Key point
Where in a UK administration an action would give some benefit to creditors, and risk neither detriment to them nor impede the administration's progress, the court may be willing to intervene and support a challenge to the administrator's actions.
The facts
In the past, HMRC has allowed insolvency practitioners to cancel the VAT registration of businesses at an early stage and account for VAT on any subsequent supplies using form VAT 833. HMRC has received legal confirmation that a deregistered business cannot issue a valid VAT invoice, which could result in VAT registered buyers of assets from insolvent businesses being denied claims for input tax. As a result, HMRC will no longer allow the early deregistration of insolvent businesses.
Key point
When assessing if a company is insolvent on the "cash-flow" basis, the Court will consider not only whether a company manages to meet its debts as they fall due but also how a company does so. A company meeting its debts simply by increasing longer-term debt, will likely be held to be insolvent.
The facts
Key point
A winding up petition founded on a tax assessment, which is the subject of an appeal to the Tax Tribunal, should be dismissed or stayed pending the appeal.
The facts
Key points
- In order to rescind a winding up order the court must be satisfied that the circumstances of the case are materially different to those before the court that made the winding up order.
- A stay of a winding up order would not be made as an alternative route was available.
Facts
Key points
- Section 306 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (“1986 Act”) provides that a bankrupt’s estate shall vest immediately in the trustee in bankruptcy and no registration is required to effect that vesting;
- A bankrupt’s tenancy had vested in the trustee so that the bankrupt was no longer the qualifying tenant for the purposes of enfranchisement under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (“1967 Act”).
The facts
The UK government announced on 26 August 2018 that it will legislate to update the restructuring and insolvency systems, with the aim of the UK retaining the gold standard regime. The reforms are a response to international developments (with countries such as Spain and the Netherlands recently introducing updated insolvency systems) and some domestic corporate collapses which have put the UK system under stress.
The reforms are wide-ranging. Headline changes will include:
Welcome to the results of our third annual Pensions in Restructuring Survey.
This year's survey gathers views on the issues with pensions in corporate restructuring, with a particular focus on the points arising from the Department for Work and Pensions' recent white paper, "Protecting Defined Benefit Pension Schemes".
The UK's corporate governance regime has been stress-tested in the past decade and in many respects it has done well. However, in response to certain high profile corporate collapses which have caused heavy losses for creditors, in particular individuals and suppliers with little opportunity to protect themselves against losses, and in the spirit of continual improvement, the government has recently launched its "Insolvency and Corporate Governance Consultation".