Closed Business - Stuck Funds

DavidWFC · 29 January 2018 at 8:48PM

Hi, my partner closed her business and asked her accountant about what she should do about the funds. She was told to leave them there and they'd instruct further. The bank has now closed and the funds are locked in a closed bank account and Natwest have told her that she has lost the money and it'll go to the Treasury. Is there anything she can do to avoid losing the money, there's about 3k in account.

TBagpuss · 29 January 2018 at 9:58PM

How long ago did she close down the business?
Were the funds in a NatWest account?
Who were the signatories for the account?
What does the accountant advise?

DavidWFC · 29 January 2018 at 10:19PM

TBagpuss wrote: »

How long ago did she close down the business?
The business was marked at companies house as closed on 2nd January

Were the funds in a NatWest account?
Yes, the funds were in the Natwest account. YlThe funds are still there but the account is frozen and cannot be unfrozen unless the business is reopened. We've put a request in to be reopened for administration purposes but this was declined by companies house. Apparently after so long the funds in the account will be given to the Treasury.

Who were the signatories for the account?
Just my partner however she hasn't signed anything, however looking at the filing history on the companies house it shows she DocuSigned it. This must have been used by the accountant without my partner knowing. Although my partner requested for the account to be closed by the accountant, none of this was explained and the question about the funds was been asked numerous times.

What does the accountant advise?
Not a lot, they put in the request in for the company to be reopened which was rejected as mentioned above. They said they've done this numerous times and never had this issue. They're now asking my partner to speak to Natwest and authorise the accountant to speak to Natwest on my partners behalf.

Thanks for your reply, please see my responses in red in your quote above.

Savvy_Sue · 29 January 2018 at 11:29PM

Did she owe money to HMRC, for example?

00ec25 · 30 January 2018 at 12:11AM

the expression you want is bona vacantia

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bona-vacantia-dissolved-companies-bvc1

without repeating everything here for the mere sake of it, read this thread instead:

https://forums.contractoruk.com/accounting-legal/80508-my-company-struck-off-bank-account-balance-sent-companies-house.html

Pennywise · 30 January 2018 at 8:54AM

If you are sure that the accountant has fouled up, you may need to sue them through the small claims court (or whatever it's called now) to get the money. The courts can order a company is re-opened, but it costs - so your accountant will need to pay if they're negligent.

May be time to dig out your letter of engagement from the accountant to find out which (if any) regulatory body they're with and their complaints procedure. If they're qualified/regulated, you can complain to their regulatory body and they'll have professional indemnity insurance.

However, if you've chosen an unqualified/unregulated accountant, there is no one to complain to and no requirement for them to have PI insurance, so court/legal action would be your only option.

bengalknights · 30 January 2018 at 9:59AM

The cash should either have been used to pay creditors and any tax bill or taken as dividend if there was none due.

Looks like bad accounting advice

Closed Business - Stuck Funds

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