As the ‘slow crush’ of persistently high interest rates bites, businesses of all kinds are struggling and many are reaching the point of failure, as indicated by each month’s number of creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs) charting higher than the same period a year prior. The latest statistics from The Insolvency Service reveal that registered company insolvencies in October 2023 were 18% higher than in the same month in 2022.
The English Court has, for only the second time, made a compensation order under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986 against a disqualified director.
Background
The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce has launched a new public consultation on the treatment of digital assets in English insolvency law.
Crypto assets are 'property'
In November 2019, the UKJT published its seminal legal statement on the status of crypto assets and smart contracts. Since then, there has been widespread acceptance that crypto assets are 'property' for the purposes of English law. And the Law Commission has recently proposed a new, third category of personal property rights to capture digital assets.
Impact on insolvency law
On the 1st of November 2023 the Supreme Court published its judgment in the case of R (on the application of Palmer) (Appellant) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates Court and another (Respondents) following a one-day hearing in March. Philip Jones and David Garner report on the hearing in this article.
The court has the power to challenge any decision of the officeholder in an insolvency process on application by a dissatisfied party. The ambit of that power depends upon the nature of the insolvency process but, broadly, the following categories of people will be entitled to apply:
Other than the usual post termination restrictions following a director’s departure, one would assume that directors would no longer be subject to any obligations upon their resignation. Whilst this is strictly true, in that directors’ duties will generally no longer apply once they cease to be a director, there are, however, a few instances whereby directors may still find themselves liable even after stepping down.
Can I even resign?
What are the key considerations and actions for businesses when undertaking a reorganisation?
A winding up petition is a legal document that can be served by a company’s creditors when they are owed money by the company. If the debt amounts to £750 or more, then a creditor has the right to go to court and ask for a winding up petition to be issued, although courts view this remedy as something that should be reserved for when a company is genuinely believed to be insolvent, and not simply used as a means of debt collection.
Assume that you have a company which has ceased trading and is left with a cash balance. You could extract most of the cash by paying a dividend, but that would be inefficient for tax purposes (resulting in tax rates of up to 39.35%). So, instead, you decide to wind the company up and receive the proceeds as a capital distribution, taking advantage of the lower capital gains tax rates (generally at 10% or 20% depending on the circumstances). Surely that is legitimate?
The case ofLiberty Commodities Ltd v Citibank NA London & Ors [2023] EWHC 2020 (Ch) provides a helpful reminder of the principles that the court will adopt when dealing with a winding up petition – particularly where there are supporting creditors.