Two agents banned from being company directors until 2025

It’s been reported that two founders of an estate agency at Leigh in Greater Manchester have been banned until 2025 after a firm found huge debts to HM Revenue & Customs when the company folded.

The Bolton News says Christopher Wilcock and Adam Balmer had built up Balmer Wilcock to become a three-office business before the firm hit problems some 18 months ago. 

Administrators were called in and it was initially found that creditors were owed £666,302.

The Bolton News says that the Insolvency Service has now disqualified the pair from being company directors until early 2025.

“The pair were found to have submitted VAT returns, between May 2016 and November 2017, which did not truly reflect the estate agents’ trading position. Six nil returns were claimed between 2016 and 2017 and the sum for June 2017 was only said to be £5,000” says the news website.

“Three payments totalling £16,000 were received by HM Revenue and Customs for the period. But a final VAT return of £310,887 was submitted by Balmer Wilcock’s accountant, according to the agency, in March 2018. This resulted in a £299,887 demand from the taxman and a warning that a winding-up action was being considered.

"The Insolvency Service says that while an error notification was filed by accountants, an inspection visit was later postponed by the firm. And the next day HMRC issued a petition to wind up the venture.”

And an Insolvency Service official is quoted as saying: “Between April 1, 2017, and July 18, 2018, when the current account was closed, net monies paid into this account totalled £1,442,235, while payments from the account totalled £1,483,702, of which at least £669,208 was paid to trade and expense creditors, £407,594 was paid for in respect of wages and £152,610.31 was paid to HMRC in respect of pay-as-you-earn and National Insurance contributions.”