Closing an IT Company: Domains, Hosting, and SaaS Account Transfers

For limited companies in the UK, the strike-off route uses Companies House form DS01. Before you file it, you should make sure the company has stopped trading, liabilities have been settled, and assets have been transferred or closed properly.

What counts as a digital asset

For an IT company, digital assets usually include:

• Domain names registered in the company’s name.
• Web hosting and cloud platforms.
• Email systems such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
• GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket organisations.
• SaaS tools billed to the company, including project management, accounting, design, and support software.
• Client logins, API keys, certificates, and billing records.

These items are not just admin tasks. If the company owns them at the point of dissolution, they may be treated as remaining company assets, and remaining assets pass to the Crown after strike-off.

Transfer domains first

Domain names should be transferred before the company is struck off. This is especially important if the domain is used for client work, company email, or a live product, because once the company disappears, ownership and access become harder to evidence and recover.

For gTLDs, transfer is usually handled through the current registrar and can take up to 5 days to complete. For .uk and .co.uk domains, Nominet’s registry rules apply, and registrar transfer/registrant transfer processes are used rather than a simple “delete and re-register” approach.

Practical points to check:

• Make sure the domain is still active and not expired or in redemption.
• Start the transfer early, because transfer requests can take up to 5 days.
• Update registrant details if the domain is moving from the company to you personally or to a client.
• Keep evidence of the transfer for your records.

A common mistake is waiting until after dissolution. That can leave the domain tied to a company that no longer legally exists, which creates avoidable recovery work and risk.

Move hosting and cloud accounts

Hosting and cloud services should be handled before the company is closed. If the company runs websites, staging environments, client apps, or internal services, decide whether the account will be transferred to a personal account, a client account, or a new company account.

For cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, and Azure, the safest approach is usually to migrate workloads into the destination account first, then close the old company-controlled account only after the move is complete. In AWS, account ownership and billing arrangements can be migrated, but the process depends on the structure of the account and billing setup.

Before you close anything:

• Export billing history and cost reports.
• Download configuration data and infrastructure documentation.
• Check whether the account holds certificates, DNS settings, or backups.
• Confirm who will be responsible for ongoing billing after the transfer.

If a site or app is being handed over to a client, make the transfer operationally first, then deal with the paperwork. That usually means moving DNS, hosting access, source code, backups, and any secrets or credentials the client needs to run the service.

Handle SaaS subscriptions

SaaS subscriptions often create the biggest closing risk because they are easy to forget. Review every tool billed to the company, including Jira, Notion, Slack, Figma, Adobe, Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, password managers, support desks, and analytics tools.

Each tool usually falls into one of three categories:

• Transfer to a new owner or client.
• Export data, then cancel.
• Keep temporarily during the wind-down, then cancel once the transfer is complete.

If the account contains client data, export it before cancelling. If the tool is needed after dissolution, move billing to a new payment method and make sure the login email, admin role, and recovery contacts no longer depend on the soon-to-be-closed company address.

Email and identity access

Company email often sits at the centre of everything else. Before closing the company, update login email addresses for any systems still tied to the company inbox, including cloud services, bank logins, HMRC-related access, and registrar accounts where relevant.

You should also:

• Export mailboxes and archives.
• Set up auto-replies where needed.
• Notify contacts of the new address.
• Remove dependency on the company domain email before the domain transfer is complete.

This step matters because access recovery after dissolution is much harder if password resets and admin notifications still go to a dead company mailbox.

Closing sequence

A sensible closing order for an IT company is:

1. Stop trading and identify all live services.
2. Move domains away from the company.
3. Transfer or migrate hosting and cloud infrastructure.
4. Export and hand over SaaS data.
5. Update billing details and cancel unused subscriptions.
6. File final tax and payroll matters.
7. Apply for strike-off with DS01 only when the company has no remaining assets or live obligations.

This order reduces the risk of leaving valuable digital property inside a dissolved company. It also makes the process cleaner for directors, clients, and accountants.

Common mistakes

The most common mistakes are:

• Filing DS01 too early.
• Forgetting a domain registered in the company’s name.
• Cancelling hosting before backups and exports are complete.
• Leaving SaaS subscriptions active on a company card.
• Not updating admin email addresses before closing the mailbox.

Another common issue is assuming a domain can simply be “left alone” once the company closes. In practice, remaining assets do not disappear; they can pass to the Crown if they are still owned by the company at strike-off.

When to get help

Get professional help if the company has:

• Multiple client domains.
• Shared cloud infrastructure.
• Production systems with live traffic.
• SaaS contracts with annual commitments.
• Any disputed ownership between the company, the director, and clients.

This is especially important where there is no clean separation between company-owned assets and client-owned assets. In those cases, the transfer plan should be documented before any shutdown begins.

Final checklist

Before strike-off, make sure you have:

• Transferred all company-owned domains.
• Migrated hosting and cloud workloads.
• Exported SaaS and email data.
• Cancelled or reassigned subscriptions.
• Saved invoices, billing records, and cost reports.
• Confirmed that no material assets remain in the company.

Only after that should you file DS01 and proceed with the strike-off process.