Dissolve a Company Online: Your Options in the UK

Business owners looking to dissolve a company online will be pleased to hear that the process is relatively simple. It’s a pretty straightforward case of completing a form on the gov.uk site and paying a nominal administration fee.

The problem is that this process isn’t suitable for all businesses.

Should your business have debt and creditors looking for payment, the process becomes a little more complicated. Simply filling in one form and wiping your hands of the company isn’t an option, unfortunately.

However, you may still be able to dissolve a company online, or at least, not need to visit any offices.

We’ve covered both scenarios below.

Dissolution for businesses without debts.

This is, by far, the easiest way to close a company.

As a result, it’s also the cheapest way of closing a business. At the time of writing, it costs just £13 to dissolve a company online.

Owners will need to head to the gov.uk site and navigate their way through a DS01 form.

Before you start, make sure you have your company’s authentication code, the company number, and an email address for each person signing.

Once the form has been submitted, the site will ask for a £13 administration fee, and the rest is a waiting game. The application to dissolve will be published in the London Gazette, and as long as there are no objections from anybody, the company is formally dissolved in around three months.

Before applying online

Companies need to have stopped trading three months before applying for a dissolution.

A closing date should have been agreed upon by all relevant parties and reported to HMRC. They need to know that the company will not have any more taxable income coming in and that the final accounts will be sent over shortly.

Don’t forget to deregister for VAT as well. A final VAT return needs to be completed alongside VAT form 7. In most cases, this can be done online too.

Dissolution for businesses with debts

Unfortunately, businesses with creditors will need to consider a few more things before closing.

If the debts are small and few in number, you may still be able to dissolve online with relative ease, but of course, with more moving parts in the equation, there are potential issues.

Give us a ring to find out whether you can dissolve a company online. We pride ourselves on our reputation for honest advice, so you won’t be talked into a more expensive closure if it’s not suitable. If you can complete the process yourself with minimal effort and cost, we’ll not only let you know, but talk you through the process too.

What if I have bigger debts?

This is where things get a little trickier. With multiple or larger debts involved, we really recommend having the help of a professional closure firm to help you dissolve.

The good news is that the majority of such a closure is done online too. Although we have offices across the UK, it’s rare that our clients need to visit us. In fact, when they do, it’s often down to personal preference or meeting face to face.

There’s no specific need to visit any of our offices though. In fact, our London office is just as able to close an Aberdeen business than it is a company next door. The whole process can be done over email.

What’s the easiest route to take?

The easiest option by far is to dissolve via a third-party professional closure firm. Forbes Burton, for example, take everything off the director’s hands and take care of every aspect of the closure themselves.

Company closure expert, Ben Westoby explains that “we get people wanting to close their company down straight away, unaware that they need to have three months of not trading first. This is absolutely fine, though, as our case managers will deregister their company for tax and contact HMRC on the owner’s behalf while they wait for the three months to pass. Once elapsed, they then automatically get to work with the dissolution application.

“The main reason that our services make life much easier when closing though, is that we take care of all correspondence with creditors. This can be a cause of great stress for directors, and they can also make closing a company much trickier.

“Once a business owner has given us all the details we need, they really don’t need to do anything else at all. The entire process is taken care of on behalf of the client”.

Need to dissolve a company online?

Whether you’re unsure if you can close your business yourself, or are looking for a trusty pair of hands to take care of it for you, Forbes Burton can help.

Closing a company online has never been easier. Simply take our Limited Company Dissolution Test to get started.

Alternatively, you can call us on 0800 060 8505 or email advice@forbesburton.com for the best solution for your specific situation.