Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small business owners who wind up their companies to avoid having to repay Covid debt could be banned from being company directors.
Owner-directors found guilty of abusing insolvency procedures to duck out of having to repay Covid debt taken out by their small business could be banned for up to 15 years.
About 1.5m small businesses have taken out Bounce Back Loans through a scheme that offered up to £50,000 interest free for a year.
>See also: Nearly two thirds of Bounce Back Loans could go bad, says government
And the new beefed-up Insolvency Service will be able to investigate retrospectively to already wound-up companies.
The government promised to clamp down on any potential fraud in repaying emergency Covid-19 loans in the Budget earlier this year.
Officials are keen to sew up the insolvency loophole to curb any losses to the taxpayer as banks start to charge interest or seek to recoup loans once the repayment holidays on the government-backed schemes end.
>See also: Half of small businesses will never repay Bounce Back Loans, warn banks
Dissolution via strike-off or voluntary liquidation is only supposed to be used by a small business without a prior insolvency and only when the company