Closing a limited company

Maybe your business has stopped trading, thought of a career break, withdrawal, or chosen to accept a permanent job offer and return to work. It needs careful consideration to choose between dissolving or making your business dormant. Cheap limited company accountants will help you to make a right decision.

How to close an enterprise?

You need to decide first whether the business is solvent or insolvent if you are certain that you want to stop trading permanently and close your limited company.

If it's solvent, you can close it in two ways, i.e. you can pay off its debts.

• To get the company cancelled the file, apply to Companies House,
• Voluntary winding down of participants

You must liquidate the business if you are insolvent (i.e. you cannot pay its debts), by negotiating a voluntary liquidation for the creditors or compulsory wind-up.

A liquidator will be named under each agreement to take control of the company, to supervise the process of liquidation and to use its assets to disburse any debts it owes.

Apply for the registration of your company

This is the fastest and cheapest way suggested by cheap dormant company accountants to shut down a small enterprise. The corporation must not be entitled to exclude the company from the register:

• have (sold) any inventory exchanged or disposed over the past 3 months

• In the last three months, changed its name
• Be in danger of liquidation
• have in place any arrangement with its creditors, for example, a voluntary agreement between a company

You have to file DS01 form at Companies House and pay a fee of £10 to delete your business. You would need to: before you do this:

• Notify HMRC and all those concerned that you have applied for the cancellation of the business
• ensure all workers become redundant and pay their final salary or wages in compliance with the rules
• Inform HMRC that you have discontinued working
• share any business assets between members until the company is stripped off, otherwise these assets are passed on to the Crown
• Enter the final tax return of the company and HMRC annual accounts
• Pay all corporate and other corporate taxes owed by the company

When the Companies House DS01 is sent, your request to strike off is published in The Gazette. If nobody objects, the business will be removed from the registry within 2 months of issuing a notification. A corresponding notice to confirm the company's dissolution will be released.

2. The voluntary winding-up of participants begins

If you are unable to comply with all the requirements for striking down your business, you must voluntarily liquidate your members in place. If your limited partnership is solvent, this alternative method is available and:

• You chose to retire, or
• You're leaving the company and nobody takes your spot or
• You won't run the company any more

3. Settle an insolvent firm

If you are an insolvent corporation and decide to close it, creditors' interests will prevail during the settlement process. You may either negotiate with accountants in London for voluntary winding-up of creditors or ask for a compulsory strike off.

You must call the general assembly of the shareholders and propose a specific resolution of the members authorising the closure of the company in order to arrange a voluntary winding-up of the creditor. If you have adopted the resolution, you have to:

• Appoint an insolvency professional authorised to take care that the business is liquidated
• Send a resolution of the representatives to Companies House within 15 days of the meeting
• Announce the agreement of representatives within 14 days in The Gazette

Otherwise, you can petition for the compulsory liquidation of the corporation directly at the court if you are a Director.