Liquidation Services

Company Liquidations

Liquidating a company is a specialist service. There are two forms of liquidation available:

If your company has no assets or liabilities, please click here

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation

For a company that is unable to pay its debts (insolvent) and has a large level of liabilities.

Members Voluntary Liquidation

e.g. perhaps a company has sold its business and needs to access the remaining money in a tax-efficient manner.

Company Liquidation Services by Closedforbusiness.ie

When liquidating a company you need both professional advice and expertise at competitive rates. Closedforbusiness.ie gives you access to a panel of experienced Liquidators nationwide. So when you make just one enquiry with Closedforbusiness.ie we will consult with our panel and obtain quotations from Liquidators with specific experience in your business sector.

Within one week of making your enquiry, you will receive a range of quotations and also a profile of each Liquidator.

You can then choose which Liquidator you would like to approach with a view to appointing them to carry out your company’s liquidation.

There is a one-off fee of just €69 to cover administration of this process. Once this process is complete, you only deal directly with your chosen Liquidator and not Closedforbusiness.ie

To discuss your requirements and our service call our confidential advice line or use the “request a call back” button on the right hand side of the page.

Creditors Liquidation

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL)

A Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) procedure, which is the most common type of liquidation, is initiated when a company can no longer pay their debts as they fall due (i.e. it becomes insolvent).

A meeting of the creditors of the company should be called. This is done by sending notices to the creditors and by publishing details of the meeting in two daily newspapers which are circulated in the district of the company’s registered office (in practice, national newspapers are usually used).

It would be usual for a company to nominate a Liquidator for the purposes of the meeting. The creditors then have the option to either appoint that Liquidator or to vote to appoint another.

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation Procedure & Responsibilities

Once the Liquidator is appointed, (s)he will have the following duties:

take possession of a company’s property, including its books and records;
list the people who are owed money and how much they are owed;
list the people who must contribute to the company’s assets on its winding up and how much they have to pay;
investigate the company’s affairs;
sell the company’s assets;
pay the company’s debts in the order the law states;
give any remaining money to the members in line with their entitlement
report any suspected criminal offence by the company, a past or present officer (director, secretary and so on) or any member to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

When the creditors voluntary liquidation is complete, the Liquidator must:

The Liquidator must, within six months of being appointed, give the ODCE a report about the company directors’ conduct in the twelve months before the company liquidation. In certain cases, the Liquidator may also recommend the restriction or disqualification of company director/s (for example, where directors have not acted honestly and responsibly).

However, most company failures are not the fault of the directors and restriction or disqualification would only happen in a small minority of cases.

Members Liquidation

Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL)

A Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) procedure is invoked where director/shareholders decide to close a company which has accumulated large reserves.

Using the Members Voluntary Company Liquidation procedure can lead to significant tax savings as the surplus is subject to Capital Gains Tax (currently 33%) as opposed to paying Income Tax, Universal Social Charge and PRSI (can be as high as 55%).

Members Voluntary Liquidation Procedure

The Liquidator will:

Liquidation Service

How does the service work?

We will need to draw up a profile of the company by asking you a number of questions about the company and its trading history. We will then forward that profile to our Panel of Liquidators so that each Liquidator can provide a quotation of their fee.

We will aim to come back to you within one week with a range of quotations. It is then your decision whether or not you would like to proceed with the liquidation based on the quotations provided. If you accept a quotation, we will inform the successful Liquidator who will make contact with you to set things in motion.

Why should I use Closedforbusiness.ie?

Getting a quote from a Liquidator can take time. You have to answer a number of queries to give them a full understanding of your business so that they can quote you a fee that will cover them for the time and responsibility involved in liquidating your company.

By using Closedforbusiness.ie, you can get quotations from a panel of qualified, experienced and professionally-regulated Liquidators nationwide by just going through that process once with us!

Also, quotations from Liquidators can vary. Our clients find that the €69 they invest in obtaining these quotations pays dividends. They find they end up paying a lot less than expected and save an enormous amount of time in making phone calls and researching their options.

