Local information can be valuable. So you should have contacts
with Receivables staff, Employer Compliance units, RIATs and
Corporation Taxes staff.
You may consider visiting the business address after
liquidation to ascertain whether trade is being conducted, perhaps
by a successor company.
Attendance at the first creditors’ meeting and
questioning the directors on their future plans can sometimes
indicate a successor company. Or other creditors at the meeting may
provide valuable information.
Where attendance at a creditors’ meeting is not
possible you can still write to the liquidator asking questions.
You might ask what happened to the assets of the company, including
the trade name, and what the directors are doing now.
Tracking the future activities of directors of failed
companies on a periodic basis (e.g. every three months) can
indicate whether they are involved in a successor company.
Companies House lists of directorships are particularly helpful for
this (see
INS45075).
A systematic examination of the SA returns of directors of
ceased and liquidated companies may provide evidence of a successor
company. For example, a director may take remuneration from a
company by way of a dividend. Examination of the relevant
year’s SA return then reveals the existence of a subsequent
company of which they are a shareholder and a link can thus be
established.
PAYE Service and TI may be useful in establishing
connections between directors and companies and researching the
activities of directors.
