CRO – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

There are two principle ways to submit Forms and documents with the CRO, CORE and postal submissions.

The Forms page details the submission process for all CRO Forms listed on the page.

You can access CORE here.

Please see Online Filing FAQ for questions regarding CORE.

Please note: No cash or cheque payments are acceptable for forms submitted on CORE.

Payment may be made to the CRO by:

• Credit/Debit cards: for online company searches or online deposits to a customer account
• Postal Money Order: should be made payable to the Companies Registration Office (full title)
• Bank draft/cheque: should be made payable to the Companies Registration Office (full title)
• Cash. Note: it is not advisable to send cash by post

Please Note:
Foreign currency, sterling and euro items drawn on banks outside the Republic of Ireland are not acceptable because of service charges for cheque clearance.
Payments from outside of the Republic of Ireland for document registration, document requests and miscellaneous services, must be on a euro denominated bank draft drawn on a bank in the Irish clearing system.

Please see link for Opening a Customer account with the CRO.

For online deposits to a customer account, please see Account Login.

A company is a legal form of business organisation. It is a separate legal entity and, therefore, is separate and distinct from those who run it.

The company (and not the individual shareholders) is the appropriate person to be sued in the event that debts are incurred by the company which remain unpaid, despite demand.

A company registered under the Companies Act 2014 becomes a body corporate as and from the date mentioned in its certificate of incorporation.

The vast majority of companies incorporated also have limited liability and have to file annual returns and submit notice of change in their details.

A company is a legal entity separate and distinct from those who own or run the company.

In order to Register a Company a number of required steps must be followed.

An external company registration is where a company incorporated in a foreign jurisdiction establishes a Branch in Ireland.

This service is only available on CORE.

Please note: You cannot reserve a business name (trading name).

Please visit Reserve Company Name for more information.

Registering a Company Name does not protect trademarks. Trademark law is separate from company law.

For more information on trademarks, please visit the Patents Office website.

The incorporation of a company depends on the Method of Registration.

Registration can be availed using an A1 Form or Fé Phráinn schemes.

Please note that Fé Phráinn schemes are not suitable for a one-off incorporation of a company, they are used by frequently filing presenters and have strict set up conditions and requirements.

The CRO does not provide drafts of the memorandum or articles of association (constitutions) to be used by companies.

Samples of these documents may be obtained from legal stationers, accountants, solicitors or company formation agents.

The format for the constitution of different company types is set out in the Companies Act 2014.

The CRO cannot provide Company Seals. These can be purchased from a law/legal stationers.

No. The registered office of a company must be a physical location. A director must state his/her usual resident address.

Please view Registered Office for more information.

To change the registered office of a company, you must use a Form B2, which is submitted through CORE.

A company must carry on an activity in the State.

Please see Activity in the State for more information.

Each company type must have at least two directors, with the exception of the LTD company type, which can have a single director but which must have a separate individual as a secretary.

Please see the Company Officer page for more information.

An undischarged bankrupt cannot act as an officer of a company, as detailed in Section 132 of the Companies Act 2014.

Undischarged bankrupt means a person who is declared bankrupt by a court within the State or elsewhere who has not obtained a certificate of discharge or its equivalent in the relevant jurisdiction.

Section 132 of the Companies Act 2014 provides that any person, being an undischarged bankrupt acts as an officer or directly or indirectly takes part or is concerned in the promotion, formation or management of any company except with the leave of the High Court, shall be guilty of an offence, which is prosecutable summarily by Corporate Enforcement Authority.

No, at least one director should be European Economic Area (EEA) resident, an alternative is to file a bond.

See Company Officer for more information.

A Form B10 must be submitted to the CRO to record changes to the registered details of a Company, this includes changes to a Company’s address, and where there are changes to a company’s director or secretary, such as resignations, or the appointment of a new director or secretary. Please see Changing Company Officer Information for more information.

A Form B10 can submitted on CORE.

Please see Letterheads for more information.

A company is not required to notify the CRO of share transfers at the time of the transfer. The transfer will be reflected in the next Annual Return filed by the company.

The Stock transfer form is not a CRO form and should not be filed with the CRO. A stamp duty return must be filed online with Revenue if the stock transfer form is chargeable to stamp duty.

For more information on stamp duty and filing stamp duty returns, please visit the Revenue website.

Certificates of Registration are now only issued in electronic format.

Please visit Digital Certificates of Incorporation of a Company Name for more information.

Please visit CORE.

A Letter of Status/Certificate of Good Standing is proof that your company is incorporated and authorised to undertake business in Ireland.

