DS01 Form UK: Strike Off a Company from the Register

At a glance

• Form DS01 is the application for voluntary strike off under section 1003 of the Companies Act 2006 — the registrar cannot dissolve the company until at least 2 months have passed since the Gazette notice was published.
• The company must not have traded, changed its name, or disposed of assets for value in the 3 months before applying, and must not be facing insolvency proceedings, an unfinished compromise or arrangement, or a Part 26A restructuring plan (sections 1004 and 1005).
• The application must be signed by a majority of the directors — both directors if there are only two, or the sole director if there's only one.
• Within 7 days of applying, a copy must go to every member, creditor, employee, pension-fund trustee, and any director who didn't sign (sections 1006 and 1007). Failing to do this — especially with intent to conceal the application — is a criminal offence that can carry up to 7 years' imprisonment.
• Anything the company still owns when it's dissolved passes to the Crown as bona vacantia under section 1012; director and member liabilities are not wiped out by dissolution.
• DS01 (voluntary strike off) is legally distinct from the registrar's own powers to strike off a defunct company or, since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, a company registered on a false basis under the new section 1002A — which carries a shorter 28-day Gazette notice, not 2 months.
• If a voluntarily struck-off company later needs to come back onto the register, it can generally only be restored by court order — administrative restoration is not available where the directors chose to strike the company off themselves.
• Check GOV.UK for the current DS01 filing fee — it has been updated more than once in the past two years.

What Form DS01 is for

Form DS01 is the Companies House application used by directors of a company to ask the registrar to strike the company's name off the register. Once the strike off goes through and the dissolution is published in the Gazette, the company ceases to exist as a legal entity, under section 1003(5) of the Companies Act 2006.

The form itself is short, but it carries real weight because it triggers the end of the company's life. The application has to be signed by the directors or by a majority of them, and a filing fee is payable to Companies House — check GOV.UK for the current amount, since it has changed more than once recently.

DS01 is designed for a solvent company that has finished its business, has no outstanding creditors, and isn't involved in any ongoing insolvency process or dispute. If any of that doesn't describe your company, DS01 is the wrong tool, and using it anyway is a criminal offence.

Who can apply, and when you can't

Before touching the form, check the company against two separate sets of statutory conditions.

Recent activity (section 1004). An application must not be made if, at any time in the previous three months, the company has:

• changed its name,
• traded or otherwise carried on business,
• disposed of assets for value that it held for the purpose of disposal for gain in the normal course of trading, or
• engaged in any other activity — except activity that is necessary or expedient to apply for strike off, wind up the company's affairs, or comply with a statutory requirement.

Simply paying off an existing debt does not count as trading for this purpose.

Ongoing proceedings (section 1005). An application must not be made while the company is subject to an unresolved application to court to sanction a compromise or arrangement (including the newer Part 26A restructuring plan, added by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020), a proposed voluntary arrangement, administration, a winding-up petition that hasn't been dealt with, or has a receiver, manager, or judicial factor over its property.

Breaching either section is an offence, though it's a defence to show you neither knew, nor could reasonably have known, of the facts that caused the breach.

Worked example. Meridian Fit-Out Ltd stopped trading and paid off its last supplier invoice on 1 April. Its directors want to strike it off. Because the company is still within the three-month window that started with its last trading activity, an application made before 1 July would breach section 1004 — they need to wait until at least 1 July before applying, and confirm none of the section 1005 insolvency-related bars apply either.

Voluntary strike off is not the only way a company gets struck off

DS01 is the route directors choose. But Companies House also has its own powers to strike a company off — and it's worth understanding the difference, because these routes move on different timetables and lead to different restoration options.

• Defunct company (sections 1000-1001). If the registrar has reasonable cause to believe a company isn't carrying on business — commonly because it has failed to file its confirmation statement or accounts — it writes to the company, and if there's no response, publishes a Gazette notice. The company is struck off no less than 2 months later.
• Registered on a false basis (section 1002A). Inserted by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, this lets the registrar strike off a company where it has reasonable cause to believe information given on incorporation or restoration was misleading, false, or deceptive in a material particular. The Gazette notice period here is only 28 days, not 2 months.
• Uncorrected default registered office address. Under the Registered Office Address (Rectification of Register) Regulations 2024, if a company fails to move its registered office away from a Companies House "default" address within 28 days of being placed there, the registrar can begin striking the company off.

None of these routes require the directors to apply — which is exactly why it matters to keep filings up to date and respond promptly to any letter from Companies House, even if you're not planning to use DS01.

Before you apply: closing the company down properly

Any money or property still held by the company when it dissolves becomes bona vacantia and passes to the Crown, so settle debts, close bank accounts, and distribute remaining assets to shareholders before applying. If the company has employees, follow the redundancy rules, pay final wages, and tell HMRC you're stopping being an employer. Submit final statutory accounts and a Company Tax Return to HMRC, pay any outstanding Corporation Tax, and cancel VAT registration if applicable — HMRC is one of the bodies most likely to object to a strike off if tax is still owed. GOV.UK also recommends keeping business records, such as bank statements and invoices, for at least seven years after the company is struck off.

