The first 48 hours decide almost everything.
If you’ve been served with a winding-up petition, or HMRC is closing in, the moves you make in the next two days will shape what you can save — and what you quietly lose. This is the plain-English playbook, written by a solicitor who spent years on the other side of the desk at HMRC.
- What to do today — in order, before the noise sets in
- The three early moves that quietly cost directors money
- How to keep trading lawfully while you take advice
- When a validation order matters — and how fast you must act
Written by Femi Ogunshakin — Solicitor, Tax Adviser & former HMRC Inspector, 30+ years
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Download the playbook (PDF) Or book a free 30-minute call with Femi →A calm, ordered path through the worst two days.
Most directors panic, go quiet, or do the one thing that makes it worse. This playbook walks you through what actually matters — step by step.
The first-day checklist
Exactly what to do in the first 24 hours, in priority order — and the urgent things directors routinely forget under pressure.
The costly early mistakes
Three instinctive moves — moving money, paying favoured creditors, going silent — that can expose you personally. Spot them before you make them.
Trading on, lawfully
How to keep the business running while you take advice, without breaching your duties as a director or worsening your position.
When the bank freezes you
Why an advertised petition freezes your account — and how a validation order restores access. Timing is everything here.
Handling HMRC directly
From a former HMRC Inspector: how enforcement decisions are really made, and what genuinely changes the outcome of a conversation.
Knowing your real options
A plain-English map of the routes still open to you — from breathing space to restructuring — so you can ask the right questions.
Written by someone who has sat on both sides of the table.
Femi Ogunshakin is a rare combination: a qualified solicitor and tax adviser who spent years as an Inspector inside HMRC.
That means this playbook isn’t built on theory. It’s built on knowing how enforcement actually works, what petitions really mean for a director, and where the genuine room to manoeuvre sits — written plainly, for directors who don’t have time to learn the law from scratch.
- Qualified solicitor (SRA)
- Former HMRC Inspector
- Tax adviser, 30+ years
- Loftus Stowe Ltd, St Helens
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