Source: https://www.cro.ie/About-CRO/Whats-New/News-Archives/2015
Timestamp: 2017-05-22 17:30:00
Document Index: 551561499

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 4', 'art 6', 'art 4', 'art2', 'art 16', 'art 16', 'art 17', 'art 24', 'art 19', 'art 18', 'art 6']

About CRO Overview Functions of the CRO Contact Us Address & Location Opening Hours Posting Documents What's New News Archives Website Privacy and Security Statement Rectification of the Register Director Disputes CRO Certificates Customer Charter Freedom of Information FOI Disclosure Log FOI Registry Friendly Societies Payments over €20,000 Procurement Registration Overview Business Name Digital Certificate Company Required Steps Incidental Obligations Registration Methods Digital Registration Company Type Information Foreign Company Legalisation Foreign Company Document Limited Partnership Society - Union I & P Society Friendly Society Trade Union Post Registration Overview Business Name Company Address Change Annual Return Change Name Constitution Alteration Duties of Directors and Secretaries Issue of Prospectus Mergers and Divisions Mortgages and Charges Officer Change Officer Address Disclosure Register Location Re-Registration Resolutions and Meetings Share Capital Change Share Transfer Summary Approval Procedure Foreign Company Limited Partnership Society - Union Industrial and Provident Society Friendly Society Trade Union Annual Return Overview Filing an Annual Return Political Donations Filing Electronically Annual Return Date Extending the ARD Bringing Forward ARD Audit Committee Financial Statements Requirements Small Company Small Company - Abridgement Exemption Medium Company Large Company Group Company Guarantee Company Unlimited Company Insurance Brokers Proper Books Audit Exemption Audit Exemption Statement Auditors Report Filing Exemption Missed Deadlines Penalty Waiver Offences Posting Documents Court Prosecutions Rectification of Financial Statements Termination/Restoration Overview Business Name Company Winding Up Statutory Declaration Receivership Examinership Involuntary Strike Off Voluntary Strike Off Administrative Restoration Court Order Restoration Fast Track Restoration Restoration and Company Type Foreign Company Limited Partnership Society - Union Services Overview Information on ROS E-Filing Digital Signing Certificate Electronic Filing Agent FAQ - Web Forms File Accounts Electronically Mandatory E-Filing Annual Return Mandatory E-filing of Charges Reserve Company Name Software Packages Submitting PDF Accounts Try Paperless Filing Ezine Newsletter Company Search Help Topics CORE Duplicate Certificate Auditor Search Disqualified or Restricted Person Search CRO Accounts System Access to CRO Data CRO Customer Account Late Penalty Calculator Publications Overview Forms CRO Business Names Forms RFS Forms Industrial and Provident Society Forms Trade Union Forms Friendly Society Forms Posting Documents Publications Information Leaflets Corporate CRO Gazette Newsletter Fees Business Name Company Limited Partnerships External Company Fees RFS Friendly Society Fees RFS Industrial and Provident Society Fees RFS Trade Union Fees RFS SCE Fees Bulk Data Payment Methods Opening Customer Account CRO - Re-Use of Info RFS - Re-Use of Info Legislation Company Business Name Limited Partnership Minutes of Meetings LTD Partnerships Slavenburg 2017 Changes Overview Beneficial Ownership Current Status Electronic Filing Mandatory FAQ regarding Mandatory EFiling FAQ regarding EFAs and Mandatory EFiling Post Transition Period More... Homepage Company Search Newsletter Links Contact Us Help About CROWhat's NewNews Archives2015
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9.30am to 1pm and 2.15pm to 4.30pm
Because of the disruption caused to services over the holiday period, annual returns, where the deadline for filing falls between 24th December 2015 and 3rd January 2016, will be treated as received on time if filed by close of business on Monday 4th January 2016 The Registrar and Staff of the CRO wish all our clients a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year.
