Reply to: contracting with a dissolved Company.. Recruitment agency didn't notice

[Contreras]

Agreed.

Regardless of whether you can tell the type of bank account you are paying into, all you need to do is put the company number into the Companies House Website then it will tell you the status of the company.

Edited to say: I wonder if HMRC VAT will be interested in the agencies paying VAT to a non-VAT registered company and claiming it back?

Indeed. VAT registration can be checked online too: VIES

[SueEllen]

Any agent doing their job properley SHOULD pick that up and I would suspect they have been negligent if they have missed it.

I think he's trying to cover his own back there.

Agreed.

Regardless of whether you can tell the type of bank account you are paying into, all you need to do is put the company number into the Companies House Website then it will tell you the status of the company.

Edited to say: I wonder if HMRC VAT will be interested in the agencies paying VAT to a non-VAT registered company and claiming it back?

[JRCT]

In addition they require that the consultant be paid into a proper company bank account that is associated with the company shown on the certification - again when a company name is the same name as the director I don't think anyone would pick up this.

Looks like its very easy to do

John Smith is most definitely different to John Smith Ltd.

Any agent doing their job properley SHOULD pick that up and I would suspect they have been negligent if they have missed it.

I think he's trying to cover his own back there.

[Whitelighteningwarrior]

Update from Recruitment Agency

Just a little update to those that are interested, had the director of one of the recruitment companies contacted me regarding the use of my address and working with a dissolved company - who said it 'appears that they have also been misled' and its difficult to confirm anything as the director won't respond to any attempts to contact him.

There checks require a certificate of incorporation (obviously they are not going to be supplied the certification of being struck off or dissolved) and the fact it is registered on the mainland UK - but not check the address.

In addition they require that the consultant be paid into a proper company bank account that is associated with the company shown on the certification - again when a company name is the same name as the director I don't think anyone would pick up this.

They suggested these two checks should be okay unless of course someone sets out to deliberately mislead us.

Looks like its very easy to do

[Whitelighteningwarrior]

Bailiff

To be honest, you really do need to be a little more lucid in your explanations if you expect any reasonable advice. The last sentence does not even make sense in the context of this thread or any other.

Thanks for the tip, I won't name names and I am being very careful in what I say purely because its a small world and you never know who would be on these forums and I don't want it to effect a £3000 CCJ that is going through, again not relevant to the the thread. It just shocks me how no so genuine people get away with things. Yes, my spelling is atrocious especially when I'm angry

[tractor]

...

Im actually considering this, I think this is going to be one of the situation I will never know what happens and its that that makes me think some of this dis-honest people get away with it. I wonder if they would block his personal account if he has been using this as a company one.. too many things don't add up.

The fact that yesterday and a 3rd baylift attempt ignored on something completely unrelated to the company certainly makes me wonder about people

Bailiff

To be honest, you really do need to be a little more lucid in your explanations if you expect any reasonable advice. The last sentence does not even make sense in the context of this thread or any other.

[tractor]

.....

When the company is dissolved who informs the bank?



Is this not informing the same person, sorry if these are stupid questions but Im not a contractor and learning a hell of a lot about this whilst trying to protect myself.

Sometimes I think I'm wrong and maybe its all okay and this contractor is self-employed but why put a limited companies name on the contracts? registered address being an old address of mine? a registered company number that isn't correct or even match the original one?

Way to many questions, but thank you

No, HMRC and HMCE have merged into the same department but telling one is definitely not tantamount to informing the other. And currently, HMCE (VAT) have a much bigger stick than the Revenue. That may change when they are allowed to dip into your pocket in advance as has already been proposed.

And as was mentioned, the catalyst in all this is Companies House and after a dissolution, they will also be unable to advise anyone. That ability rests solely with the Treasury Solicitor unless and until you engage in administrative restoration which you can only do if you were a participator in the company as an office holder or a shareholder or have another pressing financial claim.

[NickNick]

When the company is dissolved who informs the bank?

Companies house I believe.

Guidance - strike off, dissolution and restoration (GP4)

[jmo21]

The fact that yesterday and a 3rd baylift attempt ignored on something completely unrelated to the company certainly makes me wonder about people

The bailiffs were at your door for a third time, due to him, but unrelated to his company?

Get yourself to Citizens Advice, see if they can help you figure out what to do about that first.

[Whitelighteningwarrior]

If you were to drop an anonymous line to the bank in question I would bet they would close the account in a heartbeat.

Im actually considering this, I think this is going to be one of the situation I will never know what happens and its that that makes me think some of this dis-honest people get away with it. I wonder if they would block his personal account if he has been using this as a company one.. too many things don't add up.

The fact that yesterday and a 3rd baylift attempt ignored on something completely unrelated to the company certainly makes me wonder about people

[Whitelighteningwarrior]

When a company is dissolved, the bank will get a letter .....

When the company is dissolved who informs the bank?

Notify HMRC
Notify the VAT office

Is this not informing the same person, sorry if these are stupid questions but Im not a contractor and learning a hell of a lot about this whilst trying to protect myself.

Sometimes I think I'm wrong and maybe its all okay and this contractor is self-employed but why put a limited companies name on the contracts? registered address being an old address of mine? a registered company number that isn't correct or even match the original one?

Way to many questions, but thank you

[JoJoGabor]

THis would be very easy to do IMHO, especially if going direct to a client. All my client asked me for was a copy of incorporation (from years ago when I created the company) and a bank account number to be put on the invoice.

Sounds a lot less risky than IR35 risk and offshore schemes to me

DISCLAIMER: I am obviously being facetious, and cannot condone this, but it makes you think

[tractor]

...

The bit I Still dont get is that when a company is dissolved (letters in the Gazette and all that) the bank in quesiton will close the account and all monies are handed over to HMRC aren't they?
So ahead of that time, the contractor will have had to let the agency know that their account number was changing and sent them the number of a personal account. I can see that mid contract this might have got through, but for subsequent contracts I'm not sure it would.

When a company is dissolved, the bank will get a letter and any assets are treated as bona vacantia (ownerless property) and the bank is required to transfer any remaining funds to the Treasury Solicitor, not HMRC. If HMRC has a claim on it, they are required to apply to the Treasury Solicitor for satisfaction. The bank are not required to notify ex directors or shareholders because once the company is dissolved, there are no office holders; but often they do out of courtesy and to reduce any risk of being caught up in any actions by ex-directors.

The only way this could have come to pass is that the perpetrator changed the bank account details part way through and the agent did not do the diligence required. I suspect that they will have to find some answers when HMRC and more scarily the VAT man comes calling.

Given the need for the OP to protect identities in all this, a lot is lost in the anonymising and it's difficult to get a handle on the relationships and hence responsibilities here. But what is absolutely clear is that the OP needs to:

Notify the agent
Notify the bank.
Notify HMRC
Notify the VAT office

But the very first thing to do is to take some legal advice. In any event the OP needs to parcel up and keep all and any future correspondence in order to prove that they were not complicit in any of it.

[GlenW]

What are you trying to imply?

I couldn't possibly say (read the above rebuke).

[BolshieBastard]

Oh what a surprise.

What are you trying to imply?