Norton facing winding up order over unpaid taxes

NORTON motorcycles are facing a winding-up order over an unpaid £300,000 tax bill.

First reported in LeicestershireLive, the firm spent yesterday, 08th January, at the Insolvency and Companies Court in London to discuss the debt. They state that the Norton CEO claims the outstanding amount is mostly covered by ‘outstanding research and development tax relief which was owed to the business.’ Norton’s financial director told the judge the company had £135,000 in research and development tax credits due, which were with HMRC for approval.

They also report that the court heard that Norton originally owed HM Revenue and Customs around £600,000, although half of that amount has now been paid.

HMRC’s barrister advised the Judge, Judge Sebastian Prentis, that because Norton was working towards clearing the outstanding amount and that the balance had been reduced, they were seeking an adjournment until a later date. The Judge has now allowed this after they asked for 63 days to settle the outstanding amount.

Judge Prentis adjourned the hearing until February 12th.

This isn’t the first time Norton have been under financial scrutiny, in 2019 the firm was issued a winding-up notice on the 5th March. The factory quickly worked to rectify this and took to social media to calm the speculation. The firm’s CEO, Stuart Garner, claimed the original action was down to an administration error and late filing of its accounts. "To clear this one up, guys. As the informed posts are saying here, it is simply late filing notice. Chill, we are going nowhere," he said on Facebook.