My employer has the business that I work for, registered as dormant.

Dogsarethebest1

Good evening,
I’m probably posting this in the wrong place but it’s to do with my employer. 

The business I work for has been registered as dormant on the Companies House website, for 8 years now. I’ve worked there for over a year and have colleagues who have worked there for 6 years. 

Why would this be and how am I being paid, if dormant companies cannot pay employees or aren’t allowed to trade/provide services and take money? 

Is it tax avoidance? I just don’t understand. Are my payslips fake?!? 

Many thanks for any info on this. 

Grumpy_chap

Dogsarethebest1 said:

Good evening,
I’m probably posting this in the wrong place but it’s to do with my employer. 

The business I work for has been registered as dormant on the Companies House website, for 8 years now. I’ve worked there for over a year and have colleagues who have worked there for 6 years. 

Why would this be and how am I being paid, if dormant companies cannot pay employees or aren’t allowed to trade/provide services and take money? 

Is it tax avoidance? I just don’t understand. Are my payslips fake?!? 

Many thanks for any info on this. 

What exactly is the business you work for?  The trading name, actual name and company number?  [You don't need to say in the public forum, but this is what you need to know.]

Does that all align with the contract of employment?

What exactly is the dormant company?

It is not unusual to work for a company, let's say everyone knows it as ABCME Trading but the actual registered name of the company might be, say ABCME Enterprises Ltd.
To protect the trading title, ABCME Enterprises Ltd might create a dormant company and call it ABCME Trading Ltd, but it is just that and nothing more.  You still work for ABCME Enterprises Ltd trading as ABCME Trading.

Khaderbhai

Could it be that they have set up another company with a similar name and are just using the trading name from the old company? Lots of companies will set up multiple companies with slight variations in names, ABC Ltd, ABC Services LTD, ABC 1 Ltd etc. 

Marcon

Dogsarethebest1 said:

Good evening,
I’m probably posting this in the wrong place but it’s to do with my employer. 

The business I work for has been registered as dormant on the Companies House website, for 8 years now. I’ve worked there for over a year and have colleagues who have worked there for 6 years. 

Why would this be and how am I being paid, if dormant companies cannot pay employees or aren’t allowed to trade/provide services and take money? 

Is it tax avoidance? I just don’t understand. Are my payslips fake?!? 

Many thanks for any info on this. 

As others have pointed out, it's likely you are employed by another company within a group of similarly-named companies. Have you compared the exact name on your payslips/P60/contract of employment with the exact name you are viewing at Companies House? It's quite possible that your employment may have started with one company (albeit very briefly) and then been moved to a service company - there is likely to be a clause in the terms of your employment specifically permitting this.

Check your personal tax account (see https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account if you've not got one already) and check your tax is being correctly recorded. If you are still bothered, make a SAR to HMRC and ask for your NI records for the last 9 years. Try this: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI?_ga=2.230026460.1544670040.1621021753-1315656139.1609178084

You could also check that pension scheme contributions are being paid correctly - the pension provider should be sending you statements/giving online access. 

Dogsarethebest1

My boss (the owner of the company) has three appointments listed in their name. Two are for companies that have been dissolved. The current one is the company that employs me but is listed as dormant. One of the previous dissolved companies had a similar name to the company they are currently running but have listed as dormant. 

There are no other companies listed with companies house, that have a similar name or are connected to my boss. 

I have asked for a contract of employment but have never been given one. Other employees have asked too and have also never received one. Only a couple of much longer standing staff members appear to have one. 

I can see a company number on companies house but cannot cross reference it with anything to check it. 

The other thing is, no one has ever received SSP - ever. This has only come to light this week, 

All of these things are becoming apparent, as a couple of us ‘newer’ employees are beginning to notice some things that do not seem right. 

Marcon

Dogsarethebest1 said:

My boss (the owner of the company) has three appointments listed in their name. Two are for companies that have been dissolved. The current one is the company that employs me but is listed as dormant. One of the previous dissolved companies had a similar name to the company they are currently running but have listed as dormant. 

There are no other companies listed with companies house, that have a similar name or are connected to my boss. 

I have asked for a contract of employment but have never been given one. Other employees have asked too and have also never received one. Only a couple of much longer standing staff members appear to have one. 

I can see a company number on companies house but cannot cross reference it with anything to check it. 

The other thing is, no one has ever received SSP - ever. This has only come to light this week, 

All of these things are becoming apparent, as a couple of us ‘newer’ employees are beginning to notice some things that do not seem right. 

In that case definitely follow my suggestions above, especially a SAR from HMRC to see your employment history.

noitsnotme

Are they actually trading under the company name that is shown on companies house eg. “Xyz biz Ltd”?  Or is perhaps trading as a sole trader eg “xyz biz”?

Dogsarethebest1

I will follow the suggestions above about the SAR from HMRC. Thanks for that advice. There are only 3 appointments  linked to my boss’s name on Companies House - two are dissolved and the one I work for, is dormant and is registered as a Ltd company. 

GrumpyDil

Rather than a SAR have you initially checked your online HMRC personal tax account to see what that shows? If not that would definately be a good starter for ten.

penners324

What does your hmrc online account say about who's paying you?

noitsnotme

Dogsarethebest1 said:

I will follow the suggestions above about the SAR from HMRC. Thanks for that advice. There are only 3 appointments  linked to my boss’s name on Companies House - two are dissolved and the one I work for, is dormant and is registered as a Ltd company. 

If they are trading as a sole trader or a general partnership (as in not a Ltd company or LLP) then the active business would not show on companies house.