You can order a Letter of Status/Letter of Good Standing on CORE. This option can be found under the ‘Reports’ tab.

You can obtain a duplicate certificate on our online portal CORE by entering the Company number into the search bar. The duplicate certificate option can be found under the ‘Reports’ tab.

A Duplicate Certificate can be used for the purposes of renewing a liquor licence. Also, Property Services Regulatory Authority applications are required to provide “a certified certificate of incorporation of the company”. We have confirmed with the authority that duplicate certificates orderable from our site are acceptable for these purposes.

A Business Name is a registered trading name where an individual partnership or company discloses that they are conducting business under a name which does not consist of the individuals name or the names of all of a company’s partners.

A Business Name’s purpose is to make public the identities of those individuals, partnerships or corporate bodies being the legal entity behind the business name.
Registration of a business name is obligatory where an individual, partnership or a company carries on business under a name other than their own true names.

Please Note: No new legal entity is created when the business name is registered. Creation of a business name doesn’t provide limited liability. A business name doesn’t have to file annual accounts.

Please Note: Registration of a business name does not result in the creation of an entity with separate legal personality.

There are required steps in registering a Business Name.

You can check the Register of Business Names on CORE.

Different Forms need to be submitted depending on what details of a registered Business Name are being changed.

Please visit this page for information on what Forms to use when changing the registered particulars of a Business Name, or to change the ownership of a registered Business Name.

Please see Letterheads for more information.

In order to deregister a Business Name, a Form RBN3 needs to be submitted to the Register. There is no associated filing fee.

You can obtain a duplicate certificate on our online portal CORE by entering the Business Name number into the search bar. The duplicate certificate option can be found under the ‘Reports’ tab.

A Duplicate Certificate can be used for the purposes of renewing a liquor licence. Also, Property Services Regulatory Authority applications are required to provide “a certificate of business name registration”. We have confirmed with the authority that duplicate certificates ordered from our site are acceptable for these purposes.

An Annual Return Date (ARD) of a company is the latest date to which an annual return must be made up. The Annual Return must be filed with the CRO within 28 days of the date to which it is made up.

Please visit Filing an Annual Return for more information.

Please also visit Common Filing Errors for more information.

The first Annual Return Date (ARD) is the date which is six months after the date of incorporation of a company. An Annual Return must be submitted to the CRO on CORE. No company accounts need be attached to this first Annual Return.

Second and subsequent ARDs will fall on the anniversary of the company’s first ARD, unless the company elects to change its ARD, and company accounts are required with these returns.

An ARD can be extended to a later date but only in particular circumstances. Please visit
Extending the Annual Return Date for more information.

Where the 28 day filing period expires on a weekend or public holiday, the 28 day period is extended to the next working day.

Please visit Filing an Annual Return for more information on Annual Returns.

Yes, an ARD can be altered and may require the submission of an additional form to the annual return, depending on the circumstances.

Please see Extending the Annual Return Date, or Bringing forward an Annual Return Date for more information.

Yes. However a Form B1B73 should not be filed with a company’s first Annual Return as such a filing shortens the timescale within which accounts have to be filed by the company.

For example, a company incorporated on 10 February 2047 should make its first Annual Return (without accounts) up to 10 August 2047. On filing this Annual Return, its next Annual Return Date (ARD) becomes 10 August 2048. If the company files a B73 Form with its first Annual return, it creates a new ARD, as in the date nominated on the submitted B73 Form, and the company’s accounts will have to be attached to its second Annual Return which can be made up to 10 February 2048 at the latest.

Please visit Extending the Annual Return Date for more information.

Depending on circumstances, a company may be entitled to claim audit exemption. There are a number of conditions that have to be met.

Please visit Audit Exemption for further details.

The CRO does not accept documents by email or by fax, as all documents submitted to the CRO must bear original signatures.

Financial statements should be uploaded through CORE.

Please visit Common Filing Errors for more information.

A late filing penalty of €100 becomes due in respect of an annual return on the day after the expiry of the filing deadline. The filing deadline is 28 days after the effective date of the Annual Return, with a daily penalty amount of €3 accruing thereafter, up to a maximum penalty of €1,200 per return. This penalty is in addition to the standard filing fee of €20 per return.

See visit Missed Deadlines for more information.

You cannot appeal a late filing penalty. Instead, an application can be made to the Court for an extension of time to file.

Please visit the Late Filing Fee Waiver page for more information.

No. The Companies Accounting Act of 2017 is separate to the Companies Act of 2014, and the two acts are not to be read together as one.

