Mandatory Electronic Filing of CRO Forms from 1 June – What you need to know
16 May, 2017
With effect from 1 June 2017, the Companies Registration Office (the ‘C.R.O.’) will introduce mandatory electronic filing of the following forms, in respect of all Irish registered companies:
- B1 - Annual Return (including financial statements and electronic payment)
- B2 - Change of registered office
- B10 - Change of director and/or secretary, or a change in their particulars
- B73 - Nomination of a new annual return date
Forms can be filed either through the C.R.O.’s online filing system known as CORE or through a company secretarial software package.
Signing of Forms
There are three methods available, in respect of signing forms:
- Manual Signing
The Signature Page (with barcode) may be signed by a Director or Company Secretary and lodged with the C.R.O. In the case of the Form B1, both a Director and the Company Secretary must sign the Signature Page.
- Electronic Filing Agent
The Company’s Electronic Filing Agents signs digitally using ROS Certificate (Revenue Online Services).
- ROS Certificates
A Director and/or Company Secretary may sign the forms digitally with ROS Certificates.
Financial Statements
A PDF copy of a Company’s financial statements must be uploaded on CORE or a company secretarial software package, within twenty eight days of the date of e-filing the Annual Return with the C.R.O.
The financial statements are not required to contain the manuscript signatures of the Directors and Auditors but must contain the following:
- Typed name(s) of the Director(s) who signed on the financial statements.
- Type name of the Auditor (if applicable)
- Date of signature of the financial statements by the Director(s) and Auditor (if applicable).
Electronic Payment – Filing Fees
The filing of Form B2, Form B10 and Form B73 electronically will incur no filing fees.
The filing of Form B1 electronically will incur a filing fee of €20.00 which must be paid either by credit/debit card or by CRO Customer Account before the Annual Return can be submitted. Late filing fees, if applicable, must also be paid electronically before submission of the Annual Return.
Advantages of Electronic Filing
Documents are processed and registered more efficiently.
There are fewer filing fees to be paid and in some cases, no filing fees apply.
There is less room for error as there is a pre-check in place on CORE which sends an alert if the information being filed does not correspond with the C.R.O.’s records.
For more information on the content of this insight please contact:
Ronan Daly Jermyn's Corporate Governance & Compliance team.