How to find your annual return date
Your annual return date sets your deadline. Here's where to find it.
Read the guideWe Watch Your Deadline All Year, Remind You in Plenty of Time, and Can File It for You.
A late annual return costs up to €1,200 in CRO penalties, and a second one within five years costs the company its audit exemption. For less than the price of one late fee, a licensed company secretarial team keeps track of it for you, and our guarantee backs every plan.
Enter your company's annual return date from the CRO register. You'll see the filing deadline, how long you have, and what a late return would cost.
Pick a date to see your deadline. Not sure of your annual return date? It's on your company's page on the CRO's CORE website, or ask us and we'll look it up.
€100 the day after the deadline, then €3 a day, up to €1,200 for each return. On top of the €20 filing fee, and not tax deductible.
Since 16 July 2025, a company that files late more than once in five years loses its audit exemption for the following two years. An audit usually costs far more than the penalty.
The CRO can strike off a company that doesn't file, and its directors can face enforcement action. Restoring a company costs far more than filing on time.
Every plan renews yearly. We invoice you once we've confirmed your annual return date, and you can cancel any time before renewal.
For companies whose accountant files the return, or who file it themselves.
Everything in Watch, plus we prepare and file the return for you.
Everything in Watch & File, plus we prepare the dormant accounts too.
All prices exclude VAT at 23%. Watch & File doesn't include preparing trading accounts. *You give us the company's registers electronically. Recreating missing registers, backdated corrections and other extra work are quoted separately. The company's directors remain legally responsible for its filings; we help them meet the deadlines. "Worth" is our price for buying each part separately: Watch €49.99, a B1 annual return €119.99 plus the €20 CRO fee, and a B1 with dormant accounts €299.99, all + VAT.
Plenty of companies rely on a director, a relative or a calendar note. It works, until the year it doesn't.
| AnnualReturnWatch.ie | A calendar note or a relative | |
|---|---|---|
| Knows CRO rules and company law | Yes, a TCSP-licensed team | Not always |
| Deadline tracked all year | Yes, with 5 reminders | One reminder, if set |
| Strike-off lists checked | Every week | Rarely |
| Pays the late fee if it goes wrong | Yes, when we file for you | No |
| Can fix a late return in court | Yes, Section 343 | No |
Choose a plan and tell us the company. No card needed today.
We check your annual return date on the CRO register, set up your portal and alerts, and email your first-year invoice.
Email and text at 90, 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before your deadline, plus a calendar invite.
On Watch & File and Dormant Care, send us the accounts at least 30 days before the deadline, or we prepare dormant accounts. We email you the B1 to sign.
Sign the B1 signature page in ink, as the CRO requires, and send us a scan within 7 days. We file it with the CRO and update your portal.
Every plan includes the portal, so you can see where your company stands at any time.
Example only, not a real company.
So we can file on time, and so our guarantee applies:
Your accounts must reach us at least 30 days before your filing deadline. We remind you first. For Dormant Care, confirm the company stayed dormant.
We email you the B1 signature page. The CRO requires it signed in ink, so print, sign and scan it, and send it back within 7 days.
Give us the company's registers electronically. Recreating missing registers is a separate fee.
The guarantee doesn't cover late filing caused by accounts or signed documents reaching us after these dates.
Under two minutes. No card needed today: we confirm your company and annual return date, then email your invoice.
Every Irish company files a B1 annual return with the CRO each year, made up to its annual return date. It must be filed within 56 days of that date, moving to the next working day if the 56th day is a weekend or public holiday. Apart from the company's first annual return, it includes a set of financial statements. Try the deadline calculator, and we confirm your date from the CRO register when you join.
The CRO charges €100 the day after the deadline, then €3 a day, up to €1,200 for each return, on top of the €20 filing fee. Since 16 July 2025, a company that files late more than once in five years also loses its audit exemption for the following two years.
On Watch & File and Dormant Care, if we file a return late after receiving your accounts and signed documents on time, we pay the CRO late filing penalty and put the company right again, including a Section 343 District Court application where needed. On Watch, if we fail to send your reminders, we refund that year's fee; the company still files its own return.
Once we've confirmed your annual return date from the CRO register, usually within one working day, we email your invoice. Your plan then renews each year, and we invoice before each renewal.
So we have time to prepare the B1, send it to you for signing, and file it before the deadline, with a margin for anything unexpected.
No. The CRO doesn't accept electronic signatures on the B1 signature page: it must be signed in ink, then scanned. We email it to you; print it, sign it, scan it and send it back within 7 days.
A standard CRO filing for a change during the year, such as appointing or removing a director or secretary, or changing a registered address. One a year is included on Watch & File and Dormant Care.
Yes. Fix the late return first: a Section 343 application through LateAnnualReturns.ie can extend the filing time, so the late filing fees and audit exemption loss don't apply to that return. Then we keep you on time.
Yes. Move to a different plan, or cancel, any time before your renewal date.
Tell us the company name and we'll look up its annual return date and filing history, free.
Your annual return date sets your deadline. Here's where to find it.
Read the guideThe €100, the €3 a day, the €1,200 cap, and what it really costs.
Read the guideThe rule that changed in July 2025, and how a second late return costs you.
Read the guide