Christmas 2015 Deadlines - New Companies
The CRO cannot guarantee that submissions received after the dates set out below will be processed before the Christmas break. Scheme
Ordinary Scheme
Fé Phrainn Scheme
Online A1 Scheme
ANNUAL RETURNS - OCTOBER PEAK Companies with an annual return date of 30 September and a filing deadline of 28 October are requested to file on-time and preferably on-line. If you submit your B1 on-line you will have another 28 days from the date of submission to deliver your signature page and financial statements to the CRO. The filing fee for an e-B1 is €20 and for a paper B1 is €40. If an annual return is filed late, late filing penalties apply and, where applicable, the company also loses its entitlement to claim audit exemption in the current year and in the following year. Should you experience difficulties filing your form on-line, help with the content of the form can be obtained from: LoCall 1890-252536* / 059-9178981 / 01-8045394 or eb1@djei.ie Help with technical or IT issues is available from: 01-8045374 / 01 8045307 / 01 8045355 or electronic.filing@djei.ie * Note that the rates charged for the use of 1890 (LoCall) numbers may vary among different service providers.
Information Leaflet 39
Extension of time to file an annual return can be made by application to the District Court or the High Court. Please see information leaflet 39 for more information.
If posting an annual return to the CRO it should be sent to CRO, O’Brien Road, Carlow. The office in Carlow is for receipt of postal lodgements only and is not a public office. Alternatively, presenters can hand deliver to the CRO's Public Office in Parnell Square where you will be provided with a receipt for your documents.
Monday 19th October - Browser problem
Some CORE users have experienced problems with blank PDF signature pages displaying in the Google Chrome browser. If you are having similar problems please try an alternative browser such as Internet Explorer (version 10/11) or Mozilla Firefox. CRO will issue another notice when this problem has been rectified.
Public Office closing early - Friday 16th October
Please note that due to an important CRO staff meeting the Public Office will close early at 3.30pm on Friday the 16 October.
The CRO apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Industrial Action in An Post - Update
The industrial action in An Post ended on Tuesday, 6 October. CRO has been advised by An Post that they expect delivery services to be back to normal by Friday, 9 October, (ie letters posted on 8 October should be delivered on 9 October and so on). Based on this information, if a company had an annual return filing deadline that fell on a date between Friday, 2 October, and Thursday, 8 October, CRO will treat the return as being received on time if it is delivered to the CRO not later than Friday, 9 October.
Industrial Action affecting postal services Posting an Annual Return to the CRO where the deadline for filing is on or after Friday, 2 October 2015. Due to industrial action, An Post has advised customers not to post any letters or parcels until further notice. An Post also states that a small number of letters were not processed on Thursday night due to the industrial action. In light of these exceptional circumstances, if a company's annual return filing deadline falls on Friday, 2 October, or on a date during the industrial action, CRO will treat the annual return as being received on time if it is delivered to the CRO not later than three working days after normal postal services resume. Companies may wish to consider alternative methods of delivery to CRO during the industrial dispute in An Post and documents can be hand delivered to the CRO's Public Office at 14 Parnell Square, Dublin, which is open to the public from 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday. CRO will continue to monitor the situation in An Post and will update this message if there are any further developments.
CRO Website Online Services
Due to an essential maintenance task, users may experience slower than normal response times on Friday 25th September and over the weekend. The CRO apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Online Services from the CRO website will be unavailable from 4pm on Wednesday, 23rd September. The Services will be unavailable due to essential maintenance. The disruption will be brief and will last for approximately 10 minutes. Apologies for any inconvenience that may be caused.
What is Taking Care of Business? This free half-day event has been specifically designed to help small and start-up businesses understand and benefit from the services provided by many of our State offices and agencies. The event will include short presentations and opportunities to get information directly from the agencies involved. How many State offices and agencies are coming to the event? Representatives from 25 State offices and agencies will be available at the event. A number of business representative bodies will also be attending .
Next event: - North East Regional Event - Westcourt Hotel, Drogheda - Thursday 8th October 2015 - 8.30am to 1.30pm
Please visit Taking Care of Business website for more information. July
For information on registering for ROS (Revenue Online Signature) and the use of RANs (ROS Access Numbers) and registering as a Sub-User, please see webpage Registering for ROS.
New Forms Only The New forms must now be used. Old forms are no longer be accepted by the CRO.
