What the annual return actually is
The B1 is a company law filing, not a tax return. It goes to the Companies Registration Office, it is entirely separate from your CT1 to Revenue, and it is due on a different date. Companies that assume their accountant filed one because they filed the other lose their audit exemption every year in Ireland.
The return itself is a snapshot: registered office, directors and secretary, share capital, shareholders and the transfers during the period. Attached to it, for every return after the first, are the company's financial statements, which then sit on the public record.
The Annual Return Date and the 56 days
Each company has an Annual Return Date, or ARD. The first is six months after incorporation, and it recurs annually. Your ARD is on the public record and can be checked on the CRO's company search at any time.
The B1 must be filed within 56 days of the ARD. Day 57 is late, with no discretion and no grace period.
The first annual return, six months after incorporation, does not require financial statements. It still has to be filed. Newly incorporated companies miss this one constantly because there are no accounts to prompt it.
The financial statements have their own age limit
The financial statements attached to the B1 must be made up to a date no more than nine months before the ARD. A company whose accounts are older than that cannot file a compliant return, which means the accounts preparation timetable is driven by the ARD, not the other way around.
What late filing costs
| Consequence | Detail |
|---|---|
| Late filing fee | €100 on the day after the deadline, then €3 per day |
| Maximum fee | €1,200 per return |
| Loss of audit exemption | Where the return is filed late more than once in a five-year period |
| Enforcement | Prosecution of the company and its directors |
| Strike-off | Involuntary strike-off and dissolution for persistent failure |
The fee is annoying. The audit exemption consequence is the one that actually costs money. Under Section 22 of the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Act 2024, in force since 16 July 2025, a company loses audit exemption where it files its annual return late more than once within a five-year period — a softening of the previous rule, under which a single late filing was enough.
Qualifying for audit exemption in the first place
Audit exemption is available to small and micro companies. A company qualifies as small where it meets two of the following three conditions, in both the current and the preceding financial year.
- Turnover not exceeding €15 million.
- Balance sheet total not exceeding €7.5 million.
- No more than 50 employees.
The company must also not fall within any of the classes listed in the Fifth Schedule to the Companies Act 2014 — which excludes regulated entities such as banks, insurers and investment firms — and its annual return must be filed on time.
Filing the return
- Check your ARD on the CRO register and count 56 days forward.
- Have the financial statements prepared and approved, made up to a date within nine months of the ARD.
- Complete the B1 on CORE, the CRO's online filing system. Electronic filing is mandatory.
- Have the return signed electronically by a director and the secretary.
- Upload the financial statements and submit within the 56-day window.
Changing your Annual Return Date
A company can move its ARD, but the rules are specific. The date can be brought forward at any time by filing the return early with the new date. Extending it requires a Form B73 filed together with an on-time B1, and it can only be extended by up to six months. A B73 cannot be used if the ARD has already been extended in the previous five years, and it cannot be used on the first annual return.
This is worth doing deliberately where your ARD sits awkwardly against your financial year end. Done once, it aligns the accounts timetable with the filing deadline for good.
If you have already missed it
File immediately. The daily fee accrues until the return is filed, so every day of delay is another €3, and the clock only stops on submission.
Where the consequence is loss of audit exemption, there is a route to apply to the District Court for an order extending the time to file the annual return. If the order is granted and the return is filed within the extended period, the return is treated as filed on time, which preserves the exemption and removes the late fee. It is a real remedy, it requires a solicitor, and it must be pursued promptly.