Keeping up to Date

Roberts Nathan Partner Aidan Scollard discusses how to keep your Irish company returns up to date in CRO (Companies Registration Office)

UK based clients with Irish companies either as stand-alone entities or subsidiaries within their groups often ask us about the requirements to keep their company up to date in Companies Registration Office CRO (the equivalent of UK Companies House for republic of Ireland companies).

There are two separate filing points in the UK, the filing of a compliance statement and a separate time for the filing of year end accounts.

Unlike the UK there is no requirement for a confirmation statement to be filed in Ireland. Instead in Ireland these filing obligations are a single event. The filing is made up of the annual return (From B1) together with the year end accounts of the company attached at the same time and this becomes the information available on public record.

Annual return filing dates

An Annual Return (Form B1) is required to be submitted by all companies, whether trading or not to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) at least once a year. After the initial 6-month return, all other returns must have financial statements attached.

The Annual return date (ARD) is set in the following ways:

• After incorporation – The company’s ARD is set as 6 months after this exact date and is exempt from uploading Financial Statements.

• When the financial year/period end is set for a company, the ARD must be submitted 9 months plus 28 days after this date. (Where the ARD falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a bank holiday Monday the 28-day period is extended to the next working day).

• The Annual Return must be e-filed online, and payment must be made by a CRO customer account or debit/credit card.

• After submitting the Annual Return, if Financial Statements are required (all subsequent annual returns except initial 6-month post incorporation return) you have a further 28 days to upload them and issue the relevant documents to the CRO.

• Where an annual return is sent back by the CRO for corrections or for fees, the CRO requires the corrected documents to be delivered to them within 14 days of the request letter from them.

Late Filing

It is important to make annual return filings on time as the company will otherwise incur a late filing penalty. Where an Annual Return (or if the Financial Statements are uploaded late the full Annual Return is deemed as late), resulting in late filing fees and where relevant the company will lose its audit exemption for the following two years. Late filing penalties apply at €100 + €3 per day up to a maximum of €1,240 per return.

Contact

Careful consideration is needed and consultation with the appropriate professional advisors should also be obtained (tax, accounting, or your legal advisors etc.,) in maintaining your Irish company.

With our services you have a professional and dedicated service with local knowledge and international experience from a contactable team to assist your company.

Moving ARD dates

Many new companies will have difficulty in having financial statements ready for filing 19 months post-incorporation.

• Form B73 – One option available is to extend the Company’s second ARD to a later date to obtain the optimum gap of nine months between its financial year end and its ARD by filing A B73 form.

• Court appeal – If a company requires extra time to file its return, an application may be made to the District Court or the High Court by a company, on notice to the CRO, for an order extending the time for filing of a particular annual return.

For an initial meeting or discussion, please contact: Aidan Scollard FCA Partner and Registered Auditor - Roberts Nathan Email: aidan.scollard@robertsnathan.com Office: + 353 1 876 4550, Mobile: +353 86 25 23 026