Natwest closed my business account ...

Mupette

And didn't tell me.

It was there last month when i logged in to pay the Corporation tax, logged on this morning and the account was gone.

I managed to get through to online chat this afternoon to be told i had to go into a branch because they said there was a security breach, (yeah good luck the business has closed and only got 2 months corp tax left to pay so its always empty)

I asked why i had not been informed that there was a problem and said i wanted to talk to someone about that, was advised to call online banking, which i did, to be told actually we were informed by Companies House to close the account because the business is closed! Really can they do that, the business may be closed but we still have bills to pay, we were going to contact the bank at the end of next month when the final bills were paid.

But

1) It would of been nice of them to tell me they were going to close the account, they have contact details, phone email etc, why take these details if your not going to make contact.

2) Are they telling the truth that Companies House have told them to close the business account?


No money was harmed as i transfer an amount i need to pay out as and when.

block10

Its standard practise for the bank account to be frozen once the Ltd co is dissolved.

Any Liabilities should have been settled prior to applying for the company to be dissolved.

alanq

Section 10 is possibly relevant. Attempts to make contact are supposed to be made before a company is struck off. A bank account cannot belong to a company that no longer exists.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/company-strike-off-dissolution-and-restoration/strike-off-dissolution-and-restoration-gp4

Mupette

block10 wrote: »

Its standard practise for the bank account to be frozen once the Ltd co is dissolved.

Any Liabilities should have been settled prior to applying for the company to be dissolved.

Thats fine, but i had an arrangement with HMRC to pay off corporation tax over 10 months, next month being the last. are you saying we should of told companies house this, or that companies house should of checked with HMRC?

noh

Mupette wrote: »

Thats fine, but i had an arrangement with HMRC to pay off corporation tax over 10 months, next month being the last. are you saying we should of told companies house this, or that companies house should of checked with HMRC?

Neither. It was you that had the agreement with HMRC. The limited company is a separate legal entity and no longer exists.

Majestic12

Any money left in the bank account goes to the Crown.

Any agreement to pay HMRC is now void, because the Company is dead as a dodo.

I'm not sure why the company has since dissolved, but could be due to not filing returns (like or Annual return). Don't quote me here.

antrobus

Mupette wrote: »

...1) It would of been nice of them to tell me they were going to close the account, they have contact details, phone email etc, why take these details if your not going to make contact...

Didn't you already know that your company was being struck off?

Mupette wrote: »

...2) Are they telling the truth that Companies House have told them to close the business account?...

You can check ths status of your company here.

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

Mupette wrote: »

Thats fine, but i had an arrangement with HMRC to pay off corporation tax over 10 months, next month being the last...

If you were transfering your own money into the company bank acount to pay the CT installments, then you can carry on paying HMRC from your own personal bank account. I don't think HMRC have a problem accepting money whatever the source.:)

Mupette wrote: »

...are you saying we should of told companies house this, or that companies house should of checked with HMRC?

The former I expect. If CH made an application to strike off the company, you should have objected.

Mupette

We closed the business as we only needed it as husband was self employed and worked for an agency it was us doing the tax and ni or let an umbrella company take a huge cut, when he moved to permanent we then ceased trading did the usual and companies house was the last part, mind you they are funny lot to deal with, husband filled in paperwork wrote out cheque and i noticed after 3 months the check wasn't cashed, husband then checked with them, they said that we filled in the form in wrong, didn't write to tell us, just left us in limbo, redid the form sent it off cheque was cashed, no further contact from Companies house.

Surely if we still owe corporation tax we should still pay aka the final month, it would be wrong not to pay now because the business is finished.

TheBanker

Mupette wrote: »

Surely if we still owe corporation tax we should still pay aka the final month, it would be wrong not to pay now because the business is finished.

Yes you still have to pay the tax as you agreed with HMRC.

The Company is a separate legal entity - the account didn't belong to you or your husband, it belonged to the Company. The Company may well have belonged to you but you didn't directly own the account.

A Company which no longer exists cannot own anything, so on the date the Company was struck off, its assets passed to the Crown. The Companies Act 2006 says this will happen and I am surprised your accountant didn't make you aware.

Note that although the assets have gone to the Crown, it is a different branch of the Crown to HMRC, so you still need to sort the outstanding tax liabilities out.

Have a read here for more details including the steps you can take to restore the company and recover the money: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bona-vacantia-dissolved-companies-bvc1/bona-vacantia-dissolved-companies-bvc1#how-a-company-asset-becomes-bona-vacantia

If less than £3k involved see here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-discretionary-grant-where-the-dissolved-company-can-be-restored-cb2

Note that different procedures apply if your company's registered address was in the Dutchies of Cornwall or Lancaster. Different procedures may also apply in Scotland, I'm not sure.

Mupette

Thanks for the replys.

No money was in the account as i have said i would transfer from my own account each month the amount to pay HMRC,

I'm just a little annoyed that no one seems to tell you anything anymore, Companies House took so long with this, we actually forgot about it, The bank didn't tell us, in fact the business team are supposed to of called me back to explain why they never told us, and yet that seems to be beyond there care remit.

Good side to this of course is they have saved us a job next month when the final payment was made to HMRC i did say to the husband we had better get this account closed, it will require both of us and a trip to the business center to do so, ah well not anymore.

Just would of been nice for some communication before hand.

TheBanker

Mupette wrote: »

No money was in the account as i have said i would transfer from my own account each month the amount to pay HMRC,

That's good news as getting the money back can be a pain (and can cost admin fees).