Registration in Ireland

It must not contain sensitive words which are prohibited by legislation. The following words are prohibited: “Empire”, “Chartered”, “Imperial”, “Municipal”, “Windsor”, “Crown” or “Royal” and any other words implying connection with university or professional association, or activity prohibited by the Law.  The word: “Assurance”, “Bank”, “Insurance”, “European”,“International” and similar words are the subject for the licensing. There is also a prohibition for words implying patronage of the Irish government or department or the government and its bodies of any other country.

The company’s name must not be very similar to existing names on the registrar and it must not contain improper or objectionable words. It must end with words or abbreviations signifying a Limited Liability Company, such as “Limited” or “Ltd”.

A Ltd Company in Ireland is required to have a registered office address in Ireland.

One director is the minimum required. At least one of directors should be resident within one of the countries of European Economic Area., If that is not the case then a special insurance bond of EUR 25 000 should be submitted. One of directors can act on behalf of the company’s secretary.

Corporate entities can be appointed as directors. The director’s details are registered on the public record and can be accessed by the public.

The appointment of a secretary is mandatory.  If there are two or more directors, one can act on behalf of the secretary. Corporate entities as secretaries are permitted.

One shareholder is the minimum required; maximum is 99. There is no requirement for them to be locals, and corporate entities can be appointed as shareholders. The shareholders meeting should be conducted on the annual basis, once a year. The place of the meeting is not relevant.

The shareholders’ details are registered on the public record and can be accessed by the public.

The beneficial owner’s details are registered on the public record and can be accessed by the public. However, the use of the trust services is available.

The owners of an Ltd Company in Ireland are free to determine any amount as the authorized capital at incorporation and it should de-nominated in Euro only, the preferred amount is EUR 10,000. The authorised capital is the maximum amount of capital that the company is authorised by its constitutional documents to draw from its shareholders in exchange of shares issued.

An Ireland Ltd Company may have registered par value shares, with or without voting rights, preferential, common or redeemable.    

No requirement is imposed on minimum paid up capital at incorporation; this means that the owners of an Ltd company in Ireland are not required to set a deadline as to when such capital must be paid up.

A Ltd in Ireland can be incorporated within two to three days, Ireland is considered to have one of the fastest registries worldwide.

Ready-made but unused Ltd’s are not available in Ireland.

An Irish Ltd Company must meet specific physical presence requirements and conduct its main activities which generate income, inside Ireland. This means that the management and control of the Ltd must be in Ireland, thus, the company must have enough premises, amount of expenditures and employees within the jurisdiction, based on its business activity and size.

The Ltd Company must prepare and lodge its accounting records. Each year, those records should be checked by the auditors and accountants. The companies that are considered to be small by the legislation may lodge and audit the accounting records through the simplified procedure. Annual return should also be lodged to the authorities, but there are exceptions for the small companies.

There is no exemption in Ireland from tax on income or profits for Ltds. The corporate or income and profits tax rate is 12.5%. However, Ireland has nearly 70 double tax avoidance treaties and due to the fact that Ireland is a member of the European Union it is entitled to benefit from the tax benefits that are established on the EU level.