HMRC is the most common creditor a business faces with many struggling to settle payments on time for VAT, TAX & PAYE, it is also the creditor that most fear to communicate with. It is important to understand that late or non-payments to HMRC can potentially label the business as Insolvent, which then places yourself and the business under immediate and intense scrutiny. In the event of non-communication or an agreed ‘Time to Pay’ plan HMRC will make every effort to get the money owed to them via statutory notices and litigation that can culminate with enforcement officers entering the premises and seizing assets. So ignoring the situation is the worst thing you can do, Its important therefore that we act on your behalf with HMRC once payments due to them are an issue for the business to settle on time.

We can act on your behalf utilising our vast experience to negotiate a ‘Time to Pay’ arrangement which is an official agreement with HMRC. A fixed schedule of payments over a set timescale can be arranged that is affordable to the business, for this to be in place we would need to review the business finances and trade in detail, on a past, present and future basis to gain the acceptance of such a payment plan by HMRC.

Providing HMRC accepts the reasoning for non-payment and are satisfied as to the credibility and achievability of the proposed payment plan alongside the stability and trading potential of the business, there should be no reason why a ‘Time to Pay’ agreement cannot be in-situ.

HMRC – UTILITIES – BUSINESS RATES – SUPPLIERS – LOANS – RENT – PAYROLL

If you are facing escalating debts that your business has problems in paying then there is little time to waste as all your creditors can at any time execute a host of differing legal proceedings to recover the debt owed. Numerous creditors attacking your business in a multitude of ways one after the other can be very distressing as it will be ongoing, vexatious and immensely difficult for you to sort out, as any plan you put to them invariably has no credibility in their opinion due to its lack of impartiality on the trading stance & finances of the business.

You must also be aware that creditors can execute legal actions without notice to yourself in the event of non-communication or a credible payment plan, these can include an immediate winding up petition to close the company along with bankruptcy proceedings on the company and possibly yourself.

It’s important to understand you are not alone in this situation as many thousands of businesses every year face problems of financial distress and potential corporate insolvency. We however find that each case is different, some businesses may need minor restructuring and basic debt advice and plans, whilst others may need our in-depth intervention to stave off enforcement officers, bailiff actions, property and asset re-possession, winding-up petitions, liquidation and / or bankruptcy proceedings.

We can provide yourself with real solutions and options at a time when you feel there are none available. We can create the time necessary (irrespective of ongoing or pending litigation) to negotiate pro-actively with all your creditors inclusive of HMRC for their acceptance of affordable payment plans over achievable timescales. We are able to delay bailiffs, postpone or cancel out legal actions, winding-up notices and potential liquidation processes. Dependent on the state of the company, its finances and trade potential we can then restructure appropriately for a continuance of trade within an affordable debt management plan.

It is important to understand that no creditor wants to see a business closure as this severely limits or cancels out any payment to them, they also know its a costly and time consuming exercise in trying to retrieve monies from a closed business that offers no guarantee of payment. They would rather accept an affordable payment based on an impartial report of the business by a company such as ourselves.

As the Director or Proprietor of a struggling business, it can be immensely stressful dealing on a day to day basis with vexatious creditors who will use a tsunami of threatening phone calls, letters and emails all designed to intimidate and pressurise on a continuous basis. A worrying and common tactic of creditors is for themselves or their walk-in ‘representative’ entering your premises without notice to be a physical intimidating presence and to embarrass you by verbally relaying confidential information about your finances and debt to your staff and purposely in front of customers, this would be impossible for yourself to pre-empt, or to stop or effectively manage once they are on site. Calling the police to remove a creditor or their representative from your premises is not an option as they view such issues as a ‘civil matter’ you are then left with the real possibility of a creditor or their representative remaining on site for a considerable time creating as much intimidation and public embarrassment as they can.

Whilst you are legally indebted to your creditors you are not legally obliged to put up with excessive harassment, business sabotage, forced co-operation into unaffordable payments, inappropriate pressures or intimidation of any form. We can immediately stop such actions if you are experiencing them. Creditors have rights, but likewise so do business owners.

