Real Client Story
How we sorted three years of unfiled returns for a Dalston music venue owner
Client M opened a small music venue near Dalston Junction in 2021 and traded successfully for three years, but in the chaos of getting the venue up and running he'd never registered the Ltd company properly, hadn't filed accounts at Companies House for two years, hadn't filed Corporation Tax returns, hadn't registered for VAT despite well exceeding the threshold, and was getting threatening letters from both Companies House and HMRC. The accountant he'd engaged briefly hadn't done anything other than send invoices.
We did emergency triage. Same week we filed the missing accounts at Companies House (avoiding strike-off action), wrote to Companies House explaining the position and requesting reduction of late filing penalties. Within two weeks we'd reconstructed the trading history from bank statements, supplier invoices and till records to prepare three years of Corporation Tax returns and registered the company for VAT with backdated registration. We agreed a Time to Pay arrangement with HMRC for the substantial VAT and Corporation Tax liability that had accumulated, structured over 18 months.
Total outcome: all filing brought up to date with no strike-off action taken, Companies House late filing penalties reduced from £3,000 to £750, VAT registration backdated with full input VAT recovery on the venue fit-out costs which created a substantial credit, and Client M's business stabilised onto a proper monthly bookkeeping rhythm.