A Christchurch building company has gone into court liquidation owing just over $500,000 in mainly unpaid tax bills.
Knox Builders Ltd was found to have failed to account for taxation in a first report by the Official Assignee after it was appointed liquidator by the High Court at Christchurch last month.
Inland Revenue made the application to wind up the house construction, renovation and repair business owned by sole director and shareholder Jordan Knox.
The Official Assignee said the IRD was owed nearly $485,000, as well as $1800 in applicant costs, of the total estimated shortfall.
Law firm Cavell Leitch was the other unsecured creditor identified at this stage, and was owed just over $17,000.
The Official Assignee said it was establishing communication with the director to obtain the company’s financial statements and a statement of affairs.
“In the meantime, the liquidator is conducting searches and investigations through various databases and other avenues to locate any assets of interest that are of benefit for creditors in this liquidation.”
An estimate of potential assets had yet to be drawn up and returning funds to creditors was considered unlikely.
Knox Builders has been operating since 2021.
The Official Assignee also found a total estimated shortfall of $820,000 in its first liquidator’s report on March 12 for AP Projects Ltd, a Christchurch repair and maintenance business owned by Petershane Jeremy Allen.
The company was placed into liquidation in the High Court at Christchurch on February 5, also sought after by the IRD.
The liquidator was still working out an asset list. Again, the prospect of a dividend was deemed unlikely from the business, which was set up five years ago. — Allied Media