Costs for closing the company (MVL)

[parvatik]

Hi,
I am about to close down my Ltd company via MVL as i have lost my contract and have taken up a permie role.


My accountant (DNS Accountants) is quoting a fee of 2500+VAT for closing down formalities. He will also introduce to an MVL company who will charge separate fees for MVL process (2550+VAT) or i can arrange my own.

Just wanted to check if this is a fair price on top of the monthly fees that I pay (100+VAT)? BTW i am not saying they should not charge just asking what is a fair price for this service and does this involve so much work?

Regards,
Raj

[northernladuk]

So 5k in total? Sounds a bit steep that. Speak to Maslins who runs MVLOnline. He's done work for some of our forum members and is well known on here.

Just remember you can't start another LTD up for two years should a contract pop up in the next two years. We've a poster on at the moment that's run in to that problem.

[Maslins]

Both those do sound high...but especially the accounting side. If you're a fairly typical contractor paying a monthly fee, I struggle to see a justification in being charged a significant extra one off fee to help with closedown. The tasks they'll need to do that go beyond normal ongoing tasks are very modest. On this forum we've heard of many firms charging perhaps £500-1,000+VAT for this, which I still think is a bit cheeky, but reality is you're in a weak position (and cynically, they know it!). The cost and effort of you changing accountant at that very late stage mean realistically you're tied. I don't see the professional/ethical justification for these types of fees, but from a hard nosed business perspective they know they've got you over a barrel and won't get any further income from you going forwards, so why not cream as much as they can from you now.

The liquidation fee is less excessive/unreasonable IMHO. Lots of traditional liquidators wiill charge around that. However you'll find multiple firms doing MVLs for simple cases for circa half that. Perhaps there are some quirks that make your case not viable for the typical low cost offerings (often they'll have strict criteria for you to meet for their price to apply).

So in short, sorry, personally I do think it sounds like you're being fleeced, especially on the accounting side.

[rnsuk]

My accountant is charging £795 to close. No MVL as I stuck it all in pensions. I can only give them the instruction after my last nontax and nonaccountant transaction.
Annoying thing is that my last invoice will clear two days after my monthly charge so I end up paying that too.

When I started the company 9yrs ago, I did ask about closing costs, and at that time they said £400.

[ChimpMaster]

Complete rip off by the accountants. Look at the list of tasks an accountant needs to do when closing the company - it's barely a few hours additional work on top of the final accounts.

Liquidator is also expensive, considering that you have (most likely) a simple share structure, only cash-at-bank and no other assets to deal with. You can easily find insolvency firms charging £850 to £1650 who do a great job - MVLOnline being one of them.

The accountant is very likely getting a kick-back from the liquidators for referring them too.

I'd ditch the accountant, if you can find another to do the job for you for a one-off fee. And then look at MVLOnline or other reasonably priced firms.

Plenty of threads on this forum for you to read up on too.

[MrButton]

I recommend MVL online (aka maslins) . I’m in the process with them right now.

It was ~£1500 inc vat and they have been excellent.

Intouch accounting charged another ~£600 ish +vat to close. Which IMO is too much considering id paid 12 months of fees at this point.

[Mr.Whippy]

The accountant fee is outrageous if you ask me, especially if you've been paying £100/month already.

My accountant was about £700+VAT for their part which I thought was a bit much considering I was at my natural year end anyway, but I just wanted it done without the hassle of having to engage another accountant to save a few quid.

I used MVL Online (maslins) for the liquidation at £995+VAT plus disbursements). Couldn't be happier with the service I received from them. It was fast, efficient with very little effort on my part. If you fit their criteria I couldn't recommend them enough.