Provided all outstanding Annual Returns are filed before the complete application for Voluntary Strike-Off is received, no further returns are required to be filed with the CRO.

For example, where a company’s Annual Return Date is 30th September and a complete application for voluntary strike-off is received and registered on 10th September, the Annual Return due to be made up to 30th September is not required to be filed.

No. Pre-dissolution liabilities of a company remain as liabilities of the company following its dissolution. Since a dissolved company does not have legal existence, the company is required to be restored to the register for a creditor to maintain proceedings in respect of a liability incurred by that company or to enforce a judgment obtained against that company prior to its dissolution. Strike-off and dissolution of a company does not retrospectively remove the protection of limited liability from that company.

If a company is struck off but the business continues to trade and to incur liabilities post-dissolution, such trade is made in a personal capacity by the individual(s) running the business, as the company has no legal existence at the date on which the liability is incurred.

It is however possible to restore a dissolved company to the register within 20 years of its dissolution following strike-off. The Companies Act of 2014 provides that on restoration, the restored company is deemed to have continued in existence as if it had not been struck off.

Where a company is struck off and dissolved and the business continues post-dissolution, the officers and/or members of that company are in a position to apply to have the company restored to the register, and if it is restored, the benefit of limited liability will be retrospectively conferred in respect of the activities of the company for the duration of the period when it was not on the register.

There is one exception to this – Section 742 of the Companies Act 2014 allows for an ‘alternative order’ to be made whenever a company is restored by the High or Circuit Court pursuant to Section 738 of the Companies Act, which order can make officers of the company liable in whole or in part for any debt or liability incurred while that company was dissolved. It is necessary for a creditor to attend the restoration hearing and to apply for such order to be made by the Court hearing the restoration application.

When a company is administratively restored within 12 months of dissolution via Section 737 Companies Act 2014, the company is deemed by the Act to have continued in existence as if its name had not been struck off, and there is no possibility of having an ‘alternative order’ made.

A company can seek voluntary strike-off but only in particular circumstances and following submission of certain information. A Form H15 must be completed and submitted on CORE.

Please visit Voluntary Strike-off for more information.

A company can be wound up/dissolved after in two ways, either through Liquidation or following strike-off, which can be either Voluntary or Involuntary in nature.

The restoration of a company is dependent on the means that the company was dissolved.

A company that has been struck off the register can be restored within 20 years of the dissolution. Restoration can be made in one of two ways depending on the amount of time since dissolution, either through Administrative Action or by Court Order.

A company that has been dissolved following a completed liquidation can have the dissolution declared void, only within 2 years of the dissolution, by court order. Please visit this page for more information.

There are different filing requirements for companies incorporated in the State, and for company incorporated outside the State and which has an established branch in the State.

Please visit Mortgages and Charges for more information.

The CRO register of charges records “the persons entitled to the charge” as one of the mandatory items specified in Section 414 of the Companies Act 2014.

In the event that there is a change in the identity of the lender under a registered charge during the lifetime of that charge, it is possible to have the details of the person entitled to the charge amended on the CRO register by submitting a Form C17.

Please visit the Mortgages and Charges page for more details.

A person cannot act as a director of a company limited by guarantee where they have been restricted, as detailed in Section 842 of the Companies Act 2014.

Section 633 and Section 634 of the Companies Act 2014 sets out the qualifications that are needed to be appointed as a liquidator to a Company.

The requirement for such qualification is overseen by the Irish Auditing and Accountancy Standards Authority. The CRO cannot answer any questions regarding the qualifications. Please contact IAASA regarding this process.

A company can return to Normal status on the register and recommence trading, but only following an order of the High Court.

Please visit Winding Up for more information.

No. Once a Company has been placed in Liquidation, the returns of the liquidator are submitted each year. Which Form is submitted depends on the type of liquidation.

Please visit Winding Up for more information.

If ineffective, the company is deemed to be in a Creditors Voluntary Winding Up rather than a Members Voluntary Winding Up, and would necessitate an application to the High Court to change the liquidation type. Therefore it is important to file correctly.

Please visit Declaration of Solvency for more information.

Ireland is party to the EC Convention, the Council of Europe Convention and the Hague Convention.

Please visit the Statutory Declarations page for more information on the requirements for authentication of Irish forms being sworn abroad.

The CRO cannot provide any statistical analysis on behalf of members of the public.

Statistics can be obtained from the CRO’s Annual Reports, which are published annually mid-year. The Reports are available on the website’s Corporate Publications page.

The CRO Gazette is published each Wednesday, and details some of the documents registered in the CRO on a weekly basis, as well as Company strike-off lists. The Gazette editions are available here.