Ireland Fact-File Part 1:
Business Formation for Individuals
1.2 Ireland Individual Business Registration
The procedures necessary for an individual to commence
business activity
Tax registration must take place with the business's local
Revenue office, with sole traders (and partnership participants)
required to fill in Forms TR1 and SE3.
Businesses which take the form of limited companies must
submit form TR2. Forms TR1 and TR2 (or Form PREM Reg, if the
employer is already registered for personal or corporate income
tax) can also be used by employers to register for PAYE/PRSI.
PAYE/PRSI registration is required if the small business in
question pays:
- EUR8 per week (equivalent to EUR36 per month) to an employee
with only one employer; or
- EUR2 per week (equivalent to EUR9 per month) to an employee
with more than one employer.
However, business operations are generally required to register
as an employer and pay PAYE/PRSI on the pay of their directors,
even if there are no other employees.
NB that before such registrations can take place the small
business owner must have a Personal Public Service (PPS) number.
Irish nationals born after 1971, taxpayers in Ireland registered
post-1979, or recipients of certain benefits may already have
a PPS number; otherwise, Form REG1 should be completed, and
presented to the Department of Social and Family Affairs,
with proof of identity.
For sole traders, the procedures
required before commencing activity are fairly few, although
the trader must register for VAT if turnover is expected to
be above a certain threshold, and for PAYE and PRSI if the
business has employees (there are thresholds below which an
employer doesn't need to register for this, but they are so
low as to be generally inapplicable for most small businesses).
However, there are no other statutorily required documents
that need to be filed by sole traders.
Partners would be well-advised to draw up a partnership agreement
at the start of the venture, outlining matters such as the
procedure to be followed in the event of a partner's death,
or a dispute, the contributions made by each partner, and
the way in which the profits and losses of the partnership
are to be dealt with (for tax purposes, if for no other reason),
amongst other issues.
However, this is really just for the protection of all concerned,
and in other aspects, a partnership is less ‘paperwork heavy'
than a limited company; accounts don't need to be published,
and there is no audit requirement.
The rules for VAT and PAYE registration are the same as for
the other corporate forms, and individual partners will need
to pay tax under the self-assessment system, with each partner
responsible for their own portion of the partnership's profits
and losses (a personal and partnership return will need to
be filed). Where a partner is a limited company, though, it
will face corporation tax on its partnership income.
There is more to do in order to establish and maintain a
limited company; in addition to the paperwork associated with
the creation of such an entity (although company formation
services will take on the bulk of this work for a fee), an
annual return must be submitted to the Companies Registration
Office, and accounts must be audited if your business profits
are above EUR7.3 million annually; the company has a balance
sheet total of EUR3.65 million; and/or you employ more than
50 workers. Said accounts may also need to be made available
for public scrutiny.
Registration for corporate tax, PAYE, PRSI, and VAT (again,
if turnover is above a certain amount) is also required.
Need for tax residency in business
An individual is not required to be a tax resident in order
to establish any of the business structures detailed in 1.1,
although if an incorporated business form is chosen, at least
one of the directors must be resident in a European Economic
Area (EEA) country.
Registration requirements for an individual to begin
in business
A limited company must register with the Companies Registration
Office (CRO), providing: Memorandum and articles of association,
registration fee, and form A1 (which requires details of the
company name, the registered office, the company secretary
and directors, and the share details of subscribers to be
given).
A streamlined registration process is also available under
the electronic company incorporation scheme, CRODisk.
Foreign businesses which are registered abroad can establish
a Branch or Place of Business in the Republic.
For the former, Form F12 (for operations from EU countries)
or Form F13 (for businesses from countries outside of the
European Union) must be submitted to the Companies Registration
Office, accompanied by a certified copy of the charter, statutes,
or memorandum and articles of association (or the instrument
constituting, or defining the constitution of the company),
a copy of the certificate of incorporation, and copies of
the latest accounting documents, as required under Irish regulations.
In order to establish a Place of Business in Ireland, Form
F1, plus a certified copy of the memorandum and articles of
association must be submitted to the CRO.
The Companies Registration Office is located at:
Companies Registration Office
Parnell House,
14 Parnell Square,
Dublin 1
The following types of documents should be sent to the above
address:
- Mortgage/charge submissions;
- New company incorporation applications;
- Change of company name applications;
- Re-registration of company type documents;
- Documents relating to business name;
- Submissions for external companies;
- Limited Partnership forms; and
- Applications for electronic filing agents.
There is an additional, solely postal, address, at:
Companies Registration Office
O'Brien Road,
Carlow
The following types of documents should be sent to the Carlow
address:
- Annual returns;
- Resolutions, memoranda and articles;
- Liquidation, receivership and examinership documents;
- Prospectuses;
- Changes of information relating to: the company director
or secretary, the registered office, share capital, changes
to (or from) single member company status, auditor information,
and the register of members.
|
Cyprus
Full Guide
Previous 
Next
