8 Key Dates every new company director should be aware of
If you’ve recently set up a company by yourself, it probably means you didn’t get an accountant or formation agency to help you with it – and that’s ok! But there are a few things you should be aware of as a new company director. You are now responsible for ensuring that your company remains compliant with both tax and company law.
Here are the key dates:
(1) Corporation Tax Registration
You need to register for Corporation Tax within 4 weeks of making a sale within your company.
If you don’t make any sales, you still need to register for corporation tax and this needs to be done within 12 months of your incorporation date.
(2) Registration of Beneficial Ownership
You need to register Beneficial Ownership with the RBO (Registrar of Beneficial Ownership) within 5 months of your incorporation date.
You also need to file within 14 days of any shareholder changes (like if a shareholder moves address)
The RBO essentially states who the shareholders of your company are.
(3) 1st B1 Annual Return
You’ll need to file your first B1 Annual Return within 6 months + 28 days of your incorporation date.
Your first return is made up to the Annual Return Date (ARD) which is 6 months after incorporation.
If you incorporated on the 1st January, your first ARD would be the 1st July.
(4) VAT registration
You will need to register for VAT once you sell above a certain amount/threshold in any 12 month rolling period.
The revenue thresholds are €37,500 for services and €75,000 for goods.
If you have contracts for services or good in the pipeline that will take you over the threshold, then you need to register for this reason too.
You can register for VAT below these thresholds too if you wish. You do not need to go above them in order to register.
(5) Employer Tax registration
You’ll need to register for Employer Tax 9 days after you hire your first staff member.
(6) Corporation Tax return
You will need to file your first Corporation Tax return within 8 months + 23 days after your Year End date (only if you are filing electronically). We can help you with this.
Your first year end date cannot be more than 12 months after incorporation.
E.G. If you registered your company on 1st July, you can choose the following 31st December as your year end date, in which case your first tax period would be six months long (a “short” year) and you will have until the following 23rd September to file and pay the corporation tax due.
Preliminary tax needs to be paid within 10 months and 23 days of the year end date for the current period.
E.g. We are in 2020, my year end date is 31st December. I will need to pay my preliminary CT for the financial year 2020 by the 23rd of November (before the year ends).
The balance remaining will be paid when it is calculated in 2021, during the normal tax return filing (on the 23rd September).
If you paid too much, you will be reimbursed, if you paid too little, there will be a balance due.
(7) Director Tax return
As the director of a limited company in Ireland you will need to file an annual tax return with the Revenue Commissioners.
This is called the Form 11.
The Form 11 needs to be completed by the 31st October each year (for the prior year) so if you were a director at any time in the previous year, you will need to file your Form 11 by 31st October in the current year.
(8) Financial Statements
You will need to prepare a set of financial statements that are no longer than 18 months long.
You could file theoretically file your first (18 month long) financial statements along with your 2nd B1 Annual Return.
Conclusion
That’s it really.
If you want to find out what your key dates are, please fill out this form if you have the following information:
- First Name (of all directors)
- Second Name (of all directors)
- CRO number
- Preferred Year End date
- Phone number
