Calling all you lawyers - company liquidation
Calling all you lawyers - company liquidation
Author
Discussion

pikey

Original Poster:

7,704 posts

314 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I've had a limited company who was working for me go into voluntarily liquidation.

What does that mean?

He seems to have considerable debts (Tax, VAT, bank loan, other suppliers).

Ta

Ordinary Bloke

4,559 posts

228 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I believe it means you'll have to deal with an administrator to see if you can get any of the money owed to you...

pikey

Original Poster:

7,704 posts

314 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I'm not owed any money. There is no impact to me at all (apart from the fact there was a period of being rather crap)

I just wonder what it actually means. What will happen to those debts?


peterguk V6 KWK

2,622 posts

247 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
If they were working for you, you'll pay the Administrator instead of the Ltd. company.

Edited by peterguk V6 KWK on Friday 31st October 19:07

richyb

4,615 posts

240 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I think they will try and get as much money from selling everything off etc then pay the creditors in order. The banks get their share first if I remember correctly then goes down the line. A lot of debts would be written off.

welshbikerduck

1,448 posts

219 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
VAT man and tax man get their money as preffered creditors. Then everyone else gets "X" amount in the pound of what ever is left.

john_p

7,073 posts

280 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
^^^ not anymore (VAT/HMRC no longer get preferential payments)

Basically what happens now is the administrators spend time valuing the company and its assets. They then value the assets at roughly a little less than their professional fees and take the lot.

Edited by john_p on Friday 31st October 19:02

MikeyT

18,421 posts

301 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I don't think it's lawyers you want (yet) it's accountants ...

welshbikerduck

1,448 posts

219 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
john_p said:
^^^ not anymore (VAT/HMRC no longer get preferential payments)
Thanks for the heads up i never knew that. I always thought it unfair anyways that they were preffered, while someone relying on payment for goods/services from the liqidated company will go bang if they don't get paid.

john_p said:
Basically what happens now is the administrators spend time valuing the company and its assets. They then value the assets at roughly a little less than their professional fees and take the lot.
Hahahah, yeah thats probably more like it.

mattley

3,037 posts

252 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
john_p said:
Basically what happens now is the administrators spend time valuing the company and its assets. They then value the assets at roughly a little less than their professional fees and take the lot.
[/footnote]
It really has become that simple hasn't it, I bet KPMG et al were hoping you wouldn't notice hehe

h4rvy

258 posts

216 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I am sure the Revenue are no longer classed as preferential creditors

peterguk V6 KWK

2,622 posts

247 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
Unless i'm going senile, the OP had the Ltd. company working for him, meaning he owes them money?

groucho

12,134 posts

276 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
welshbikerduck said:
VAT man and tax man get their money as preffered creditors.
Same geezer, no?

Olf

11,978 posts

248 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
Does this mean you won't get the roof lights sorted?

Deva Link

26,934 posts

275 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
welshbikerduck said:
john_p said:
^^^ not anymore (VAT/HMRC no longer get preferential payments)
Thanks for the heads up i never knew that. I always thought it unfair anyways that they were preffered, while someone relying on payment for goods/services from the liqidated company will go bang if they don't get paid.
I don't know if it's worked out like this in practice, but there was some concern that whereas they would wait a bit before, because they were preferred, now that they're not, they would pile in quickly.

thehawk

9,335 posts

237 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
The administrator will look at the affairs of the company and work out the value of any assets it has and look to realise them to pays the outstanding debts, after it has paid itself of course.

After that the debts will generally not exist, they will be wiped clean. There will be a report into the running of the company by the directors and they may face further action such as directors disqualification orders. HMRC can also make orders for transferring tax debts to the directors personally in some circumstances.

pikey

Original Poster:

7,704 posts

314 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
Hmm... quite interesting.

This particular company filed in June (unknown to me), but a week before gave different bank details for future payments saying his bank were rubbish so he had changed (companies house currently show him as owing the previous bank £16k).

He was rather crap in completing tasks, but did advise me of general financial problems within his company. I dripped him more of the outstanding amount (ie. advanced more money outside contract) to keep him afloat and doing more work.

So the money I had paid him to this different bank account since he filed (about £20k), should really have gone to the administrators?





peterguk V6 KWK

2,622 posts

247 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
I think, to cover yourself, you might want to have a quiet word with the administrators...

Sounds like a classic example of diverting the funds into personal finances..

Zod

35,295 posts

288 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
MikeyT said:
I don't think it's lawyers you want (yet) it's accountants ...
No, Insolvency Practitioners, who can be either lawyers or accountants.

Liquidation is different from administration, because there is no pretence of saving the company. The liquidator's job is to sell the remaining assets to raise funds to repay creditors in the order of preference after they prove in the liquidation.

Get your claim in!

Eric Mc

125,705 posts

295 months

Friday 31st October 2008
quotequote all
Claim for what? He stated that he wasn't owed any money.

Liquidations can be voluntary or enforced. When a company has outlived its usefulness, the owners may decide to wind it up voluntarilly.
Often, however, a major creditor of the company (often HMRC) will apply to have the company forceably wound up in order that they can obtain some of the monies they are owed. As has been pointed out, however, the Revenue no longer rank as preferred creditirs and have to stand in line with everyone else.

Preferred creditors may still exist. These would be lenders who have some sort of charge over the company's assets or the employees in respect of unpaid wages or redundancy money due.

The one thing that is a big no-no is the directors creaming money from the company prior to the liquidation commencing. That is looked on as fraud and could result in the directors facing a criminal prosecution.

Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 31st October 23:11