Liquidate your limited company

You can choose to liquidate your limited company (also called winding up a company).

This guide covers company liquidation in Scotland only. Visit GOV.UK for guidance on English and Welsh companies.

This is a general guide only. You should get advice from a solicitor, your accountant or an insolvency practitioner before taking action to liquidate your company.

After liquidation, your company will stop doing business and employing people. Once the liquidation is complete, Companies House will remove (strike off) your company from the companies register. After this, your company will no longer exist.

The liquidator will realise a company’s assets and use them to pay off its debts. Any money left goes to shareholders.

There are 3 kinds of liquidation:

creditors' voluntary liquidation - you and your shareholders choose to liquidate your company because it cannot pay its debts
compulsory liquidation - your company cannot pay its debts and you apply to court to liquidate it
members' voluntary liquidation - your company can pay its debts in full, but you want to close it

Only compulsory liquidation is a court appointed liquidation process. Your company may be forced into compulsory liquidation if it cannot pay its debts.

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