From 1 December 2020 onwards, HMRC will be treated as a preferential creditor of companies for certain taxes including PAYE, VAT, employee NICs and Construction Industry Scheme deductions. In the event that a company enters administration or liquidation, HMRC's claim for these taxes will rank ahead of any floating charge holder.
This reflects recent changes made to the Finance Act 2020.
The impact on floating charge holders
On 13 January 2021, the English High Court sanctioned three interconditional Part 26A restructuring plans for the subsidiaries of DeepOcean Group Holding BV.
The plans for two of the companies were approved by the required 75% majority. While the third plan received 100% approval by secured creditors, only 64.6% of unsecured creditors voted in favour.
Consequently, at the sanction hearing the court was required to consider whether the cross-class cram down mechanism in the restructuring plan should be engaged for the first time in the UK.
On 11 February 2021, the English High Court confirmed in gategroup Guarantee Limited that restructuring plans are insolvency proceedings so are not covered by the Lugano Convention.
One of the debt instruments subject to the gategroup restructuring plan contains an exclusive Swiss court jurisdiction clause. Under the Lugano Convention, proceedings relating to "civil and commercial matters" must generally be brought in the jurisdiction benefitting from the exclusive jurisdiction clause.
In Uralkali v Rowley and another [2020] EWHC 3442 (Ch) – a UK High Court case relating to the administration of a Formula 1 racing team – an unsuccessful bidder for the company's business and assets sued the administrators, arguing that the bid process had been negligently misrepresented and conducted.
The court found that the administrators did not owe a duty of care to the disappointed bidder. It rejected the claimant's criticisms of the company’s sale process and determined that the administrators had conducted it "fairly and properly" and were not, in fact, negligent.
In Uralkali v Rowley and another [2020] EWHC 3442 (Ch) – a UK High Court case relating to the administration of a Formula 1 racing team – an unsuccessful bidder for the company's business and assets sued the administrators, arguing that the bid process had been negligently misrepresented and conducted.
The court found that the administrators did not owe a duty of care to the disappointed bidder. It rejected the claimant's criticisms of the company’s sale process and determined that the administrators had conducted it "fairly and properly" and were not, in fact, negligent.
O BANCO ESPÍRITO SANTO, S.A. – EM LIQUIDAÇÃO anunciou que o prazo para a apresentação das reclamações de créditos no âmbito do seu processo de liquidação terminará no dia 11 de dezembro de 2017.
O termo do prazo para apresentação de reclamações de crédito é estabelecido em função da última citação de credor no estrangeiro, contando-se 60 dias a partir dessa data. De acordo com o referido comunicado, a mais recente citação conhecida foi efetuada no dia 11 de outubro.
BANCO ESPÍRITO SANTO, S.A. – EM LIQUIDAÇÃO has announced that the time limit for the lodgement of claims under its liquidation proceedings ends on 11 December 2017.
The time limit for lodging claims is set with reference to the last service of notice to a creditor abroad and the 60-day period counted from said date. According to the aforementioned announcement, the last known notice was served on 11 October.
The announcement reserves the possibility of extending the time limit in the event of subsequent services.