Electronic Filing

The Companies Registration Office (CRO) introduced electronic filing a number of years ago but, since 1^st June 2017 the CRO introduced mandatory electronic filing for:

–          B1 (Annual Return)

–          B2 (Change in situation of Registered Office)

–          B10 (Change in particulars of Directors/Secretary)

–          B73 (Change of Annual Return Date)

–          Financial Statements

Electronic filing makes sense but, the imposition of a 5mb limit (around 20 printed pages) on the size of Financial Statements is proving problematic.  It will be interesting to see how companies, practitioners, and accountants deal with the technological challenge of complying with the 5mb limit. 

Hopefully, implementing electronic filing during the summer months will give all involved the ability to iron out issues before peak filing of Annual Returns, and Financial Statements hits in the autumn

As part of a drive by the Companies Registration Office to electronically file as much documentation as possible, the following documents must now be filed electronically in the Companies Registration Office:

– Form B1     Annual Return

– Form B2     Notice of Change in Registration Office

– Form B10   Notice of Change in Director or Secretary or their Particulars

– Form B73   Nomination of New Annual Return Date

The most important e-filing change relates to the Annual Return, as from the 1st of June the only means of filing a B1 form and Financial Statements and paying for annual returns is in electronic form. It is no longer possible to file paper versions of these documents in the CRO.

KomSec expects that filing Financial Statements may catch some companies out as to date the vast majority of Irish companies (approx. 90%) have been filing paper versions of these documents. That is no longer possible and companies must ensure that their financial statements are capable of being filed electroncially. Teething problems have already started, with KomSec involved in a case where the CRO e-filing system was simply incapable of accommodating a large file containing financial statements.

The good news is that these changes will eventually benefit everyone as e-filing will mean better administration by the CRO ensuring greater transparency, effectiveness and hopefully reduced backlogs.

KomSec is delighted that the CRO has finally caught up with us as we have been electronically filing in the CRO for our clients for years!