CASE STUDIES

An in-depth look at our recent success stories.

Our client is a care organisation with a duty of care to patients with conditions ranging from terminal illnesses, mental and physical handicaps, cognitive deficits such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s Disease, and old age.

The treasury had placed the company under petition, and once the Gazette publication went live, the business’s bank accounts were frozen despite the petitioned sum being disputed.

While it could be said, particularly with the outbreak of COVID 19,  that given the vulnerability of those depending on the care extended by the business, such action should be prohibited, the directors of the business found themselves unable to pay their care workers and acquire important supplies from their creditors.

TaxDebts offered advice and support to the board, preventing a Winding Up Order being passed at the hearing. We handled the creditors with the directors’ consent and got the business bank accounts unlocked so the business could trade.

Our hospitality client had acquired a licenced premises to renovate, providing rooms for guests with a view to growing the business. After the acquisition of the tenancy, existing liabilities were disclosed and had seemingly been dealt with appropriately.

Unfortunately, it became clear that the calculations and relative submissions were not checked correctly by the previous owners despite their reassurances. This unexpected issue together with the new business being required to fund the cost of the renovation created a lack of turnover for our client while the business was establishing itself. The culmination of these issues resulted in our client being placed under petition.

TaxDebts proceeded to help our client ratify this debt, liaising with HMRC on behalf of the company director. Once we had identified the necessary returns and played a significant part in arranging further funding, we assisted our client and their new bookkeeper/accountant to bring affairs up to date, ensuring the petitioned sum was ratified and resolved accordingly.

The client was a family-run construction company, working across many different sectors including social housing and health care. The company was placed under petition for a disputed tax liability which it had at least partly paid, notwithstanding further concerns with calculations put forward by HMRC. In addition, the suggested liability excluded certain rebates to which the business was entitled. However, a petition was still served.

TaxDebts acted as an authorised agent and liaised with HMRC on behalf of the directors, convincing the petitioner to adjourn the Winding Up hearing. We prepared representations in court to enable the unfreezing of the company bank account and helped ratify, together with the appropriate rebates, the petitioned debt before any payment was made.

Our client had run their telecommunications/data installation business for 15 years, experiencing challenging periods from time to time. Despite being in contact with HMRC concerning their potential liabilities, the client was placed under petition. The liability itself was disputed based on their own accountant’s submissions, CIS rebates and unallocated payments.

Having experienced several issues so far, necessary raw materials were soon seized at port by Customs and Excise on the instruction of the enforcing tax office. Understandably, the company felt their options were limited.

TaxDebts liaised with HMRC on the directors’ behalf, ensuring all rebates and queries resulted in the petitioned sum being ultimately ratified. We also ensured they could take delivery of the seized materials. As is normal with the petition process, a validation order was obtained, unfreezing the company bank account. Additionally, it ensured the company had sufficient time post-High Court hearing to settle their outstanding affairs in respect of the petition. 

As is unfortunately common when a company has been placed under petition, another creditor became hostile in regard to monies due, and also sought to enforce a debt on the company. With our assistance, the matter was resolved outside of court.

The client works with blue chip companies, government bodies and the Ministry of Defence. Given the complexities of the business and the exponential growth, the business had fallen behind with its administration and financial reporting. Over the course of nearly 18 months the business was placed under petition by the treasury on several occasions. Each time, the petition contained substantial errors that could be sourced back to incorrect information.

During this time, TaxDebts handled numerous Winding Up hearings, in each instance preventing the passing of the order sought by HMRC. We kept the business functioning by unfreezing the company bank account on more than one occasion and even reversed the decision of a high court judge in gaining a rescission in winding up the company.

All the real-life examples on this page were successful in their outcomes, but it’s important to remember that things can go wrong, if our expert advice isn’t followed. We offer the most accommodating service we can, but when it comes to being a director under petition, we will always advise an officer of a company to take steps that protect their cash flow and to minimise their personal liability.  

In one instance, despite our previous support in dealing with both HMRC and the judicial process, a client ignored the suggestion of an application to validate dispositions of company assets by themselves whilst under petition. This would have not only improved the cash flow for the business during this period but would have offered protection to the director(s) should the company be liquidated by the Official Receiver.

Unfortunately, the client decided to continue without the necessary support and expertise, and the company became insolvent and was wound up. Whilst the director(s) may have saved further cost in relation to a court application, they ended up facing personal liabilities in the £100,000s. 

In our time we have worked in most sectors including others such as manufacturing, recruitment, property sale and property management. We believe that in some respects our role is always the same, but the challenges our individual clients face are not. Our experience enables us to appreciate the nuances and differences in each individual case. We pride ourselves on offering the best advice but supporting the client’s right to choose.

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