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A Luxembourg-based company which sourced clients for the now defunct Sunday Solutions umbrella scheme, has been forced into liquidation on the grounds of public interest.

In December 2010, the two main operators of the Sunday Solutions umbrella scheme, Sunday Solutions Limited and Bradbury & Co Limited, were liquidated.

The scheme itself had been marketed as a 'partnership', whereby all tax liabilities for its estimated 1500 contractor members should have been secured in a dedicated bank account until payment was required by HMRC. These tax liabilities were never paid to the tax authorities, and as a result, participants in the scheme were found to be personally liable for the outstanding sums.

The Insolvency Service found that over 100 business bank accounts had been opened by Sunday Solutions in order to operate the scheme, and no Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) name(s) had ever been registered with the Companies House.

Following the closure of the two main facilitators of the scheme, other companies involved in the promotion and running of the scheme were also forced to close - Reed Umbrella Ltd in March 2012 (which provided 'invoicing and legal' services), and Reed Morgan Limited (which provided 'invoicing' services).

This latest company to fall foul of the Insolvency Service, Zigmund Mather S.a.r.l, also sourced clients for the umbrella scheme. The company was established in August 2007, and met its fate for failing to co-operate with the investigation into Sunday Solutions, and for "a lack of commercial probity".

Commenting on the case, Ms Registrar Derrett said that she was satisfied that Zigmund was not merely performing a marketing role, but had an active part to play in the operation of the umbrella scheme itself. In fact "Zigmund facilitated the scheme and by taking over the staff of Sunday in 2007 effectively ran the scheme."

You can read the full text of the Insolvency Service news release here.

For our popular 15 tips on how to choose a reputable umbrella company, click here.