A new version of the statutory Form B1 (annual return) was prescribed by the Minister and introduced on 1 April 2011.

The six month transition period, during which old and new versions of the B1 Form were acceptable, will end on 1 October.

If filing electronically using a secretarial package, the last day for filing an electronic version of the old B1 is Saturday, 1 October.
The new B1 is the only form that will be possible to submit electronically after midnight on 1 October.

The last day for submitting the old version of the paper B1 with CRO will be the next working day after 1 October, ie Monday, 3 October. All paper B1 forms delivered to the CRO on or after Tuesday, 4 October, must be in the new format, regardless of company's ARD or the "made up to"
date on the B1.

The main changes on the Form B1 are as follows:

AUDITOR REGISTRATION NUMBER (ARN):

An ARN must be inserted when an audited set of accounts is being filed with the new B1, or in the case of a company exempted from filing accounts with its B1, when the special auditor's report is being filed with the new B1. Where a company is claiming the audit exemption, or is filing its first B1, or is filing a B1 and B73 in which cases accounts are not required, the ARN does not need to be entered on the new B1.

The ARN entered on the new B1 must be that of the auditor or audit firm whose name is on the auditors’ report and must exactly match the number for that auditor or audit firm in the Public Register of Auditors on www.cro.ie.
ARNs generally start with at least one alphabetical character.

E-MAIL ADDRESS OF THE COMPANY:

A company e-mail address can now be inserted for the purposes of the CRO corresponding directly with the company by email.

For more detailed information see New Form B1 page.

http://www.cro.ie/ena/new-form-b1.aspx

The form can be downloaded from the website.

http://www.cro.ie/ena/forms-a-to-b29.aspx

Website link to this issue:

http://www.cro.ie/ena/2011ezine.aspx?article=835d5864-9415-45a0-af7f-11d2c8f55f1b