TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS EVENT - ONE STOP SHOP

A one-stop-shop for your business event is taking place on 22nd October 2013 in Printworks Conference Centre, Dublin Castle from 8.30am to 2.30pm.

For more information click on

http://www.takingcareofbusiness.ie

 ANNUAL RETURNS FILED IN 2013 FOR 2014

The Companies Acts state that a company must file an annual return at least once in each calendar year. A company with a 2014 ARD date must file an annual return with an effective date in 2014 in order to meet this requirement and move their next ARD on to 2014.

A company cannot file a 2014 annual return with an effectivedate in 2013.

CREDIT/DEBIT CARD PAYMENTS IN THE CRO

It is now possible to pay by credit/debit card for lodgements and enquiries in the CRO Public Office and for online filing of B1 annual returns, C1 forms and Business Name applications through CORE at https://core.cro.ie/Main/index.jsp

CRO uses 3D Secure for online purchases and payment of online forms. 3D Secure is a service that has been created by Visa and MasterCard to help guard your credit card against unauthorised use online. 3D Secure works by using a password that you create as your unique online identifier. You will be asked for your 3D Secure Password to validate online credit card transactions with the CRO.

Please note that only "Chip-and-Pin" enabled credit or debit cards can be accepted for payment by the CRO.

CHECKING THE STATUS OF YOUR ANNUAL RETURN SUBMISSIONS

The CRO has put in place a number of methods by which customers can monitor the status of their annual return filings using CORE - the CRO online registration environment - and the CRO website.

Customers are asked to use these methods to monitor the status of their filings and if the status does not change to "received" within approximately 10 working days (15 at peak times, ie October to January) of being posted to CRO, they should take appropriate action.

1. Company officers can register on CORE - core.cro.ie - where a "watch" can be set up on a relevant company to check the status of submissions posted or filed on-line. If you are watching a company in CORE, an event will appear in  "My Events" each time a document is received and the status of any document (manual or electronic) changes against a watched company.

In addition, an e-mail receipt is sent to the CORE registered user, i.e. the presenter, of all electronically filed documents that are received in the CRO.

2. In the "What's New" section of the CRO Website, there is a daily update advising of the date of receipt of annual returns being processed on that day - see  "Whats New" . Customers should avoid contacting CRO about documents delivered after the processing date given on the website as they have not yet been reached by the processing team.

3. Also on the CRO website, presenters can look up details of a company in the Company Search facility under "Services" - http://www.cro.ie/ena/online-services.aspx - if the company's NARD has moved on to 2014, it means their 2013 annual return has been received and you can view the list of submissions and their status for free.

Please note that all documents are stamped with the date of delivery to the CRO. If the document is fully compliant, or is corrected within 14 days, the original date of delivery will be recorded as the "received date" when the document is entered onto the Register.

 ELECTORAL AMENDMENT POLITICAL FUNDING ACT 2012

This Act was signed into law on 6/11/2012. One of the provisions of this Act reduces the amount threshold for disclosure of political donations made by a company, society or trade union on an annual return form completed by a company, society or trade union. With effect from 7/11/2013 the threshold for this disclosure has been significantly reduced from €5,079 to €200.

Companies, societies and trade unions making an annual return up to a date on or after7/11/2013 are required to disclose in that return all political donations in excess of €200 in the aggregate which were made by the company, society or trade union, as applicable, during the period covered by the annual return. Companies, societies and trade unions making an annual return up to 6/11/2013 or earlier are required to disclose in that return all political donations in excess of €5,079 in the aggregate which were made by the company, society or trade union, as applicable, during the period covered by the annual return.

ONLINE CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS

A facility has been added to our Company Search environment to allow customers to open a CRO Deposit Account online (ie without the need to send a paper A/C1 application form to the CRO) and to top up the Account using a credit/debit card.

A Customer Account can be used to pay for online searches, for electronic filings and to lodge paper documents with the CRO. Accounts must be kept in credit at all times and a Payment Authorisation Form (PAF) must be attached to all paper documents paid for by Account. Click on the link below to view the facility.

htpps://www.cro.ie/search/AccountLogin.aspx