How to close off your own limited company
To close or strike off your own company from Companies House, you can complete the form DS01.
This application only applies when you are striking off your own company, not someone else’s who owes you money.
Once you submit the form, Companies House will review the application against its validation criteria before accepting the form. When the application is accepted, the process below is conducted before the company is finally dissolved from the public register.
Process for closing a Company
Follow the following process:
- Update your ‘filing history’ section of Companies House with the document ‘First Gazette notice for voluntary strike-off.’
- Post an application acknowledgement to the address shown on the form.
- Post an additional strike-off notification to the company’s registered address.
- Publish the notice in the following Gazette that allows interested parties the right to object:
- The London Gazette – for companies incorporated in England and Wales
- The Edinburgh Gazette – for companies incorporated in Scotland
- The Belfast Gazette – for companies incorporated in Northern Ireland
The above process should take 2 to 4 months, providing there are no objections.
Within 7 days the making the application to strike off the business, you must send a copy to the following parties:
- Members, usually the shareholders
- Creditors, including all existing and likely creditors such as:
- Banks
- Suppliers
- Former employees if the company owes them money
- Landlords or tenants (for example, where a bond is refundable)
- Guarantors
- Personal injury claimants
- HMRC and Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
- Employees
- Managers or trustees of any employee pension fund
- Any directors who have not signed the form
