Strike off your limited company from the Companies Register
Close down your company
Before applying to strike off your limited company, you must close it down legally. This involves:
- announcing your plans to interested parties and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
- making sure your employees are treated according to the rules
- dealing with your business assets and accounts
Who you must tell
Fill in an application to strike off and send a copy within 7 days to anyone who could be affected. This includes:
- members (usually the shareholders)
- creditors
- employees
- managers or trustees of any employee pension fund
- any directors who did not sign the application form
If you do not follow the rules on who you must tell, you can face a fine and possible prosecution.
Employees
If your company employs staff, you must:
- follow the rules if you make staff redundant
- pay their final wages or salary
PAYE and National Insurance (NI)
You’ll need to tell HMRC that your company has stopped employing people.
Business assets
You should make sure that any business assets are shared among the shareholders before the company is struck off.
Anything that’s left will go to the Crown. This includes any payments your company may receive in future, for example refunds from HMRC. You’ll have to restore the company to get anything back.
Final accounts
You must send final statutory accounts and a Company Tax Return to HMRC.
You do not have to file final accounts with Companies House.
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Prepare your final accounts and company tax return.
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File your accounts and company tax return, stating that these are the final trading accounts and that the company will soon be struck off.
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Pay all Corporation Tax and any other outstanding tax liabilities.
If you’ve made a loss in your final year of trading, you might be able to offset the tax against profits from previous years - this is known as ‘terminal loss relief’. You can claim this on your final tax return.
Capital Gains Tax on personal profits
If you take assets out of the company before it’s struck off, you might have to pay Capital Gains Tax on the amount.
You might be able to get tax relief on this through Entrepreneurs’ Relief.
You will work this out on your personal Self Assessment tax return.
If the amount is worth more than £25,000, it will be treated as income and you’ll have to pay Income Tax on it.
Keeping records
If the company employed people, you should keep copies of its employers’ liability insurance policy and schedule.
You should keep other business documents for 7 years after the company is struck off, for example bank statements, invoices and receipts.