Electronic B1 forms: The new B1 form is now available to file electronically through CORE. Old versions of B1 signature pages submitted electronically (“captured”) on CORE before 1 June will be accepted by the CRO for up to 28 days after the date of “capture”. Presenters who use software packages should contact their software vendors to establish when the new B1 will be available to file electronically using a software package. RFS - Examinerships Part 4 of the Friendly Societies and Industrial and Provident Societies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 has been commenced as of 1st July 2015. SI. 269 of 2015 refers to the application of examinership legislation to Industrial and Provident Societies. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2014/en/act/pub/0019/index.html Liquidations - Rules of the Superior Court The Rules of the Superior Court have set out forms for use with liquidations. SI 255 of 2015. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2015/statutory.html Under the new Rules, an order to wind up a company will be sent to the Registrar of Companies by the Registrar of the Court. Form E4 (forms 39 & 40) require a statutory declaration and this has been added to the version on the website. The form E1 - declaration of solvency for use with section 580 has also be prescribed. It requires that a statutory declaration be completed. Form E1(41) can be completed for this purpose. Where a declaration of solvency is made under the Summary Approval Procedure - section 207/208 - a statutory declaration is not required. Form E1 - SAP can be completed for this purpose. Application to Court for an Order extending time to file Annual Return Under Section 343, Companies Act 2014, with effect from 1 June 2015, applications for an extension of time to file an annual return may be made to either the High Court or to the District Court. The Court may make an Order extending the time in which the company may deliver its annual return to the Registrar of Companies. Only one such Order may be made in respect of a particular year. Application to the District Court is made on notice to the Registrar by means of an Affidavit. The time which will be extended is the 28 days after the ARD provided for in sections 343(2) and 343(3), CA 2014. The company must file the Order with the CRO usually within 28 days of the Order being made. If the company files the annual return within the extra time specified by the Court Order, the documents will be deemed by the CRO to have been received on time and the consequences of late filing (late filing penalties/loss of audit exemption) will not apply to that annual return. Please note that companies must have legal representation when making an application to Court. See Missed Deadlines page.
New Obligations - Financial Statements Under the Commencement Order the following new obligations in Part 6 of the 2014 Act were commenced in respect of financial years beginning on or after 1 June 2015: section 167: Audit committees section 225: Director's compliance statement and related statement section 305(1)b: Share options disclosure section 306(1): Payments to connected persons section 326(1)a: Director's names section 330: Directors' report: statement on relevant audit information). For further information see Section 3.7 of CRO Information leaflet No.23.
Fixing length of Financial periods Under section 288, 2014 Companies Act, the financial statements attached to a company’s first full annual return (ie with financial statements) must cover the period from incorporation and must not be for a period longer than 18 months. Each subsequent financial year begins on the date immediately after the last financial year end date and must be for a period of no more than 7 days shorter or longer than 12 months. A company may, by filing a form B83 (filing fee: €15) with the Registrar, apply to alter its current or its previous financial year end date by not more than six months, which will then become its financial year end date for the future. Such an application may only be made once in every five years unless the company is exempted by section 288(10), Companies Act 2014. For further information see Section 3 of CRO Information leaflet No.23 Revision of Financial Statements and/or Directors Report A new provision in the 2014 Act is that if the company becomes aware of an error in the Financial Statements or Directors’ Report, they should correct the error and file the corrected documentation with the CRO not more than 28 days after the date of revision. Where copies of the original Financial Statements or original Directors’ Report have been laid before the company in a general meeting or delivered to the Registrar, all revisions should be made with reference to sections 366 to 379, CA 2014, using the Form B1X, filing fee: €15. Where a revision is filed with the CRO, section 376(6), CA 2014, requires that the original Financial Statements or Directors’ Report shall continue to remain on the Register. A revision to the Form B1 may be made using the Form B1B, filing fee: €15. For further information see Section 8 of CRO Information Leaflet 23. Audit Exemption Companies now only have to meet 2 of the 3 size criteria to qualify as a “small company” for the purposes of claiming an audit exemption. Guarantee companies and companies which are part of a small Group may now claim the small company audit exemption and there is also an audit exemption available to Dormant companies irrespective of size. All audit exemptions are conditional on the company filing their annual return on time in the current year and in the previous year. For further information, see Sections 4 and 9 of CRO Information Leaflet 23 Application for Voluntary Strike-off – FORM H15 Under Section 731, Companies Act 2014, a Form H15 (filing fee €15) must now be signed by ALL the directors of the company and must be accompanied by the following: a special resolution (dated not more than 3 months prior to the date of the application) on a Form G1H15 (filing fee: €15), a letter of no objection from the Revenue Commissioners (dated not more than 3 months prior to the date of the application), and the original page from the newspaper on which the strike-off was advertised (dated not more than 30 days prior to the application). You are advised to apply for the Revenue letter of no objection in good time and not to place the newspaper advertisement until you have received the letter from Revenue. For further information see Section 1.2 of CRO Information Leaflet 28 Section 150(11)
It is possible in limited circumstances for non-disclosure of the residential address of a director. This only applies to new addresses and cannot apply to an address already supplied to the CRO. June
The Companies Registration Office Annual Report for 2014 is now available from the website - Corporate Publications page.