Notifying interested parties within 7 days

By law, a copy of the DS01 must be sent, within seven days of the application being made, to every person who is at that time a member, employee, creditor, pension-fund manager or trustee, or a director who did not sign the form (section 1006). If someone becomes one of those things — for example a new creditor — after the application is made but before it's finally dealt with, a copy must go to them too, within seven days of them acquiring that status (section 1007).

This gives interested parties the chance to object before the company disappears. Failing to notify someone is an offence; doing so with the intention of concealing the application from them is an "aggravated" offence carrying up to seven years' imprisonment on indictment, in addition to a fine. Missing someone off the list can also lead to the company being restored later once the omission comes to light.

What happens after you submit the DS01

Once Companies House accepts the application, it registers it on the public record, acknowledges receipt, and publishes a notice of the proposed striking off in the relevant Gazette (London, Edinburgh, or Belfast, depending on where the company is registered). The registrar cannot strike the company off until at least two months have passed since that notice, under section 1003(3). If nobody successfully objects, a second Gazette notice confirms the dissolution, and the company ceases to exist on that date under section 1003(5).

Objecting to a strike off

Any interested party — a creditor, HMRC, a director who wasn't consulted, a former employee — can object once the first Gazette notice is published. The objection needs to be delivered at least two weeks before the date the notice says the company will be struck off. If the company has already been dissolved by the time an objection would otherwise be raised, the only route left is an application to restore it, discussed below.

Company assets pass to the Crown

Anything the company still owns at the moment of dissolution — cash in its bank accounts, property (including leasehold interests), intellectual property, and debts owed to it — is deemed bona vacantia and passes to the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster, or the Duchy of Cornwall, depending on where the company was registered, under section 1012. The company's bank account is frozen from the date of dissolution; it can no longer send or receive money. Recovering bona vacantia assets afterwards generally means restoring the company first.

Dissolution does not end director liability

Section 1003(6) is explicit: the liability, if any, of every director, managing officer, and member continues and can be enforced as if the company had never been dissolved. Personal guarantees to a bank or landlord remain enforceable. Directors can still face claims for wrongful or fraudulent trading. And the court retains power to wind up a company even after it has been struck off the register. Strike off ends the company's legal existence — it does not erase what happened while it existed.

Restoring a struck-off company: court order, not always administrative

This is the point directors most often get wrong. There are two restoration routes under the Companies Act 2006, and which one is available depends on how the company was struck off:

• Administrative restoration (section 1024). Available only where the registrar struck the company off on its own initiative — because it looked defunct (sections 1000-1001), was registered on a false basis (section 1002A), or failed to correct a default registered office address. A former director or member applies directly to Companies House, generally within six years of dissolution. Companies House guidance is explicit that this route is not available if the directors voluntarily applied to strike the company off.
• Court order restoration (section 1029). Available for any type of strike off, including a voluntary DS01 strike off, as well as companies dissolved after formal insolvency proceedings. A wider range of people can apply — former directors, members, creditors, anyone with a contractual relationship or potential legal claim, pension-fund trustees, and (for a section 1003 strike off) anyone entitled to notice under sections 1006 or 1007. The general time limit is six years from dissolution; there is no time limit for a personal injury claim.

In practice: if your company is struck off using DS01, and it later turns out you needed it back — to recover a bank balance, deal with a forgotten asset, or defend a claim — you (or whoever applies) will need to go to court. Budget time and legal cost for that possibility rather than assuming a quick administrative fix will be available.

Strike off versus liquidation

Strike off via DS01 is a light-touch administrative route for a solvent company with no debts and no complications. Liquidation is a formal insolvency process run by a licensed insolvency practitioner: compulsory or creditors' voluntary liquidation deals with a company that owes money it can't pay, while a members' voluntary liquidation is chosen by shareholders winding up a solvent company, often for tax reasons, where DS01's restrictions or the scale of the assets make strike off unsuitable. If the company is insolvent, DS01 is not an option — liquidation is the route, and applying to strike off an insolvent company is a criminal offence.

Step-by-step: using this guide

1. Check the company qualifies for strike off. Confirm it hasn't traded, disposed of assets for value, or changed its name in the last three months, and that none of the insolvency-related bars in section 1005 apply.
2. Deal with assets, debts, and records first. Settle debts, close bank accounts, distribute remaining assets to shareholders, finalise payroll, and resolve outstanding matters with HMRC. Keep statutory records for at least seven years after dissolution.
3. Notify interested parties within seven days of applying. Send a copy of the DS01 to members, creditors, employees, pension trustees, and any non-signing directors — and to anyone else who acquires one of those statuses before the application is finally dealt with.
4. Complete and submit the DS01. A majority of directors sign, the current fee is paid (check GOV.UK), and the form goes in online or by post. Companies House then publishes the first Gazette notice.
5. Wait out the two-month notice period and monitor objections. The registrar cannot strike the company off until at least two months have passed. If no objection succeeds, a second Gazette notice confirms dissolution and the company ceases to exist.
6. If restoration ever becomes necessary, expect the court route. For a company struck off using DS01, administrative restoration isn't available — plan for a court application under section 1029 instead.

This guide provides general information about applying to strike a company off the Companies House register in England and Wales. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The law described was accurate as at July 2026 and is subject to change — always check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk for the current position before applying.

Last reviewed: July 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: July 2027 or on legislative change.