Your annual return (B1): deadline, late fees and audit exemption
The B1 annual return is due at the CRO within 56 days of your company's annual return date. Filing late costs €100 plus €3 a day, up to €1,200, and can cost the company its audit exemption for two years.
Your annual return date
Separately from Revenue, every Irish company files an annual return, Form B1, with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) each year. Your company's annual return date (ARD) is shown on the CRO register. The B1 must be filed within 56 days of that date.
Most companies attach financial statements to the B1. Those statements must be made up to a date no more than 9 months before the ARD. Because the ARD and the financial year end are different dates, it's worth checking both: a company with a December year end often has an ARD in late summer or autumn of the following year.
What it costs to file
The CRO fee for a B1 filed online on time is €20.
What filing late costs
- A late filing fee of €100, plus €3 for every day the return is late, up to €1,200 per return.
- The company can lose its audit exemption for two years, so its accounts for those years must be audited. An audit usually costs far more than the accounts themselves.
- Repeated late filing can lead the CRO to strike the company off the register.
Already late?
File as soon as you can: the daily fee keeps adding up until the return is in. If several years are outstanding, see catching up on a backlog.
Last checked 13 November 2026. This guide is general information, not advice for your company. Tax rules change, so check with us or Revenue before acting.