Tables of Origins and Destinations for the Companies Act 2014
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have published a Table of Origins and a Table of Destinations for the Companies Act 2014. www.djei.ie/commerce/companiesact2014.htm
Please note that it is essential to read the guidelines provided with the Tables in order to fully understand and use them correctly. DJEI may amend these Tables at any time and from time to time.
You will also find other useful information about the Act on the same page and additionally at:
http://www.djei.ie/publications/sis/2015/index.htm
Please continue to check back on these pages, as you will see from the "coming soon" section that more publications will follow.
The CORE website will be unavailable on Friday 12th June from 7.30am to 9.00am approximately due to some essential maintenance.
Filing a B1 (annual return) through CORE on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th June Please note that following the updating of CORE to take account of the commencement of the Companies Act 2014 on 1 June, we are experiencing some technical difficulties with the filing of B1 forms. Our technical team are working to resolve these issues as soon as possible. NB: If your filing deadline fell on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 8th of June, and you were unable to submit your B1 due to technical problems, your company will not be penalised and you will not be required to pay late filing penalties or lose audit exemption as long as you submit the B1 through CORE no later than Tuesday, 9th June, and complete the annual return filing within 28 days. We are working on fixing any other technical difficulties that have arisen and appreciate your patience. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
CORE has gone through extensive changes to be ready for receiving filings required under the Companies Act 2014. Since going live on 1 June, users have been encountering some technical difficulties. CRO are actively addressing issues that are made known to us and have applied a number of fixes to these problems. We will continue to work through any issues that users are experiencing and hope to have these issues rectified as soon as possible. We ask users to contact the CRO immediately they encounter a difficulty with filing on CORE at electronic.filing@djei.ie in order that the CRO is aware of the particular difficulty and is then in a position to address the difficulty. We will also continue to work with users to ensure that any technical errors on our side do not result in late filing penalties. Please note that users filing through software packages may also be affected by these technical difficulties. In such instances please contact your software vendor for further information. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience
Copies of the statutory instruments relating to the Companies Act 2014 can be obtained from the Department website. SI 218 deals with the format for the independent person's report to be supplied as part of the Summary Approval Procedures (Part 4 of the Act).
As of 1st June 1st 2015, the register is made up of:
Part2 Companies Act2014
Private Guarantee companies are now DACs and operate under Part 16 Companies Act 2014.
Private limited by shares companies which operate under the Designated Activity Company legislation until such time as they are converted. See Need to Convertarea.
DACs operate under Part 16 Companies Act 2014
PLCs operate under Part 17 Companies Act 2014. Investment Companies under Part 24 Companies Act 2014
PUCs, PULCs and ULCs operate under Part 19 Companies Act 2014
CLGs operate under Part 18 Companies Act 2014
Companies Act 2014 has now commenced
From June 1st 2015, the Companies Act 2014 has commenced. This Act replaces the Companies Acts 1963-2013. It is a consolidation of the old Acts with some new features including:
From June 1st 2015, the "Slavenburg file" will be closed and it will no longer be possible to submit particulars of a charge which does not relate to a registered company. Related to this, it will no longer be possible for an external company to register a Place of Business. From June 1st 2015, it will only be possible for an external company which is a limited liability company to register with the CRO. Such external companies can register as a Branch EEA or a Branch Non-EEA.
