A guide, not advice. This explains how things generally work. A licensed insolvency practitioner will tell you what applies to your company or to you.
HMRC bailiffs and enforcement - what powers do they have?
When HMRC's letters run out, its enforcement officers visit - with the power to take control of company goods against the debt - and the visit is designed to force exactly the decision the letters didn't.
What they can and can't do
At business premises they can enter (peaceably), list goods, and take control of them - typically through a controlled goods agreement leaving assets in place against a payment commitment, with removal and sale the escalation if it fails.
They can't take tools of the trade below the threshold, third-party goods (finance companies' assets - much of a typical fleet or plant list - aren't the company's to seize), or force entry to a home for company debts.
What the visit means
You're at the sharp end of the escalation path - past it lie security demands and the winding up petition - and a controlled goods agreement signed in the doorway under pressure is a payment plan set to someone else's numbers.
The options that remain
Time to Pay is still negotiable at this stage with credible numbers; administration's moratorium halts enforcement where rescue is real; and where the honest answer is closure, an orderly CVL beats watching the assets leave on a truck.
0333 023 5090 - if enforcement has started, call the same day; the sequencing genuinely matters.
InsolvencySupport.co.uk is operated by Xeinadin Corporate Recovery Limited (company no. 11415156), 8th Floor, 100 Barbirolli Square, Manchester M2 3BD. Our insolvency practitioners are licensed and regulated by the ICAEW.
This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice. Always take advice from a licensed insolvency practitioner about your specific position.