How to stop trading (dormant)?

[houmie]

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine and I have incorporated an Ltd on 11/07/2013.

And as of 8/1/2014 we started trading and signed up with an accountant (Crunch).

Closing up on our first year, we realised we were too optimistic and it's best to re-think our strategy. We can't afford paying another year for an accountant and would like to stop trading, without giving up the company's name.

We made around £40 in the whole year and have £15 left in our bank account.
Crunch will process our year-end soon and we would pay our corporation tax of £3.

So what are our options?
1) Can we leave the £15 in our business bank account (Cater Allen) and make the company dormant?
2) Is there a difference between dormant and non-trading? Can we return to the non-trading status?
3) Can we make the company active again, let say in one year time?
4) Most of all, how can we do this? Is there a form we need to fill out and send to HMRC? (I don't think Crunch won't do that without an additional fee)

Many Thanks for your advice,
Houman

[Forbes Young]

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine and I have incorporated an Ltd on 11/07/2013.

And as of 8/1/2014 we started trading and signed up with an accountant (Crunch).

Closing up on our first year, we realised we were too optimistic and it's best to re-think our strategy. We can't afford paying another year for an accountant and would like to stop trading, without giving up the company's name.

We made around £40 in the whole year and have £15 left in our bank account.
Crunch will process our year-end soon and we would pay our corporation tax of £3.

So what are our options?
1) Can we leave the £15 in our business bank account (Cater Allen) and make the company dormant?
2) Is there a difference between dormant and non-trading? Can we return to the non-trading status?
3) Can we make the company active again, let say in one year time?
4) Most of all, how can we do this? Is there a form we need to fill out and send to HMRC? (I don't think Crunch won't do that without an additional fee)

Many Thanks for your advice,
Houman

No difference between Dormant and non-trading as the company cannot trade if its dormant.

You can shorten or extend the company year to get the best result and after that you can leave the company dormant - you dont need to inform HMRC or Companies House straightaway that it is dormant - but you do need to file Dormant Accounts at the end of the company's financial period and file an Annual Return to Companies House. When the company starts trading again you then need to file full accounts from the date that it starts trading.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...unts_dca_2.pdf