From June 1st 2015, there will be a number of changes to the B1 form (annual return). The Act provides for a four-fold categorisation of offences into Categories 1 to 4. Throughout the Act, offences are, as created, categorised as attracting a particular category of penalty. May
Please note: Office Closure and Online Services downtime
Due to essential technical work required ahead of commencement of New Companies Act 2014 on 1st June 2015, the Public Office will not open until 11am on Friday 29th May.
CRO online services will also be affected on Friday 29th May from 7am until 11am. All our online services including CORE, Open Services and Company Search will be unavailable at this time. We regret any inconvenience caused to the public. Thank you for your cooperation.
The Commencement order for the Companies Act 2014 has set the date of 1st June 2015 as the date of commencement. See statutory instrument 169 of 2015 for more information. Link to Irish Statute Book website.
Due to the commencement of the New Companies Act 2014 on the 1 June 2015, the following are the filing deadlines for Incorporations, Change of Name and Reregistrations, under the current Companies Act 1963 to 2013. In order to ensure registration when using the current CRO forms(1963 to 2013 Act) before 1 June 2015, correctly completed applications must be received in New Companies Section on the dates set out below, to ensure registration before Friday 29 May 2015. It should be clearly understood that submissions received after these dates, on the current forms, will not be processed and will result in the applications being returned to the Presenter. The Presenters will then need to make another submission on the New forms relevant to the 2014 Companies Act , if they still wish to have the applications processed after 1 June 2015. Last Date for receipt of Applications to be processed under the current forms relevant to the 1963 to 2013 Companies Acts. ORDINARY SCHEME 11 May 2015 Fé PHRAINN SCHEME 18 May 2015 Fé Phrainn A1 ON LINE SCHEME 20 May 2015 CHANGE OF NAME 18 May 2015 RE-REGISTRATIONS 18 May 2015 It should be clearly understood that the deadlines above are for correctly completed forms. If the forms are returned for correction, it will not be possible to have them processed before the commencement of the Companies Act 2014. Hence it will be necessary to make a new submission on the New forms, after I June 2015 (2014 Act ). It is a matter for Presenters to ensure that correctly completed forms are filed on time. New Companies Section CRO April
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FILED WITH THE CRO AFTER 1 JUNE 2015 The most commonly asked question of the CRO in relation to the new Act is "what financial years will the new Act apply to". This note is provided as guidance in relation to what documents the CRO will accept after 1 June 2015. Company directors may wish to obtain their own professional advice and accountants may wish to seek guidance from their Recognised Accountancy Bodies. The CRO is planning to take the following approach in relation to financial statements attached to annual returns delivered to the Registrar on or after 1 June 2015: if the financial year ends before 1 June 2015 and the financial statements are signed by the director(s) before 1 June, they must be prepared and filed in accordance with the 1963-2013 Companies Acts; if the financial year ends after 1 June 2015, the financial statements must be prepared and filed under the 2014 Companies Act.
Under the Commencement Order the following new obligations in Part 6 of the Act will be commenced in respect of financial years BEGINNING on or after 1 June 2015: section 167: Audit committees section 225: Director's compliance statement and related statement
section 305(1)b: Share options disclosure section 306(1): Payments to connected persons
section 326(1)a: Director's names section 330: Directors' report: statement on relevant audit information).
Financial Statements to be filed with the CRO after 1June 2015
Financial Statementssigned BEFORE1June 2015
Financial Statementssignedafter1June 2015
Financial Year ending BEFORE 1June
1963-2013 Acts
Financial Year endingAFTER 1 June
Financial YearbeginningAFTER 1 June
REVISION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND/OR DIRECTORS’ REPORT A new provision in the 2014 Act is that if the company becomes aware of an error in the Financial Statements, they should correct the error and file the corrected documentation with the CRO not more than 28 days after the date of revision. Where copies of the original Financial Statements or original Directors’ Report have been laid before the company in a general meeting or delivered to the Registrar, all revisions should be made with reference to sections 366 to 379, CA 2014, using the Form B1X.