You should not be in fear of answering the phone or checking the post or emails because of repetitive & / or threatening payment demands. If a creditor crosses a certain threshold with their actions they can be charged with harassment & / or professional misconduct & you can seek legal re-dress in court. You would be compensated should the court find in your favour and you can use such compensation to offset against the debt outstanding to the creditor. Please note the following Incorrect practices via a creditor :

• Phoning unnecessarily frequently and at inappropriate times
• Requesting larger payments than required
• The use of multiple debt collectors for the same debt
• Unreasonable Interest, cost and administration charges
• Disclosing information to a third party : to family, personnel, other suppliers, customers, competitors
• Aggressive contact attempts at personal or work venues and via social media
• False statements on court actions
• False statements on imprisonment
• Refusal to document their verbal statements and requests in print
• Refusal to acknowledge and / or answer your letters and emails

The simplest way to avoid such creditor actions is to stop it being their only option due to a lack of pro-active communication, we are also aware such actions may emanate before discussions have started on debt payment options or whilst discussions are in situ, these are tactics engineered for a ‘forced and unaffordable co-operation’ This is where we can step in with our credibility, industry knowledge, legal experience and impartiality acting on everyone’s behalf and in everyone’s interests to achieve an end result affordable to yourself and fair on the creditor

Negative cashflow is when your bills for payment outweigh your revenue on a monthly basis, if this is left unchecked it can open the door for a number of other problematic issues which can lead to vexatious creditors actions & formal insolvency proceedings. The sooner creditors are contacted in a pro-active manner the sooner any legal actions can be suspended or cancelled & a negative cashflow situation corrected.

It’s important to state that continuing to gain credit from all you deal with during a negative cashflow situation with the knowledge that you cannot realistically settle the bills in a reasonable timescale can leave you open to charges of fraud by creditors. It is every Directors and business owners responsibility to either stop trading under such cashflow circumstances or at the very least to immediately contact all creditors about the state of the companies finances with a view to payment plans being agreed.

Upon our appointment, we would contact all creditors immediately to agree the timescale necessary for ourselves to do a detailed Business Review, which would be based on the following core areas;

• Present income & potential increase
• Present & potential profit conversion
• Sales & debt ledger levels
• Present director, management, personnel & operational structure
• Present personnel costs, potential savings
• Present fixed and operational costs, potential savings
• Bank account, ‘site’ cash & credit card revenues management
• Present debt management plans in place
• Business concept, trading policy, potential sales initiatives

Our Business Review must include all of the above as creditors will want to be fully satisfied that the business in all aspects is stable, efficient and able to grow, such a report would give them the comfort they require and encourage their cancellation of any litigation already in place or pending.

Once the Business Review is completed we will explain it in detail with yourself to gain your approval on it, only upon your approval would it be submitted to all creditors for their comments / approval *As part of our due diligence we pass all our Business Reviews to an independent Accountant for their comments & approval, thereby assuring yourself and your creditors that it has undergone a detailed and independent scrutiny on its findings, statements and conclusions.

Once your creditors have approved the Business Review we will put this into place on your behalf or assist yourself in the process, whichever is your preferred route. As part of the process we would report back to all creditors on a monthly basis with regards to the business finances & trading stance, thereby avoiding any further actions on their part. This needs to be done by ourselves to maintain the impartiality of submitted information in the eyes of the creditors

It is important to understand that once creditors are unpaid your credibility and that of the business is severely damaged, they have the right to be concerned and it is therefore understandable that their immediate reaction is to seek legal redress for the recovery of outstanding debts. To gain back the trust of creditors it is necessary for an external company to be involved; many business owners feel this can be perceived by creditors as a sign of their mis-management or impending bankruptcy, the total opposite however is the case.

All creditors would view our appointment as prudent and good practice on your part in seeking a professionally created Debt Plan that has been based on an impartial investigation of the company. Providing this is coupled with an impartial ongoing report on the business and the payments as agreed are kept up to date there should be no reason why any further creditor actions would emanate.

