Company formation in Ireland

What an Irish formation provider does for you

The Companies Registration Office (CRO) registers companies but does not prepare documents for you. Its own guidance says it does not draft constitutions and points founders to accountants, solicitors and company formation agents instead.

A provider typically handles four jobs:

• Drafting the constitution and Form A1, including the activity description and its NACE code.
• Filing on CORE, the CRO’s online system, and dealing with any filing the CRO sends back for correction.
• Officer roles such as company secretary, which a company with a single director must fill with a separate person or company.
• Registered office, since the CRO allows the registered office to be placed in the care of an authorised agent.

Of the 121 firms listed on Accountanty that offer company formation in Ireland, the split by type is clear:

Firm type	Firms
Accounting firms	110
Corporate services providers	10
Law firms	1

So in Ireland, company formation mostly sits with accountants. That suits founders who want formation, bookkeeping, tax and the annual return handled in one place. A corporate services provider is built around secretarial and administration work. A law firm suits structures that need legal drafting, such as shareholder agreements.

Settle the director question before you choose

The rule that shapes your choice of provider is the EEA-resident director requirement. At least one director must live in the European Economic Area. The UK left the EEA resident area on 31 December 2020, so a UK-resident director does not meet the rule on their own.

If no director qualifies, the company needs a section 137 bond to the value of €25,000, issued by a bank, building society, insurance company or credit institution, valid for at least two years and in force from incorporation. Ask each provider:

• whether it arranges the bond, through which kind of surety, and what the premium is;
• how far ahead of filing the bond must be in place, since the CRO will not prioritise applications that come with a bond;
• whether it can help the company apply later for the certificate of a real and continuous link with Ireland, which removes the EEA-director requirement while it is in force.

If a provider offers someone to act as your EEA-resident director, ask for that person’s duties and liability in writing. A director is a full officer of the company under the Companies Act 2014, not a formality.

Check how the firm is qualified and supervised

Ask each firm which professional body it belongs to and which authority supervises it for anti-money-laundering purposes. A firm that will act as your secretary or registered office agent takes on legal duties for your company, so its standing matters.

The directors also carry a duty here: they must make sure the person appointed as secretary has the skills or resources to do the job. When the secretary is a firm, read what its secretarial service covers before you sign.

Accountanty explains how firms are listed on the how we select firms page. A listing is a starting point, not a check you can skip.

What the provider will ask from you

Expect identity checks on every person behind the company before the firm drafts anything. Have these ready:

• Identity and address for each director, secretary, shareholder and beneficial owner, often as certified copies.
• Director details, including the other companies each director has run, which Form A1 asks for.
• Business description clear enough to choose the NACE code and to state where in Ireland the company will carry on its activity, plus the address of its central administration. The Registrar must be satisfied that the company will carry on an activity in the State.
• Ownership chart if a holding company or trust sits between you and the Irish company.
• PPSN or alternative for each beneficial owner, because the RBO checks each name against a PPSN; owners without one follow a separate procedure that takes longer.

Send the complete set together. A filing the CRO returns for correction goes back into the queue from the date it is resubmitted.

What to expect in a formation quote for Ireland

Only 22 of the 121 firms listed for company formation in Ireland publish prices, so you will mostly work from written quotes. Ask each firm to split its quote into three parts.

One-off formation work

• Name check and, if wanted, name reservation, which costs €25 for 28 days and is credited against the incorporation fee
• Drafting the constitution and Form A1
• Filing on CORE and handling any returned filing
• Filing the beneficial owners with the RBO, which charges no fee itself
• Registering the company with Revenue for Corporation Tax, VAT and employer PAYE as needed, which a tax agent does online through ROS

Official and third-party costs, passed on at cost

• The CRO filing fee for incorporation
• The section 137 bond premium, if no director is EEA-resident

Yearly costs

• Company secretary and registered office
• The annual return (Form B1), which every company files whether trading or not
• Financial statements, the Corporation Tax return, VAT returns and payroll, if the firm handles them
• Audit, if the company is not exempt

Compare quotes over three years, not on the set-up fee. A low formation price with high yearly fees costs more over time.

How long it should take

Ten working days is the CRO’s target for issuing a certificate on the standard online route, counted from the day correct documents arrive. Some providers use the CRO’s Fás Phráinn scheme, which works from a constitution the CRO has already approved and allows certificates within five working days. Ask whether the firm files through it.

Ask for a timetable that starts on the day the firm has your complete documents. The parts you control are the identity documents, the director arrangements and the bond.

Services to expect after incorporation

Formation is the start of the relationship. Among the 121 formation firms listed on Accountanty in Ireland:

• Accounting: all 121
• Tax compliance: 120
• Payroll: 116
• Corporate secretarial work: 111
• VAT: 110
• Audit: 64
• Virtual office or registered address: 39
• Bank account assistance: 22

If you need a bank introduction or an audit, filter for it early, since fewer firms offer those. You can browse each service separately, for example corporate secretarial firms in Ireland, virtual office providers and bank account assistance.

Where the formation firms are

Most formation firms on Accountanty are in Dublin, where 85 offer the service, followed by Cork with 27. Since the work is filed online, the firm’s town matters less than how it handles clients abroad.

Of the 121 formation firms, 47 name foreign clients as a focus. Some offer languages beyond English, including Polish at 5 firms and Chinese at 2. The page for accountants for foreign clients in Ireland lists the firms that work with clients from abroad across all services.

Mistakes to avoid when you hire a formation firm

Comparing set-up prices only. The formation fee is paid once. Secretary, registered office, annual return and accounts fees come back every year.

Leaving the bond to the end. If no director lives in the EEA, the bond must be in force on the date of incorporation and sent with Form A1. Ask the firm to start on it at the same time as the constitution.

Accepting a secretary without asking what it covers. A single-director company must have a separate secretary. Find out whether the firm’s secretarial fee includes filing Form B10 when officers change, which must reach the CRO within 14 days, and keeping the company’s registers.

Forgetting who files the beneficial owners. The five-month RBO deadline runs from incorporation. Make it part of the formation quote so it does not fall between two firms.

Splitting work without a plan. If one firm forms the company and another keeps the accounts, agree in writing who files the annual return and the tax registrations.

Choosing your provider for company formation in Ireland

Shortlist two or three firms that can cover the director arrangement, the secretary and the registered office, and that will file your annual returns and tax returns afterwards. Send each the same brief and compare written quotes over three years. If you would rather describe your plans once, send a free quote request through Accountanty and suitable firms will be asked to reply. With the director question settled and complete documents in hand, company formation in Ireland is quick; the choice of provider is what you live with afterwards.