How to Close Your Limited Company

We sometimes  hear from clients who want to cease trading and request to close their limited company . Where the limited company does not have any debts, other than money owed to company directors, it is fairly straight forward to close the limited company.

The dissolution method known as “voluntary strike off” can be followed and the directors simply need to follow the Companies House prescribed process. The company directors will need to complete and sign form DS01 which can be downloaded here.

Once complete the form must be posted to Companies House at the address provided and a cheque for £10 will need to be enclosed. This is an admin fee levied by Companies House for the strike off of a limited company.

You must ensure that you have taken the following steps prior to applying for voluntary strike off:


1)    The company has ceased trading and has not traded in the last three months;

2)    You have informed HMRC as they will expect a final set of accounts and for any tax to be settled – although if you do close your limited company before submitting your final corporation tax return it is likely that HMRC will not ask for payment as the company has been dissolved;


3)    All creditors must be informed prior to your application for voluntary strike off.

Finally, don’t forget to close your business bank account before the company is struck off. If you don’t the bank account will be frozen and any remaining balance will be lost to the Crown.

 HMRC was given new powers from 1st September 2013 to request information from UK’s merchant acquirers – the companies that process card payment transactions.

This will enable HMRC to data-mine information on all credit and debit card payments made over the last four years.

It would seem likely that HMRC will use their Connect software to make connections within the data obtained that will forward investigations into taxpayers’ affairs.