Sooner rather than later is our strong recommendation.  We regularly meet directors who have continued trading a business for long periods when it was clearly insolvent and had passed the point of no-return.  Sadly, in many such cases the directors or their family members have sunk further money into the company, at a time when there was no realistic chance of repayment.

Delay also places directors at risk of action against them personally, especially where PAYE has been deducted but not paid over.  The IRD is becoming much more aggressive in pursuing directors personally for non-payment of PAYE.  Various examples of recent IRD prosecutions are located on the IRD website.