The CRO has a system in place which allows most forms to be signed and filed wholly electronically. Under section 35 Companies Act 2014, a company may authorise a person to be its Electronic Filing Agent. For more information on Electronic Filing Agent, see Information Leaflet No. 15. It is also possible to sign electronically in CORE using ROS Certificate (Revenue Online Service). Link to Information Leaflets.
What do I need to do to become an e-filing agent?
You need to have: An account in credit with CRO AND An approved Secretarial Software Package OR Register on our website at CORE (core.cro.ie).
You need to file:
A Form J1A. When this form is processed, you will receive your electronic filing agent ID number ( This is the number that you need to insert on all B77 Forms)
a ROS electronic certificate
A Form B77 for every company for which you intend to file. This can now be done Free of Charge from your secretarial software package or online at CORE. If you submit a paper B77, downloadable from our website, you should also include a fee of €15.00.
Link to Forms Page
ROS (Revenue Online Service) Electronic Certificate
It is possible for Electronic Filing Agents (EFAs) to sign a B1 in CORE with a ROS (Revenue Online Services) electronic signature. This possibility will only be visible where the person verifying the contents of the form is an Electronic Filing Agent.
An Electronic Filing Agent (EFA) cannot certify the financial statements of a company: An EFA can sign a B1 (annual return) form on behalf of a company once s/he has been authorised by the company to do so on a B77 form. However, the 2014 Companies Act requires that the financial statements must be certified by a Director and Secretary of the company (original signatures). Therefore, where the B1 form is being signed by an EFA, the financial statements must be certified separately by a Director and Secretary using a Financial Statement Certification sheet which must be attached to the B1 when delivering the annual return to the CRO. CERTIFICATE for EFAs filing Financial Statements.pdf
Changes specific to Electronic Filing Agents as a result of S.I. 458 of 2016
B2’s (change of registered office), B10’s (Change in director/secretary information), B1’s (annual return and financial statements) & B73’s (change in ARD date) MUST be filed electronically. The B1 form must be paid for by credit/debit card or CRO customer account. Financial statements must be uploaded.
Q1. As an electronic filing agent, can I submit paper financial statements?
A1. No. All financial statements must be submitted online. As an Electronic Filing Agent (EFA) you should also be aware that, as there is a requirement for financial statements to be uploaded, you are unable to deliver originally signed financial statements with the B1 patch page.
Q2. How do I certify that the financial statements are correct?
A2. Where you sign a B1 as an EFA, you need to file an overall certification signed by the director and secretary (wet signature) and this must be delivered to the CRO with the patch page.
The Companies Act 2014, removes the requirement for accounts documents filed with the CRO to include handwritten signatures of Directors, Auditors etc and, instead, requires that the signatures appear in typed form on each document.
Where financial statements are delivered to the Registrar, Section 347(2)(b), Companies Act 2014, requires that the copy of the Financial Statements annexed to the annual return must be accompanied by a certificate of a director and the secretary of the company, that bears the signature of the director and the secretary in electronic or written form stating that the copy is a true copy of the original. This certification is now included in the B1 form and when the B1 form is signed by a director and the secretary of the company, this requirement is fulfilled.
However, where the B1 form is filed by an Electronic Filing Agent (EFA), the EFA cannot certify the financial statements of the company. In that case, the financial statements must be certified separately by a director and the secretary using a Financial Statements Certification sheet which must be attached to the B1-Financial statement certification sheet which must be attached to the B1 - CERTIFICATE for EFAs filing Financial Statements.pdf
If you have chosen to sign electronically and pay with a customer account or by credit card, then the submission is entirely electronic, so no signature page or cover sheet is needed unless your are signing as an EFA. As EFAs cannot in law certify the accounts they must attach an overall certificate to the patch page (original signatures) and file it with the CRO on or before the annual return's due date.