during which time I worked through my own Limited Company.

In June 2018 my visa expired so I had to leave the country. I instructed my accountant to close up shop.

I had a business account with Lloyds bank that had about £4.5k left in it just in case there were any remaining taxes etc to be paid. In February of this year, I logged in my internet banking to find the account cleared of all funds. My initial thought was that I’d be hacked, but Lloyds explained to me that the government has seized the money and gave me a number to call.

I discovered that my funds have been claimed as bona vacantia as the company associated with the account had been struck from the register. I was given zero warning from my accountant, my bank or from the government that this would happen.

I followed the instructions sent to me and applied to have the company restored at the cost of a £60 waiver letter and a £100 filing fee, but they responded that because I had struck off the company ‘myself’, and the only way to restore the company is to follow the instructions here: Apply for a discretionary grant (company can be restored) (CB2) - GOV.UK

This now involves courts, witnesses, hefty fees and a lot of time and paperwork. Alternatively they also seem to offer a discretionary grant, which seems like I would get less that £3k back, depending on whether or not my company 'could be restored'.

Has anyone had this happen to them before, or can offer any advice on what to do next? Frankly I’m really upset that the government has the power to just suck out all my money and make me fight so hard to have it returned to me.

It's worth filing for a discretionary grant. Done it in the past where clients companies have been struck off for non filing. There are some fees they skim off but in all cases I've dealt with, the grant has been successful.

Your old accountant should have advised that before the DS01 (striking off form) to companies house is submitted, that all taxes and the company bank account is closed. Obviously didn't happen so I would take it up with them tbh.

[swamp]

Your accountant has advised you badly. It's the primary rule of winding up a company: that you need to move the money out at the right time otherwise they grab it.

You can get it back, but may not be worth it in your case. Maybe ask for compensation from your accountant?

[Old Greg]

Report your company to HMRC for tax evasion. They will restore the company for free and then you can extract the funds.