Mandatory E-filing at the CRO from 1 June 2017

PUBLISHED: 9th April 2017

Mandatory electronic filing (E-filing) will be introduced at the Companies Registration Office (CRO) from 1 June 2017. 

Billed as "cheaper, smarter, simpler", E-filing is being introduced to provide a more efficient and effective service for companies, which will result in savings, and make deadlines easier to meet.  Last year almost 90% of annual returns were filed on time, which is a positive result for E-filing.

Which documents must be E-filed?

From the 1 June 2017 mandatory E-filing will apply to each of the following documents:

• Form B1: Annual return
• Form B2: Notice of change in registered office
• Form B10: Notice of change in director or secretary or their particulars
• Form B73: Nomination of a new annual return date

In addition, from 1 June 2017, the associated financial statements must be uploaded as PDF attachments through CORE or other software packages such as Blueprint.  Paper copies will not be accepted by the CRO from the 1 June 2017.

Late filing fees and late penalties must be paid electronically by credit card or debit card.  It will not be possible to pay any late filing fees by cheque, postal order, money order or bank draft.  However it will still be possible to top up a customer account by cheque after 1 June 2017.

What are the advantages of  E-filing?

The introduction of E-filing does provide a number of advantages.

• The cost of filing annual returns will be reduced and it will be free of charge to submit Forms B2, B10 and B73.
• The risk of documents being misplaced or lost will be reduced.
• It is likely to reduce the backlog at the CRO and to improve waiting times for the registration of documents.
• It should lead to more accurate documents and so less time will be wasted on returned submissions.
• An electronic receipt will be provided when documents have been submitted.

The introduction of mandatory E-filing should streamline compliance processes for companies and their interactions with the CRO.