COM110130 - Pursuit: automatic and clerical pursuit: foreign address cases - clerical pursuit

If a company has an overseas address the office responsible for the company should enter the address on the COTAX record as the Communication Address (Word 28KB). They should not enter this address as the Registered Office.

The Registered Office address must be in the UK and not abroad and should be the address shown as the Registered Office at Companies House. It can be the UK address of a representative for the company but only if that person’s address is notified and registered by the registrar of companies.

If a foreign address has been entered as the Registered Office then you should check Companies House for the correct Registered Office address and use Function ACNA (Amend Companies Name & Address) to update the record.

COTAX identifies an overseas address by the presence of a country name in the address. When the address appears on output, for example a payment application, COTAX enters a signal on the output to distinguish it from other similar output. The signal diverts the output from automatic mail processing for special clerical attention in Banking Operations.

The case appears on the Banking Operations ABAD (Abroad Recovery Cases List) if the next payment application to be issued is a DN2.

For more information about this work list see

• Section ‘Pursuit Work Lists’ (COM114000) in this business area

• Business area ‘Work Lists’

Appropriate cases are passed to the Debt Management Office for pursuit.

The Debt Management Office checks the company record and, if necessary, asks the office responsible for the company for a UK address and pursues collection.

Where a UK address is not available an arrear of over £10,000 is referred to the Enforcement & Insolvency Service. Cases of £10,000 or less are referred to the Debt Management Group Office for advice.

For a list of forms relevant to this subject, see COM110131.

For a list of functions to use in particular situations, see COM110132.