See section 8 of Information Leaflet 23
Under EU Directive 2003/58 regarding disclosure requirements in respect of companies, CRO are required to provide electronic copies of documents. In accordance with this requirement CRO are introducing "digitally certified" copies of documents as a product through the company search facility. The digitally certified copy of the document will be available as an option to purchase when choosing a submission. The cost will be the same as a manual certified copy and is now available. The "digitally certified" document will be emailed to customers as a pdf document. The pdf document contains a coloured banner at the top of the screen which confirms that it has been digitally signed as certified by the CRO. This assures the recipient that the document is authentic, comes from a source (CRO) that has been independently verified, and has not been tampered with. Globalsign who provide this software, have likened the digitally certified document as the electronic equivalent of adding a notarised, wet ink signature.
To order digitally certified documents please go to: http://search.cro.ie/company/ Penalty Waivers - Companies Act 2014 : Please note that from the commencement date of the Companies Act 2014 (1 June 2015), applications for an extension of time to file an annual return can be made through the District Court as per section 343(5) of the Act. The costs of making an application to the District Court are far less than the High Court (which is currently the court prescribed). The District Court will (on notice to the Registrar) hear applications for an extension of time to file the annual return and may make an Order extending the time to file. Where a company files such an Order with the CRO within 28 days of the Order being made, and subsequently files the annual return within the extra time specified by the District Court, the documents will be deemed by the CRO to have been received on time. As a result, the consequences of late filing (late filing penalties / loss of audit exemption) will not apply to that annual return. Consequently, from 1 June 2015 CRO will no longer be engaging in correspondence with companies appealing the application of penalties as a result of the late filing of an annual return. Instead, companies who need more time to file their annual return should make an application to the District Court in the district court area where their registered office is situated. NB. Section 343(5) of the Act will not apply to an annual return which has already been delivered to the CRO at 1 June 2015
The CRO is closed for Easter on Good Friday (April 3rd) and Easter Monday (April 6th). Please also see CRO Opening Hours. Where a company is filing an annual return - if the 28 day filing period expires on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the 28 day period is extended to the next working day. See Filing an Annual Return. March
Taking Care of Business will take place in The Tower Hotel Waterford on 30th April, 2015 from 8.00am to 2.00pm. This unique event has been specifically designed to help start-up businesses understand and benefit from the services provided by many of our State offices and agencies. You can Register on-line at www.takingcareofbusiness.ie or you can email info@takingcareofbusiness.ie for more information. Admission is free.
The CRO is carrying out maintenance to our website on Thursday 26th March. This will result in the CRO website being inaccessible from 1pm to 2pm. Our online services will still be available. We regret any inconvenience caused to the public during this essential maintenance. Thank you for your cooperation.
Companies Act 2014 commences June 1st 2015
From June 1st 2015, the Companies Act 2014 will be commenced. This Act will replace the Companies Acts 1963-2013. It is a consolidation of the old Acts with some new features including:
From June 1st 2015, there will be a number of changes to the B1 form (annual return). The Act provides for a four-fold categorisation of offences into Categories 1 to 4. Throughout the Act, offences are, as created, categorised as attracting a particular category of penalty. January
RFS - Cancellation List - Industrial and Provident Societies
The Registrar of Friendly Societies will move to cancel the registration of the following list of Industrial and Provident Societies due to their failure to file annual returns. These societies will be cancelled on 17th April 2015 unless all outstanding returns are filed by that date. RFS Cancellation List Jan 2015.pdf
Core has had a face lift Please note that CORE has been upgraded to a modernised platform. It looks different, however the content and functionality are the same. Link to CORE www.core.ie
The drop down menus now appear along the top of the page instead of on the left hand side.
The Companies Act 2014 was signed into law by the President on 23rd December 2014. This new Companies Act - will replace the Companies Acts 1963-2013. This Act is split into two volumes as a result. It is expected that the new Act will be commenced in June 2015. It has not been commenced yet and companies continue to operate under the Companies Acts 1963-2013. The citation remains the Companies Acts 1963 to 2013. (The new Companies Act will not be a part of the current legislation as it will replace the Companies Acts).
Please see area of the website which will deal with the new Companies Act and some of the changes that are being introduced. Copyright