Company dissolution is a quick and easy way of closing a company down. It involves the director(s) making a voluntary application to Companies House to strike off the company from the public register. Once the strike off application has been accepted, the company is usually dissolved within 2-3 months.
There are several reasons to voluntarily strike off your company:
Concentrate on your business,
while we take care of your calls.
A professional company secretary
to take care of your business.
You will receive your resolution and DS01 form by email within 3-5 working hours. Once you have signed everything and Companies House has accepted the application, it will usually take 2-3 months for the process to be completed and your company to be dissolved.
A company is not permitted to apply for voluntary dissolution if it meets any of the following criteria:
The director(s) of the company has an important legal responsibility to inform the ‘notifiable parties’ that an application to strike off has been made. ‘Notifiable parties’ include creditors, shareholders, employees, and other directors of the company who did not sign the dissolution application. This should be done within 7 days of the dissolution application being made.
No, strictly speaking, ‘dissolution’ and ‘strike off’ represent two distinct stages in the same overall process; however, they are commonly used to describe the same thing.
In reality, strike off refers to the motion to close a company, whereas dissolution represents the point at which the company is deemed to no longer exist. Companies House confirms a dissolution by publishing a final notice in The Gazette.
The decision to voluntarily dissolve a company is made by the company’s director(s). The decision is made either at a board meeting or by signing a board resolution. The power of the directors to dissolve the company is provided by sections 1003 to 1011 of the Companies Act 2006.
In general terms, all tax that is owed must be paid before the application to strike off the company is submitted. Failure to do so may lead to HMRC objecting to the dissolution, causing the application to be suspended until outstanding payments are settled.
You should close your business bank account before making an application to dissolve the company. When a company dissolves, any bank accounts still open will be frozen, and the money will be passed to the Crown (the government).
Companies going through the dissolution process are still required to maintain a registered office as well as a service address for each director. If you purchase our Company Dissolution Service, we will extend your Rapid Formations statutory address services by three months at no extra charge, to cover the dissolution period.
Yes, a company can be restored if it has been voluntarily dissolved by the directors. However, you will need to go through the ‘court restoration’ procedure, which can be a time-consuming and expensive process.
If you have submitted a dissolution application which has been accepted by Companies House, but the company has not yet been dissolved, you can withdraw the application by filing a ‘DS02’. If you need help submitting the DS02 form, call our Company Secretarial Team on 0203 984 5385 or email us at cosec@rapidformations.co.uk
No. All fees relating to the company dissolution application are included in the price of this service.
“As a small company, it can be tough to get noticed. That’s why I’m chuffed to bits I now have my very own registered office in the heart of Glasgow.”
Rapid Formations Customer