Company director ban for Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire

30 Jun 2017 02:21 PM

Edwin Alexander Maxwell has signed an undertaking preventing him from being directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for three years.

Mr Maxwell was the sole director of E.A.M. Electrical Limited which dealt with electrical installations.

The company went into liquidation on 28 April 2015 owing £60,421 to creditors, of which £52,929 was due to HM Revenue & Customs in respect of PAYE/NIC/RTI, VAT and Corporation Tax. This was in respect of liabilities going back to the tax year 2012/2013.

Commenting on the disqualification, Aldona O’Hara, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service said:

Directors who fail to ensure that HMRC are treated on an equal basis with other classes of creditor gain an unfair advantage over those companies who pay their taxes correctly and on time. They can expect to be investigated by the Insolvency Service and enforcement action taken to remove them from the market place.

Notes to editors

E.A.M.’s Electrical Limited (Company Registration No. 03717189) was incorporated on 22 February 1999 and traded from Malt Cottage, Malt Cottages, New Basford, Nottingham NG7 7DX.

Mr Edwin Alexander Maxwell (date of birth: 6 January 1958) was the sole registered director from incorporation onwards, until liquidation.

The company went into liquidation on 28 April 2015. On 4 April 2017, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a Disqualification Undertaking from Mr Maxwell, effective from 25 April 2017, for a period of three years.

The matters of unfit conduct being that: Edwin Alexander Maxwell caused E.A.M. Electrical Limited to trade to the detriment of HMRC in respect of Pay as You earn Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (PAYE/NIC) and real Time Information (RTI) from 22 April 2013 and in respect of value Added Tax (VAT) from 7 September 2013.

The details are:

• PAYE/NIC/RTI: the company incurred liabilities totalling £28,804 in respect of the tax years 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. Payments totalling £9,841 were made, leaving the sum of £18,963 outstanding at the date of liquidation
• VAT: the liability accrued from 7 September 2013 and totalled £31,592, inclusive of surcharges of £3,043. Payments totalling £1,394 were made during this period, leaving the sum of £30,198 outstanding at the date of liquidation
• different treatment of creditors: between 31 December 2012 and the date of liquidation liabilities to trade creditors decreased from £17,142 to only £1,571, whereas liabilities to HMRC had increased from £15,562 to £52,929.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings. Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures. Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

BEIS’ mission is to build a dynamic and competitive UK economy that works for all, in particular by creating the conditions for business success and promoting an open global economy. The Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions team contributes to this aim by taking action to deter fraud and to regulate the market. They investigate and prosecute a range of offences, primarily relating to personal or company insolvencies.