Our fee is completely fixed. This means that if your company meets our criteria, you pay £995+VAT, the same as everyone else. There’s no hourly billing and no surprises bolted on later.
On top of our fee there are a couple of unavoidable third-party costs, known as disbursements. These include fees for statutory advertising, a bond, as well as a small solicitor’s fee. All in, most cases come to £1,600–£1,900 including VAT, depending on your company’s net assets. Here’s exactly where every pound goes.
| What you pay | Typical cost | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Our fixed fee | £995 + VAT | This is paid to us and it’s the only fee we charge |
| Statutory advertising | £354.30 + VAT | Paid directly to the Gazette for three required public notices at £118.10 + VAT each |
| The bond | £20 – £100 + VAT | Paid to a third-party insurer. The amount depends on your company’s assets |
| Witnessing your signature | £5-£100 | Any local solicitor |
What are disbursements in an MVL?
Disbursements in a Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) are mandatory third-party costs that must be paid as part of the liquidation process. These are paid by your insolvency practitioner and then charged back to your company. Here’s what some of the costs mean:
- Statutory advertising and the bond – Every solvent liquidation requires statutory advertising in the Gazette, as well as payment of a bond. This is the same no matter which company handles the liquidation. The bond is essentially an insurance policy that protects your company’s money while it’s under our control. Both are paid to independent third parties at cost; their prices move around and are beyond our control. Rest assured, these are not extras that we’ve added on.
- Solicitor’s fee – Your signing of the Declaration of Solvency must be witnessed by an authorised professional, either a solicitor or Commissioner for Oaths. You’re not paying for legal advice here, literally just confirmation that it was you who signed the Declaration of Solvency. We advise you to ring round a few local firms, as prices do vary.
With MVL Online the total cost for the entire process sits between £1,600 – £1,900 all in, including VAT. The variation is mostly down to the bond, which scales with your company’s net assets. Quite simply, the more money you have to distribute, the more expensive the bond will be.
Why do the disbursements look so big?
This is a fair question, and the simple answer is that as our headline fee is so low, the disbursements look big in comparison. The statutory advertising and the bond are much the same whichever insolvency practitioner you use; it’s just that, sat next to a £995 fee, they look proportionally more significant than they would next to a larger quote. Disbursements are unavoidable third-party costs, not a way of quietly topping the price back up.
How can we keep the fee so low?
While it may seem too good to be true, there are a few deliberate choices we have made which keep the cost down:
- We only take on simple, solvent, cash-only cases allowing us to standardise and streamline the process
- Everything is done online with no requirement for face-to-face meetings
- We don’t pay referral fees or commissions to accountants, IFAs or anyone else
Ready to start your MVL?
Contact the MVL Online team, tell us a little about your company and we’ll confirm your all-in, fixed-fee price with absolutely no obligation.
Lee De’ath
Licensed Insolvency Practitioner
Lee is a licensed Insolvency Practitioner with over 30 years’ experience advising company directors, owner-managed businesses, and accountants. He oversees all of MVL Online’s Members’ Voluntary Liquidations and writes our guidance on the practical side of closing a solvent company.
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