New Version Form B1. 1st April 2011
PLEASE NOTE THAT OLD VERSIONS OF FORM B1 ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTED BY THE CRO.
The CRO has made a number of small alterations to the form B1. The older versions of Form B1 have not been accepted by CRO since 3 October 2011. If filing electronically through CORE, CRO’s on-line registration environment (www.core.ie
) only the new B1 form has been available since 1st April 2011.
Form B1
Auditor Registration Number
The primary change to the form is the addition of a field requiring an Auditor Registration Number (ARN) to be entered where an auditors' report is annexed to the annual return. This must be the ARN of the auditor or audit firm who signed the auditors' report. The ARN is a unique number that is allocated to each individual auditor/firm of auditors by a Recognised Accountancy Body (RAB). The ARN for each registered auditor should be obtained by checking the Public Register of Auditors.
The other changes are minor but are implemented in the hope that B1’s will not require send back or alteration by the presenter of the form. The changes are mostly changes to notes rather than format of the document.
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, 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/ audit firm whose name is on the auditors’ report and must exactly match the number for that auditor/ audit firm in the Public Register of Auditors on www.cro.ie. ARNs generally start with at least one alphabetical character. If filing an annual return electronically through CORE, the ARN field is mandatory from 1 April and must be filled in. It will not be possible to submit an e-B1 with an auditors’ report through CORE without entering a valid auditor registration number from the Public Register of Auditors in the ARN field.
Since 1 April, where a new B1 is filed with an auditors’ report attached, whether on paper or through CORE, and the ARN field on the B1 is incorrectly or insufficiently completed, it is sent back to the presenter to be corrected and re-submitted to the CRO within 14 days without penalty.
Changes made to the Form B1
Return Made Up To Area
The section dealing with the Return made up to date has been altered.
- Financial Year Area Changes have been made to the Financial Year section. The text has been expanded. "Please tick the box if the company is claiming the exemption from audit in respect of the financial year covered by the accounts attached to this return. The Company may not claim the audit exemption if it is late in filing this annual return or was late in filing its last annual return to which accounts were attached or if the company is a parent or subsidiary company or is a public company, including a guarantee company."
- The Auditor Registration Number (ARN). The ARN entered in this field must be that of the individual auditor or firm of auditors whose name appears on the auditors' report annexed to this annual return (where applicable). The Auditor Registration Number field should not be completed if the company is entitled to, and is claiming, an audit exemption. An Auditor Registration Number must start with an alphabetical prefix which denotes the Recognised Accountancy Body to which the auditor or audit firm is affiliated and must exactly match the registration number of that auditor or audit firm on the Public Register of Auditors on the CRO website - www.cro.ie
- Reference to "The Auditor Registration Number (ARN) field must be completed:
- (a) by any company which is required to file accounts with its annual return and which is not entitled to and does not claim the audit exemption. Where a company is required to file accounts but is entitled to and claims the audit exemption, the ARN field should be left blank.
- (b) By private unlimited companies, private not-for-profit companies and certain companies with charitable objects - while these company types are exempted from the requirement to attach their accounts to their annual return, they are required by s128(6B) Companies Act 1963 to attach an auditor’s report (special auditor’s report) to their annual report. The ARN of the auditor concerned should be inserted on the B1.
- In the case of a new company filing its first annual return made up to the date that is 6 months after the date of incorporation, the ARN field can be left blank as no accounts are required to be attached to that first annual return. Accordingly, other than a new company filing its first annual return and a company filing accounts that is entitled to and claims the audit exemption, the ARN field on the B1 is required to be completed.
- Pursuant to S.I. No. 220 of 2010, the EC (Statutory Audits)(Directive 2006/43/EC) Regulations 2010, a person shall not act as an auditor unless he or she is entered in the Public Register of Auditors.
- The officers of a company are responsible for ensuring that the person they engage to audit the company’s accounts, and who signs the auditor’s report, is on the Public Register of Auditors. The Registration status of an auditors and his/her ARN may be checked on the Public Register of Auditors on the CRO website."
Other Changes
- Presenter Information: The presenter details area has also been amended with a tick box added for where a presenter is registered on the CORE website - electronic filing website and can thereby receive electronic receipts.
- Registered Office Information: The registered office section is amended by the addition of an email address. This email address is optional for manual/paper forms and does not have to be completed. The email address can be used where the company wishes to receive electronically, rather than a paper copy, notification of due date for filing and of other information which may be of interest to the company.
- Donations for Political Purposes: Donations area has been shortened. A box has been added which can be ticked if no donations for political purposes was made.
- Director information: Director information has been altered in that EEA resident replaces Irish resident. The change to the form is to reflect the change whereby a director must resident in a state of the European Economic Area (EEA) rather than in Ireland. For further information see CRO Information Leaflet No. 17.
- Certification: Alteration to the certification area to reflect the fact that a company can have 99 members rather than 50, the sentence stating " The company is a private company with more than 99 members, the excess of the number of members over 99 consisting wholly of persons who, under section 33(1)(b) Companies Act 1963, are not included in reckoning the number of members".
- Certification: Sentence inserted after signatures area stating "Document requires two different signatures. Same person cannot sign as both director and secretary". This is one of the most common errors made which means that the form B1 has to be sent back. Please see also other reasons why a form B1 may be returned to the presenter on the Common Errors page.
Link to Filing an Annual Return page.
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