Pre-Pack Sales in insolvency — insolvency practitioner bulletin 7 (2025)
Published 20 August 2025
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Why a new PAYE scheme is required
Where a company enters administration and a ‘pre-pack’ sale of the business and assets was arranged by the administrator before their appointment, the new owner of the business must set up a new Pay As You Earn (PAYE) reference.
This applies whenever a business is sold during any administration or liquidation as part of the PAYE succession rules.
Who is responsible for the PAYE scheme in insolvency
As the office holder in the insolvency process, the appointed insolvency practitioner has responsibility for maintaining or closing the existing PAYE scheme.
They should take steps to ensure that the owners of the new business do not continue to use the existing PAYE scheme, from the previous business, to submit payroll data to HMRC.
The new business owner has no authority to access the old PAYE account from the previous business either online or by calling the Employer Eelpline. If something needs to be corrected with the old PAYE account, the insolvency practitioner will be responsible.
Enforcement and Insolvency Services (EIS) colleagues are unable to make any changes to the PAYE record, so any updates need to go through the Employer Helpline.
How to set up a new PAYE scheme
To get a new PAYE scheme set up, the new owner should register as an employer online.