Company status terms compared

United Kingdom: the Companies House status values

Companies House publishes the status values its data uses. The company_status list has 12 entries, including Active, Dissolved, Liquidation, Receiver Action, In Administration, Voluntary Arrangement, Insolvency Proceedings and Converted or Closed ¹. A second list gives more detail, such as Active proposal to strike off and Transfer from UK ¹.

A company can show Active and still be on its way off the register. Active proposal to strike off is a detail value under an active status ¹.

Dormant is not the same as inactive

Companies House treats a company as dormant if it has had no significant transactions in the financial year ². Filing fees paid to Companies House, late filing penalties and money paid for shares on incorporation do not count ².

A dormant company must still file a confirmation statement and annual accounts. A small dormant company can file dormant accounts, which need no auditor's report ². Dormant means different things for Corporation Tax and for Companies House, according to GOV.UK ⁶.

Insolvency statuses

• Administration: an administrator is appointed to manage a company's affairs, business and property, with objectives that include rescuing the company as a going concern ⁷.
• Company voluntary arrangement: the company proposes an agreement with its creditors ⁷.
• Liquidation: compulsory liquidation is when a court orders a company to be wound up. Voluntary liquidation is either a members' voluntary liquidation, where directors made a statutory declaration of solvency, or a creditors' voluntary liquidation, where they did not ⁷.
• Receivership: an administrative receiver is a receiver or manager of the whole, or substantially the whole, of a company's property ⁷.
• End of administration: the company is dissolved 3 months after Companies House registers the final form, save where an order is made ⁷.

Struck off, dissolved and deregistered

In the UK, GOV.UK says striking off is known as dissolving a company ⁸. Directors apply on form DS01, signed by a majority of them, for a fee of £18 ³. Companies House publishes the request as a notice in The Gazette. If no one objects, the company is struck off after the 2 months in the notice, and a second notice means the company does not legally exist any more ³. Once struck off, the company loses access to its bank accounts ⁸.

In Australia, the most common reason ASIC deregisters a company is that it has not paid its annual review fee in full for at least 12 months after the due date ⁴. ASIC writes to the company, changes its status to strike off in progress, and posts a notice that it will deregister the company in 2 months ⁴. Deregistration ends the company's existence as a legal entity ⁴.

Status terms side by side

United States: status is set state by state

US companies are registered by states. Delaware's Corporate Status Online costs US$10.00 per entity, and a more detailed report with the franchise tax assessment and filing history costs US$20.00 ⁵. The online check will not generate an official certificate of good standing ⁵. A short form certificate of status costs US$50.00 ⁵.