Please note the following message issued by HM Revenue and Customs:
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was formed in 2005 following the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise. Both former departments had their own separate arrangements for lodging claims in UK insolvencies. Unfortunately, since the merger it has not been technically feasible to marry together the insolvency claim arrangements for the two former departments to produce a single claim encompassing all HMRC taxes and duties.
However, following an internal restructuring of insolvency processing work, HMRC will shortly be in a position to issue ‘integrated’ insolvency claims encompassing all HMRC debt. This will be achieved by centralising insolvency claims handling work at the following sites for the following insolvency types:
Bankruptcy and liquidations (excluding Members voluntary liquidations (MVLs)
Insolvency Claims Handling Unit (ICHU)
Benton Park View
Longbenton
Newcastle
NE98 1ZZ
Company administrations and MVLs
Enforcement & Insolvency Service (EIS) Worthing
Durrington Bridge House
Barrington Road
Worthing
BN12 4SE
What this will mean for insolvency practitioners is as follows:
- IPs should continue to complete a VAT 769 form on their appointment as now.
- For new appointments in bankruptcies and liquidations (excluding MVLs) the completed VAT 769 should be sent to ICHU at the above address with immediate effect.
- For new appointments in company administrations from 1st November 2014 onwards the completed VAT 769 should be sent to EIS Worthing at the above address.
- For new appointments in MVLs from 1st December 2014 onwards the completed VAT 769 should be sent to EIS Worthing at the above address.
- IPs should please ensure that the VAT 769 form they use is the version available on the HMRC website.
- For company administrations, it will expedite processing of the VAT 769 if the form is accompanied by a Notice of Appointment 2.12.
- Unfortunately, due to the need to integrate VAT with the other HMRC taxes, details of any VAT debt owed by the insolvent business to HMRC may not be notified to the IP as quickly as has been the case in the past. So if the records of the business the IP is appointed over indicate a VAT debt to HMRC, please be patient as the integrated claim will be issued as soon as possible.
- EIS Worthing will also take on responsibility for managing the post-appointment VAT account on company administrations for new appointments from 1 November 2014 and MVLs for new appointments from 1 December 2014.
- However, EIS Worthing will not be responsible for cancelling the VAT registration. Requests for VAT deregistration for company administrations and MVLs should be sent to the Grimsby Deregistration Unit, Imperial House, 77 Victoria Street, Grimsby DN31 1NH.
- HMRC will require a dividend payment on the integrated claim, not on any separate components of the claim i.e. we will no longer require a separate dividend payment for the VAT element of HMRC’s claim. Dividend payments should be sent to the appropriate office for the insolvency type as above.
- The procedure for HMRC lodging claims in voluntary arrangements is unaffected by this change.
HMRC expects that this change will be both cost effective and will help simplify IPs’ interaction with the department. Any further changes in process that may become necessary as a result of the above transfer of work will be notified to you separately at the appropriate time. Any queries or concerns should be addressed to HMRC through R3 using the existing channels of communication.