If you have missed your Annual Return filing deadline with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) your company will be incur a late filing fee of €100 with a further €3 per day for every day thereafter, up to a maximum of €1,200.

Your company will also lose its audit exemption and will be obliged to have its financial statements audited, for two years.  This results in higher accounting costs around €2000 per year.

We can apply to the District Court on your behalf for an Order to extend the time for submission of the Annual Return.

District Court Application procedure:

We will make an application to the Court to receive a date for the hearing.

We then serve an Affidavit and Notice of Motion on the Companies Registration Office who in turn, will release their Letter of Consent

The Affidavit and Declaration of Service is then filed with the Court.

When the Order is granted, we file it with the Registrar of Companies and your company will then have 28 days to deliver the Annual Return/s and Accounts to the Registry.

When you submit your company’s Annual Return to the CRO within the extended time, the Annual Return will be deemed to have been delivered on time and the late filing penalties will not apply and your company will avoid losing its audit exemption.

6 months after incorporation your company has to file its first Annual Return with the CRO, no accounts are filed with this Annual Return.

However, if you miss this first filing for your Annual Return it will not affect you audit exemption.

If you miss your first and second annual returns it is advised to proceed with the court extension.