Bank A/c Frozen as Company Struck-Off

N

New2C13

Registered User
Messages
3
This is our first post so hoping someone can assist with the following situation:
  • Company was formed in 2015 - startup
  • Company voluntarily struck-off in April 2016
  • During the period there was no trading
  • Some software and related expenses incurred paid by way of a Grant received from Local Enterprise Board
  • Directors decided to close company using our existing Accountants and Auditors (used for other company's)
  • Our accountant who was closing the company advised that we should keep €500 in the bank account to cover any unforeseen liabilities from Revenue, which we did not expect and did not receive
  • When we went to close the account recently BOI informed us that as the company was struck-off the accounts were frozen
  • We were never told this by our accountants who had advised to leave the month there until the company was struck-off but we were never informed when this happened
  • BOI provided two options:
    • Re-establish the company, withdraw the funds and close
      • Financially fruitless as the time and costs of opening and closing outweigh the funds to recover
    • Seek legal advice!
We have not yet received a reply from our accountant and legal advice will be left for now until we have more information.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

Thanks
 
My understanding is that normally all liabilities should be paid / settled and bank accounts closed before a company is struck off the record. The sequence of events is important.

I can understand BoI's position, BoI cannot pay money to a company that no longer exists.
 
How did you manage to voluntarily strike-off the company while it retained a bank account balance?

It is a precondition of all voluntarily strike-offs that each such company should have no assets or liabilities and the directors must certify same as part of the strike-off application to the CRO.
 
THanks for the replies.

The accountant looked after the strike-off. I simply signed a few forms, took their advice of leaving the money in the account to cover any potential tax liabilities, of which there were none.
 
New2C13 said:
The accountant looked after the strike-off. I simply signed a few forms, took their advice of leaving the money in the account to cover any potential tax liabilities, of which there were none.
Click to expand...

Did you not read what you were signing? This is very basic stuff.
 
Once a company is struck off, its remaining assets vest in the State.

As BOI suggested, you could re-instate the company but the costs would outweigh the benefits.

BOI were correct to properly advise you to take legal advice. (You will never get into trouble if you advise someone to take legal advice!) But once again, the costs would outweigh the benefits.

What will happen now is that BOI will eventually classify the account as a dormant account, and hand the proceeds over to the State.

Jim Stafford
 
T McGibney said:
Did you not read what you were signing? This is very basic stuff.
Click to expand...
The accountancy firm have prepared all my accounts to date. They were fully aware funds were within the bank account and advised me to leave the cash in the account at the same time the forms were being signed.

I fully understand and accept BOI's position, the issue is the advice given by the accountant at the time. We are paying the firm over 8k in fees each year and this error has cost me personally over €1000 as the funds would have been withdrawn as expenses!

Thanks Jim for your input
 
New2C13 said:
The accountancy firm have prepared all my accounts to date. They were fully aware funds were within the bank account and advised me to leave the cash in the account at the same time the forms were being signed.

I fully understand and accept BOI's position, the issue is the advice given by the accountant at the time. We are paying the firm over 8k in fees each year and this error has cost me personally over €1000 as the funds would have been withdrawn as expenses!

Thanks Jim for your input
Click to expand...
You quoted my question but I note you didn't answer it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top