Holly Willoughby’s company survives HMRC tax battle
A media company run by TV presenter Holly Willoughby has survived the latest round of a tax battle with HMRC.
Roxy Media was facing a winding-up petition in the Insolvency and Companies Court over a tax debt reported to total £377,000.
The petition, a serious statement of intent by a creditor to shut down a company due to unpaid debts through compulsory liquidation, was issued by HMRC in January but dismissed by the High Court earlier on Wednesday.
The tax agency is a frequent user of the court for winding-up petitions; it generally submits an application after other collection attempts have failed and the debt exceeds £750.
HMRC said it had requested that the petition against Roxy Media be dismissed because the debt is now being handled through the Tax Tribunal. With no representatives for Roxy Media appearing before him at the morning hearing slot, Judge Briggs agreed to the dismissal.
Roxy Media was founded to manage media clients; Holly Willoughby and her husband, TV producer Dan Baldwin, are directors.
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Steve Thomas, insolvency partner at Excello Law, said: “This is a salutary lesson for all creditors, including HMRC, that a winding up petition should only be used where the debt is fixed and cannot be disputed.
“While sadly a lot of creditors use winding up petitions to pressure debtors into paying, HMRC is typically pragmatic – they and their lawyers obviously took the correct route here in letting the tax tribunal assess what if anything is due, and therefore Holly’s company lives to fight another day.”
Roxy Media was set up in 2008 and is registered at an office in the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool.
Holly Willoughby is registered as a director under her married name, Baldwin.
According to its most recently filed accounts, Roxy Media had shareholder funds of £283,878 as of 29 August 2023, down from £1.1m.
The company is expected to file its latest results by the end of this month.
The business is a media production and management firm.
According to Companies House, Holly Willoughby was first appointed as a director of Roxy Media in 2014. Her husband was appointed as a director in 2008.