Annual Return (B1) Deadlines in Ireland: How to File and Avoid Penalties

Of all the ways a healthy Irish company can trip itself up, missing the annual return is the most common — and the most avoidable.

The rules aren’t complicated once you know them, so let’s make sure you never lose a cent to a late filing.

What is the annual return (B1)?

The annual return, Form B1, is a yearly snapshot of your company that you file with the Companies Registration Office: its directors, secretary, registered office, and shareholders.

Every Irish company must file one every single year — even if the company didn’t trade, made no money, or is dormant.

There are no exceptions based on size or activity.

When is it due? The dates that matter

Two dates control everything:

• Your Annual Return Date (ARD) — for a brand-new company, your first ARD falls six months after incorporation.
• Your filing deadline — you then have 56 days after your ARD to file the return and any required financial statements.

A helpful quirk for new companies: your first annual return is a “no accounts” return.

You don’t need to attach financial statements, provided you file it within that first window.

Every return after that must include financial statements. Abridged accounts are fine for small companies that qualify for the audit exemption.

What happens if you file late?

This is where it gets expensive, and the CRO has no discretion to waive it:

• A €100 penalty applies the day after your deadline passes.
• Then €3 per day accrues, up to a maximum of €1,200 per return.
• Those fees are on top of the standard filing fee.
• The penalties are not tax deductible.

The bigger cost: your audit exemption

Here’s the part that genuinely hurts, and a recent rule change worth understanding.

Under the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Act 2024, a company now loses its audit exemption for two years if it files late more than once within a five-year period.

Under the old rules, a single late filing did it — so this is actually a modest easing, but persistent lateness is still punished hard.

Losing the exemption means paying for a full statutory audit — often several thousand euro a year — for two years.

That’s a self-inflicted five-figure mistake that dwarfs the €1,200 fine.

How to file — and how to never miss it

You file online through the CRO’s CORE portal.

Practically, the smartest move is to start the B1 and finalise the financial statements early enough to submit the complete return within the 56-day window — that avoids penalties.

Honestly, though, the reliable fix is to not manage this yourself by memory.

A B1 filing service or a company secretary tracks your ARD, prepares the return and files it on time, every year.

For most founders, that peace of mind costs a fraction of a single late-filing episode.

You can also read the CRO’s own guidance on missed deadlines.

If you’re not sure when your ARD falls or whether your last return was filed correctly, get in touch and we’ll check it for you.