DS01 Question. Accountant confused me!

[MeIsMark]

Hi -
For 2 years I operated a (UK) Ltd company for contracting purposes.

In summer 2018 I stopped using this Ltd as I was doing work abroad and in that country (Russia) I had to be employed, could not contract
(although 15% flat rate tax made it ok! - lol).

So... my accountant made my company 'Not trading'.

Last year (2019) I decided to close the company, so I followed all the guidelines correctly (emptied bank, didn't owe money, paid up, etc.) and submitted a 'DS01'...
After a time, I received an email saying my company was dissolved! - Great.

Fast forward to now (March 2020), I think I should need accounts for 2018/19 and also final accounts for 2020. So I call my accountant to arrange for him to do this.

Accountant says that as far as the government is concerned my company is dissolved and they have no interest in it, don't need to do any accounts.

What? - But I might owe a little tax (not a lot as I only used it for one short contract in early 2018).
Accountant says not to bother, they have no interest.

Now my question is : How can this be correct ?? - I am not trying to break the law, If I owe some tax I will gladly pay it, in fact the accountant fees would be more than
I would owe. I really don't want to break the law here, but it all sounds very odd. Should I take this accountant's advice ? What is to stop anyone using a DS01 to avoid tax ??? -
surely this cannot be right.

Any advice here is very gratefully received.
Thanks.

[ladymuck]

If the company no longer exists, how could it pay any taxes?

If HMRC thought your company owed any money, they could have blocked its closure.

[MeIsMark]

Thanks for the reply.
I calculate I might owe a small amount of tax, maybe they are not bothered. I just don't want to break the law. But I'm happy to walk away from this if it's legal!

[Craig@Clarity]

It sounds like you jumped the gun and submitted your DS01 too early (prior to final closure accounts and corporation tax return submitted to HMRC). As the company has been official dissolved, there is no way for HMRC to collect the outstanding tax or for you to pay it as they won't have anyway to allocate it on their systems. If you're insistent on paying the tax, you'll need to go through the route of restoring your company at Companies House and corresponding with HMRC.

If the outstanding tax is (and don't quote me on this) is <£1k, it's more than likely that it is not financially incentive for HMRC to pursue the restoration route and to effectively leave it. If that is the case, I'd mark it down as experience and move on.

[MeIsMark]

Yes. I thought I had to submit final accounts etc. AFTER the DS01, so I'm surprised HMRC did not stop the DS01 then, oh well, I guess I will juts leave it alone!
Thanks