Some of those companies have not filed anything for years. The obligations did not stop while nobody was looking, and they surface at the worst moment, which is usually when the owner decides to sell.
Registering a company is the easy part. Everything after it is where time and money are lost.
What this covers
Formation and changes. Registering a limited company, a branch or a trade representative office. Transferring shares, changing the manager, updating the register.
A company that holds property. A subject of its own, because it affects thousands of foreign owners who do not know what they own or what they owe. Annual obligations, bringing a dormant company back into order, and deciding whether to sell the property or the shares.
Contracts. Drafting and reviewing commercial contracts, distribution and agency arrangements, payment terms and penalties.
When you are not paid. Debt recovery, from the first demand through to enforcement.
Between shareholders. Disputes over management, shares and distributions.
Closing down. Liquidation and striking off a company that no longer trades.
When to instruct a lawyer
Before signing, if it is a contract. After the first late payment, if it is a debt. And immediately if you have discovered that your company has years of unfiled accounts.
In commercial matters I always recommend taking advice. This area is complex and the financial exposure when something goes wrong is often several times larger than it first appears.
One thing people get wrong
You and your company are not the same thing, and that protection only holds if it has been respected.
A manager who has signed a personal guarantee is personally liable. A shareholder who has taken money out of the company without a proper basis answers for it. The separation protects you, but only if it was maintained.