• INSOLVENCY & LIQUIDATION
• CORPORATE & PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY
• CVA & IVA ARRANGEMENTS
• SHAREHOLDER DISPUTES
• INVESTOR LOANS & AGREEMENTS
• COUNTY & HIGH COURT ORDERS
• WINDING-UP ORDERS
• LANDLORD OR BANK EVICTION
• CONTRACTS & LEASES
• BANK LOANS & OVERDRAFTS
• BUSINESS RATES & UTILITIES
• CREDITOR ACTIONS
• PERSONNEL, TUPE
• PROPERTY & ASSET CHARGES
• FAMILY & TRUST DISPUTES

With regards to the aforementioned, If you are experiencing any litigation or are expecting such litigation please don’t delay, contact ourselves immediately. Whenever we investigate the methodology, reasoning and information behind all such litigations we invariably identify in numerous cases where they can be cancelled, suspended, reviewed or renegotiated.

It is our experience that most business operators are unaware of their legal rights and options in such matters, a review, negotiation or cancellation of past and present litigation is not an impossibility. Sharp & incorrect practices, abuse of procedure, harassment, intimidation, false statements, forced co-operation, professional misconduct and negligent advice are what we investigate. However, whilst most professionals will act appropriately it is not uncommon for us to see our clients facing such worrying practices from a host of different companies. We can evaluate the credibility and justification of any actions against yourself, past, present and pending, thereafter determining the best way forward with them at the same time identifying alternative solutions and options for yourself, the creditor & professional body concerned.

Please refer to the specialist section on ‘Tenants & Leaseholders’ for a comprehensive breakdown of our services

In the absence of an achievable and amicable agreement (on your behalf) between ourselves and your creditors and dependent on the financial and legal state of your business alongside the creditors stance, we can advise on which route to recommend as the best option for your business and yourself.

It is important to state that a companies financial and legal situation can legally dictate the options that are available. It is important therefore that once you know that your financial and legal position is critical and unmanageable that we are called in as soon as possible to ensure that you and your business have all options readily available

Company Voluntary Arrangement

Individual Voluntary Arrangement

A Company Voluntary Arrangement ( C.V.A.) keeps yourself trading but under a strict criteria of rules, you are under external supervision and monitoring by the company organising your C.V.A. (and or I.V.A.) and the ‘Arrangement’ is subject to an agreed payment plan with yourself and your creditors that the C.V.A company will put into place, this is a legally binding ‘Arrangement’ on all parties. It immediately takes away all the pressure from yourself and stabilises the business, at the same time suspending or cancelling out all creditor and legal actions.

Ignoring your company problems does not make them go away, if creditors feel there is a lack of common sense and honest communication or if you break arrangements you have already put in place with them then any creditor on their own can instigate a winding-up order or bankruptcy petition against you. If you have multiple creditors and are not handling them properly then its only a matter of time before one or a number of them closes you down or forces a payment plan/s on you / the company that is simply not affordable.

Instead of having multiple battles with multiple vexatious creditors that you will not be able to control or manage effectively it would then be prudent to enter into a C.V.A ; to arrest the debt, its interest rate, for the suspension or cancellation of legal actions, for the chance to propose a payment plan for all that the company can realistically afford that does not affect its ability to trade. Your creditors will be more flexible and receptive with a third party than with yourself, the C.V.A. company is seen as impartial and honest, whereas the debtor always viewed with suspicion and unfortunately without credibility.

Administration, Insolvency

Corporate Bankruptcy

Should your company situation be unfortunately irreversible then Insolvency or Bankruptcy may be the only legal options available.The correct management and execution of the legal process involved is critical as it has a great effect on yourself in the future on a personal and professional capacity – we will therefore ensure that via our representation the process is correct and fair and that your rights are protected at all times.

IN CONCLUSION

All the aforementioned options are carried out by specialist companies that are licensed. We cannot and do not interfere with their procedures and processes, we can however assist them in specific areas but only via their request, we can advise yourself throughout the process and act on your behalf also as your representative.

It is a Directors responsibility to dis-continue or suspend trading or to call in external expert help when the companies cash-flow cannot satisfy its payments over a reasonable payment period, continuing to receive credit within a highly negative cash-flow can be construed as negligent, even fraudulent. Creditors, C.V.A. Companies and Insolvency Practitioners will always react more positively with Directors seeking help and advice within the right timescales. .

Hotel & Pub Rescue has worked with a number of excellent Insolvency Practitioners and C.V.A. Companies that are specialists in the Hospitality sector, we can refer these to yourself

Whatever your situation, call us today without delay, all problems have solutions and options.