That said, we’re aware that price isn’t everything. When we send you the list of quotations, we will include a profile of each member of our Panel of Liquidators so that you know who you’re dealing with.

To discuss your requirements and our service call our confidential advice line or use the request a call back button above

Duties of a Liquidator

The main duties of a Liquidator include:

take possession of a company’s property, including its books and records;
list the people who are owed money and how much they are owed;
list the people who must contribute to the company’s assets on its winding up and how much they have to pay;
investigate the company’s affairs;
sell the company’s assets;
pay the company’s debts in the order the law states;
give any remaining money to the members in line with their entitlements;
report any suspected criminal offence by the company, a past or present officer (director, secretary and so on) or any member to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

When the voluntary liquidation is complete, the Liquidator must:

Liquidation Costs

Expenses which are commonly incurred during the Liquidation include, but are not limited to:

Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL):

Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL):

Additional expenses would be incurred if the MVL procedure exceeds one year i.e. due to unforeseen circumstances

Professional Fees – quotations from Liquidators can vary. The vast majority of our clients find that the €69 they invest in obtaining these quotations pays dividends. They find they end up paying a lot less than expected and save an enormous amount of time in making phone calls and researching their options.

Note that all figures quoted above are approximate and can vary from case to case.

Appointing a Liquidator

Choosing the right Liquidator for you

Not all Company Liquidators are the same. Different Liquidators focus on different areas of business and may have specific sector experience.

When appointing a Liquidator there are generally 3 key areas to consider:

The good news is that with Closedforbusiness.ie you will receive all this information in writing allowing you the opportunity to narrow your search and make an informed choice when appointing your Liquidator.

Closedforbusiness.ie simplify the process of appointing a Liquidator, all for a one-off fee of just €69. Our Panel of Liquidators have many years experience in company liquidations and deliver high quality services.

What is Liquidation (definition)

“termination of a business by using it’s assets to discharge it’s liabilities”

A liquidation process is not solely due to a business becoming insolvent. A common reason for liquidation is for the directors/shareholders to close a company which has accumulated large reserves and to realise the value in a tax efficient way.

There are 3 types of liquidation:

Members Voluntary Liquidation – where directors/shareholders close a company with large accumulated reserves. In a Members Voluntary Liquidation the company is solvent, creditors are paid in full and the remaining funds transferred to the directors/shareholders. For a more detailed explanation of a Members Voluntary Liquidation click here

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation – where a company can no longer meet it’s debts as they fall due i.e. insolvent. For a more detailed explanation of a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation click here

Court Liquidation – where a company, through either it’s directors or creditors, makes an application through the courts to have a Liquidator appointed

Closedforbusiness.ie specialise in providing experienced Liquidators for Members Voluntary Liquidations and Creditors Voluntary Liquidations.

Liquidation versus Insolvency

Liquidation is not always the result of insolvency. In fact many solvent companies are liquidated through a members voluntary liquidation process when they wish to realise the value of large accumulated reserves in a tax efficient way.

Liquidation

Liquidation is the process whereby the assets of a company are realised to cover the debts of the company. Company Liquidation may be by means of:

Members Voluntary Liquidation – where assets exceed liabilities

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation – where there are insufficient assets to cover the liabilities. A Liquidator is appointed to administer the liquidation of the company’s assets and to distribute the proceeds to creditors in accordance with law

There are also Court Liquidations. This process may be instigated by a creditor seeking to recover monies owed. This would come under the heading of “Involuntary Liquidation”

Insolvency

Insolvency is the term used to describe a company’s situation – i.e. a company is insolvent when it is unable to meet it’s debts when they fall due, and/or when their liabilities exceed their assets.

A company may be “cash insolvent” but have assets which exceed their liabilities. In this case additional funds may not be possible to source and therefore the members will be required to “liquidate” their assets to meet their debts – i.e. liquidation

A company is “balance sheet” insolvent when their liabilities are greater than their assets.

So, in summary the term “insolvent” is used to describe a situation where a company is unable to continue to trade and therefore requires to go through a liquidation process – i.e. realise the value of their assets to pay off their debts.