Dormant Ltd Company returns...

[errigal]

<posted this on askaboutmoney taxation forum but just realised it probably should have been posted here instead>

Hi

I have a Ltd company which is essentially dormant for the last few years. I haven't shut it down as my line of work could see me returning to being a contractor in the near future.

I am de-registered for VAT and PAYE since 2006 and all returns are up to date.

However, as the company is still technically active, my accountant advises that I need to submit the following returns

-Companies Registration Office Annual Return

-Corporation Tax Return




I have 2 questions
1) Is it an offence not to submit these? I expect the answer is yes?
2) As there was no cashflow in or out of the company in 2007 tax year, I would guess that there is very little required to actually submit them. However I'm not sure where to start. It's either that, or pay my accountant several hundred euro to do this on my behalf - for a task which I'm guessing may be a trivial exercise.

Any advice would be more than welcome.

TIA.

 

[ubiquitous]

Your question has already be answered on the other thread. Why duplicate it here?

 

[errigal]

For no other reason, than this forum may have different viewers, and therefore different opinions. Feel free to remove it if required.

 

[ubiquitous]

For what its worth the reply on the other thread is correct.

 

[contractor]

I'm in the same situation and would like to minimise the amount of forms to fill in by deregistering for VAT. Can you tell me how you did this? What form must I fill in?

 

[errigal]

Hi Contractor
I'm afraid I don't know as my accountant took care of this at the time.

 

[ubiquitous]

I'm in the same situation and would like to minimise the amount of forms to fill in by deregistering for VAT. Can you tell me how you did this? What form must I fill in?

There is no form as such. A letter to Revenue will normally suffice, but whether they will act on it is another matter and you would need to follow this up after a few weeks to ensure that they have done so.

 

[contractor]

There is no form as such. A letter to Revenue will normally suffice, but whether they will act on it is another matter and you would need to follow this up after a few weeks to ensure that they have done so.

Yes I've already discovered they're difficult to even get advice from on this. Maybe filing the VAT3 every couple of months will be less hassle!

 

[RedStix]

I'm in the same situation and would like to minimise the amount of forms to fill in by deregistering for VAT. Can you tell me how you did this? What form must I fill in?

There is no form as such.

There is actually a form called a TRCN1 form and can be downloaded here:

[broken link removed]

RedStix

 

[oopsbuddy]

You have to consider the balance between the costs of keeping the company going (dormant or not, the filing obligations remain the same) and the costs of dissolving the company and setting up a new one whenever you need to incorporate again.

For every year your company exists, it must prepare and file accounts. These can be relatively inexpensive to produce each year, especially if they are not audited, but you have to mind your CRO deadline. If you miss the filing deadline at the CRO, even by a day, you must pay late filing fees as set out in a previous post, but must also then have your accounts audited, which will cost more. Annual accounts preparation, possibly with an audit, plus filing fees (possibly with late fees too) plus the hassle, may be more than you wish to spend on maintaining a company that is not doing anything, especially if you need to have an accountant do all of these services for you.

Consider instead applying for Voluntary Strike-Off of the company, and whenever you want another company, set up a new one!

 

[simplyjoe]

You have to consider the balance between the costs of keeping the company going (dormant or not, the filing obligations remain the same) and the costs of dissolving the company and setting up a new one whenever you need to incorporate again.

For every year your company exists, it must prepare and file accounts. These can be relatively inexpensive to produce each year, especially if they are not audited, but you have to mind your CRO deadline. If you miss the filing deadline at the CRO, even by a day, you must pay late filing fees as set out in a previous post, but must also then have your accounts audited, which will cost more. Annual accounts preparation, possibly with an audit, plus filing fees (possibly with late fees too) plus the hassle, may be more than you wish to spend on maintaining a company that is not doing anything, especially if you need to have an accountant do all of these services for you.

Consider instead applying for Voluntary Strike-Off of the company, and whenever you want another company, set up a new one!

Some companies must be kept open. A rough example of fees for a dormant company would be €300 plus VAT plus €40. If you are located in Dublin you will find fees are much higher than down the country. Consider using a provincial advisor? Most information can be handled by email/scanners and/or post.