Every Irish-registered limited company must file an annual return with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) each year.
If you own or manage a company, your company will have been allocated an Annual Return Date (ARD). You must file the company Annual Return (together with accounts, if appropriate) within 28 days of the nominated date.
In certain circumstances you can file an application to extend your Annual Return. You can do this by filing Form B73 with your B1 Annual Return.
If you are considering doing so, you should note the following points:
- You can only extend your company’s Annual Return Date if its CRO filing record is up to date. You cannot do this if there are any outstanding annual returns or accounts.
- If the company’s filing position is up to date, you can extend the Annual Return Date by up to six months.
- The option can only be exercised within 28 days of the existing annual return date (ARD).
- If you apply early to extend it, ie before the current ARD passes, then the 6 months period is curtailed accordingly. For example if you apply on 20 January, you can only go to 20 July.
- Your filing date cannot be longer than 9 months after the year end. You have a 28 days grace period after the actual filing date.
For example if your accounts year end is 30 September 2009, you must file within 28 days of 30 June 2010. If your accounts year end is 31 December 2009, you must file within 28 days of 30 September. These rules still apply if your official ARD is on a later date.
- An application to extend an ARD can only be filed once every 5 years. You cannot extend your ARD if you already have done this within the past 5 years.
In short, this is an option that must be used sparingly, and with care
