HMRC Repayment cheque - but closed my business...

[PushedDover]

A pleasant surprise today in the Post. Cheques from HMRC for £1.5k for 'Accountin Period 01 Decemebr 2020 to 30 November 2021'.

Super.
Covers the borkage bill on my A6 Allroad I thought.

But the cheque is to my Limited Company,
incorporated November 2017, dissolved August 2023 - and with that I have no bank account current to MyCo Ltd.

Google suggests :
a) tough, goes back to HMRC pockets,
b) well,.... it was for a period well in advance of cessation, so HMRC may work with you on this.

What do PH say ?
And I then assume that as the Sole Director, I would get the cheque if (b) and then also have to declare / lube for the Tax on it in my SA?

Thanks for any help in this.

[Terminator X]

Can't you open the company back up again or another company with old company name?

TX.

[PushedDover]

For £1500?
From my recollection it’s not the same as making a new email account !

[jfdi]

Will the bank allow the account to be reopened, pay in cheque, withdraw and close?

[PushedDover]

jfdi said:

Will the bank allow the account to be reopened, pay in cheque, withdraw and close?

Company accounts (Ltd) need proof / check on existence with Co House etc before Banks allow

[fridaypassion]

I would imagine if the entity has ceased there's no way of banking the cheque.

[ralphrj]

Terminator X said:

Can't you open the company back up again or another company with old company name?

TX.

You can restore a dissolved company at Companies House in some circumstances (Administrative Restoration). It costs £100 and then you would have to open a bank account to bank the cheque.

Do not start another company with the same name to bank a cheque belonging to the previous company - pretty certain that would be fraud.

[PushedDover]

Thank you =- and perhaps the way forward, but the burden of administration thereafter.

Is there not a sense that HMRC should have got their house in order on this some time ago? And yet I am now (sole Director) out of pocket?

[ralphrj]

PushedDover said:

Thank you =- and perhaps the way forward, but the burden of administration thereafter.

Is there not a sense that HMRC should have got their house in order on this some time ago? And yet I am now (sole Director) out of pocket?

No, not really. Do you know what the refund was for - corporation tax, VAT?

It doesn't sound like the company went into liquidation but instead moved straight to strike off and dissolution (feel free to correct me if wrong). A period in liquidation would have allowed the time for this to emerge before dissolution.

I work for a group with hundreds of subsidiaries from acquisitions and there is a team dedicated to tidying them up and getting them struck off. We would almost always go the liquidation route if the company had actively traded due to the potential for something unexpected to come up.

[PushedDover]

Again thanks

Repayment from previous Corporation Tax

The LtdCo was mine and used to act as consultant for variously clients, but after taking a full time role, pointless to keep active - especially with regards to the costs to keep active in admin etc
.
My accountant and I agreed to dissolve last August.

[Shnozz]

fridaypassion said:

I would imagine if the entity has ceased there's no way of banking the cheque.

This.

[PushedDover]

Shnozz said:

fridaypassion said:

I would imagine if the entity has ceased there's no way of banking the cheque.

This.

Repayment to Corporation Tax payments, to a Company with a single shareholder, has no recourse to recover overpayment ?

[Ean218]

PushedDover said:

Again thanks

Repayment from previous Corporation Tax

The LtdCo was mine and used to act as consultant for variously clients, but after taking a full time role, pointless to keep active - especially with regards to the costs to keep active in admin etc
.
My accountant and I agreed to dissolve last August.

I would lay this at the door of your accountant, he should have known there was a repayment coming and should not have advised closing the account.

[PushedDover]

Ean218 said:

I would lay this at the door of your accountant, he should have known there was a repayment coming and should not have advised closing the account.

This has been on my mind too. I suspect a response of "we only advised you, and you made the decision PushedDover"
Oddly enough, she's not answered my mail....

[ralphrj]

Ean218 said:

PushedDover said:

Again thanks

Repayment from previous Corporation Tax

The LtdCo was mine and used to act as consultant for variously clients, but after taking a full time role, pointless to keep active - especially with regards to the costs to keep active in admin etc
.
My accountant and I agreed to dissolve last August.

I would lay this at the door of your accountant, he should have known there was a repayment coming and should not have advised closing the account.

My view as well. I would expect them (caveat: I'm not a tax accountant) to have known based on submitted returns that a refund was due back and to have recorded it on the balance sheet as a debtor.

[Rufus Stone]

You need to ask the King what he wants to do with the cheque.

[vindaloo79]

If you go down the route of somehow reinstating the company, then Starling bank were very easy to use to start an account, pay in VAT refund and then close a couple of weeks later ish.

All via the app.

Fortunately for me I had only closed my bank and not the company at that time.

[uknick]

I was going to defend the accountant as she could only produce accounts based on what she's told. But, if it's a CT refund she should have added a debtor as part of the year end account's production. How else could she deal with the fact no CT was due to be paid?

OP, did you make a loss in 2020-21?

[PushedDover]

uknick said:

OP, did you make a loss in 2020-21?

No

[recordman]

I'm not an accountant, but if it were me I'd write back to HMRC explaining what happened to the Ltd Co and that as the sole shareholder (if that's the case) I'm now entitled to receive the amount due as a dividend and would they please re-issue the cheque in my name.

You've got nothing to lose.