Can't even afford to liquidate myLtd business... :(

Sarah-Jean

What do you do when there are no assets in your business and you can't even afford to liquidate? I ceased trading in December as soon as I realised I had no more money to plow into my business. Lost one house, couldn't afford to eat or do Christmas for my kids, nearly lost the house that I live in with my kids. It was an awful time, truly horrible. And I'm not exaggerating - we lived off food parcels from my neighbours and the Salvation Army throughout December and thankfully friends were clearing out their kids old toys so donated them to us so we had something to wrap and give to the kids on Christmas day.

I have ex-employee's who are waiting on the liquidation process as they can get their money from the government and my debtors are now turning quite nasty - but not nasty enough to force me into a winding up order because everyone can see there's no assets or money to be had. I'm supposed to be in an employment tribunal court next week but I'm not going to go as I don't see the point. I have nothing to give and my business is bust. The business was entirely funded by my own money and never made any profit.

We're in a complete stalemate. None of my creditors will issue a winding up order as they know they won't get anything, and I can't afford the £2500 (lowest quote I found) to liquidate. I did find something that said I could do it myself but I'm not good with these things and didn't really understand it so don't think that'd be a good route to take.

I'm just gutted. Totally gutted. Everyone has suffered, most of all my family and I have no idea what direction to turn in anymore. I'm too scared to open my post when I see my company name on the front and I'm too scared to answer the phone anymore.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post. But I thought being a business section someone might have some experience or idea. I'm sorry if this wasn't the right place...

Spider_Queen

Sorry to hear all of this.Sometimes things dont work out and when you are in a bad situation you can only do what you are capable of, you are human after all.
Firstly if you can liquidate your business yourself for free then do that. I know you say you arent good at these type of things but you should atleast try-i expect that anyone trying to liquidate their business themselves dont know what to do but get through it somehow.
With regards to the tribunal you should go, dont leave loose ends because you are feeling down. Problems need to be dealt with head on and in a priority order.
I know this is easy for me to say but we are all capable of whatever we believe. Believe you will sort this mess out, you may be broke but you are still here and will get through it.
Please dont bury your head in the sand, it makes things worse.
Work out what you need to do step by step in a realistic way-No Buts/Excuses, write it down in priority and get started. The only way you will feel better is to rid yourself of the stress and the only way to get rid is to sort the problems.
Good Luck!

[Deleted User]

Were you VAT registered? Or did you pay business rates? Both HMRC and the Local Authority will liquidate you pretty quickly if you miss a couple of payments. You cannot continue to trade if you are insolvent I'm sure you know - its illegal and it will put you as the Director, in a difficult position. I went through this myself last year. I ended up paying £4500 to an insolvency company to liquidate me - there wasn't enough money in the business to pay for it so I had to pay it myself. It is a horrible time but you will get through it and move on and be so much stronger as a result.

contact Business Debtline - they will guide you through the process

sveika

If the company hasn't had any business activities over the last 3 months, you can apply to Companies House to strike off the company as the Member (shareholder) of the company. It costs only 10 pounds.

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/infoAndGuide/faq/strikingOff.shtml

Sarah-Jean

Hi guys, thank you for your responses.

I was not/am not VAT registered, I never came close to making the kind of money were I needed to register. I also qualified for a year or two off paying business rates to the council...

I didn't go to the tribunal on Monday, but then neither did the other party and the court are aware that I am no longer trading and haven't been trading since the day I realised I'd run out of money to prop the company up and shut the doors. So I'm not sure what will happen with that.

Sveika, I'm not sure that I can do that as I have a list as long as my arm of creditors the business owes money too, including ex staff members I was forced to lay off the day I closed my business. My understanding was that HMRC would flag it up and that my creditors could then apply to have it re-opened to go through liquidation proceedings? Or maybe I've got myself confused. To be honest so much has happened I am so confused now with the whole thing.

I found one place that would do the liquidation procedures for £2500 but most of the others seemed to be around the £4-5k mark and to be honest I can't even beg, borrow or raise the £2.5k at the moment. I am trying but it's just not happening very quickly and now ex-staff members and creditors are turning quite nasty (even threatening me personally in some cases)....

I've had businesses before but never had to go through all this before... It's draining and I'm so tired of it all now. I'm not one for regrets as I figure everything has a lesson to be learned, but I'm beginning to wish I'd never bothered with this particular business!

I will call the Business Debtline as suggested, maybe they can think of something I haven't already thought of before... Other than that I see no other way to proceed but to keep saving and saving in the hope that one day I'll be able to afford to liquidate the damn thing.

Mistral001

I certainly can sympathise with the OP. It is like a vice squeezing you. Nothing but bad news everyway you turn.

As others have said, you should go to the employment tribunial. You have to prepare for it though. This wll probably mean looking into your finances and summarising them as best as possible on paper. This might seem impossible in the mood that you are in at the minute, but do a little at a time. There is a compulsion to try to get it all sorted out in a few minutes as it is painful. However, start small and build up. Even if it is 10 minutes now and 10 minutes later etc. that is OK. I have even timed myself 10 minutes so that I know that it will be only 10 minutes of pain that I will have to endure an then I can go and have a walk after it the 10 minutes of work. Then repeat.

Johno100

Mistral001 wrote: »

As others have said, you should go to the employment tribunal.

Why? The employee will get their judgment and will be added to the list of creditors who can't be paid. Not worth the bother of attending in my view.

Sarah-Jean

That's exactly what we thought Johno100... I have no money personally, and there's less than £200 assets in the company (infact I doubt there's anywhere near that) - she was taking me to tribunal for a LOT more.... And honestly when I could afford legal advice they said she was pushing the limits of the law, even when I thought the business was viable and I might be able to keep it afloat. But it's a ltd. company and I sunk all our money into it to try and keep it alive and it just didn't work. I didn't see the point of attending. It didn't really matter what the outcome, even if they went down in favour of her she would just be added to the list (and fairly low down in that list actually)... And will probably never see a penny.

I feel really bad. I hate not paying for things or paying people. I never normally buy anything I can't pay for up front but I was so sure it'd all work out until the last week I was running it when I really delved into the financial side of the company deeply and realised actually it would never stay alive without my family putting personal money into it and that my family had no more money to give. At that point I ceased trading....

Sarah-Jean

I'm going to call HMRC tomorrow and see if they can offer me any advice. I really tried my best, I was never fraudulent, anyone who looks at my finances will see that I ALWAYS put my business before anything else... I can not find the money to liquidate. I have no borrowing power, my credit is shot to hell and my family is poor. I nearly lost the roof over my kids heads for my business.... I was never fraudulent... I was always bluntly honest. I've never been one to play games. What you see is what you get with me.

bobsmum

Sarah-Jean

Sorry to hear of your problems. There is a ton of helpful information on the UKBusiness forums for people in exactly the same position as you.

Look in the Legal section or the General Business Forum, and do a search for posts by Spongebob (really!) or Alan Price - there is a ton of helpful advice, including a template letter written by SB you can copy to send to the company's creditors. You do not need to pay a liquidator - it is really worth you spending some time reading the advice given there.

bobsmum

Sorry, forgot to say, the UKBusiness forums are very popular and it can take awhile to wade through the many posts.

If this link works, read through the post for some excellent practical advice re voluntary liquidation. There are plenty of others similar although it might take awhile to find them!