Companies Registration Office is a central repository of public statutory company law-related information on Irish companies. One of CRO’s primary roles is the incorporation of companies, business name registration, and keeping information available to the public.
Every year, CRO officers release a long-read detailed report on the current state of business environment in Ireland, enlisting current trends in company formation, company dissolution, and business name registration. Having explored page after page, we gathered all the most relevant statistics that you may find useful in the CRO 2023 report.
How Many Companies Opened in Ireland in 2023
2023 was another busy year for CRO and its stakeholders. The CRO central office in Dublin closed in March, 2020 due to COVID pandemic, hasn’ reopened yet. The question of whether CRO officers would get back to office remains under review especially in the light of increasing number of electronic filings. During 2023, 96% of submissions filed with CRO were filed electronically, compared to 94% in 2022.
The number of companies being opened exceeds the number of companies leaving the register. There This trend has been steadily increasing over past years. In 2023, there were 22,384 new companies registered which is app. 4.5% more compared to 21,434 new companies opened in 2022.
Private Company Limited by Shares is the most common type of limited company. There can be as few as two members in an Irish Ltd which are a director and a secretary. In 2023, Private limited companies by shares companies make up 88% of all companies on the register.
External Companies in Ireland
192 new external companies were registered in Ireland in 2023, compared to 248 in 2022. The most common country of origin of the external companies is the United Kingdom with 1,917 British companies on the register. Other significant numbers are external company branches from the Cayman Islands, the United States, Bermuda, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
| United Kingdom | 1,917 |
| Cayman Islands | 401 |
| United States of America | 184 |
| Bermuda | 138 |
| Germany | 95 |
| Netherlands | 85 |
| Luxembourg | 54 |
Table: External company branches on register by country of origin
Non – EEA branches made up to 2,867 external companies on the register compared to 470 EEA branches.
New PPSN Rules
A major development during 2023 was the introduction of the requirement for directors to provide a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) when filing certain documents with the CRO. This requirement came into effect on 11th of June 2023. Non-resident directors must obtain IPN (identified person number) and file it instead of PPSN.
Annual Return Submission Trends
Any company on the Register, whether it was receiving profits or not over the previous year, must file Annual return to CRO. Annual return contains details of the company’s directors, secretary, shareholders, share capital, and registered office. Annual return form B1 should be signed by a company director and shareholder and submitted with the company’s financial statements in most cases.
There were 255,818 annual returns received in the CRO in 2023, which exceeds the 240,223 annual returns received in the CRO in 2022.
In 2022, no company was closed due to failure to submit annual return. Nevertheless, in 2023 the CRO resumed sending batch of warning letters to companies who were late in filing their annual returns. In late 2023 CRO Gazette was released with a number of companies that were to be involuntarily struck off the register in early 2024 for non-filing of annual returns. No company was closed due to late or non-filing of annual returns by the end of 2023.
Company Closure in Ireland Statistics
A company can be dissolved either by the voluntary request of the company’s officers or through involuntary liquidation. A company that ceases to trade and has no outstanding creditors can request the Registrar to strike it off the register.
Voluntary Strike-Off
Voluntary strike-off is a legal procedure under the Companies Act 2014. Any company that has no outstanding debts and no missing returns and tax compliance can request voluntary liquidation. In 2023, a total of 6,227 companies were struck off voluntarily which is a slight decrease on the figure of 6,376 in 2022.
Involuntary Strike-Off
Involuntary strike off is a process of company’s liquidation due to its inability to meet its legal obligation outlined in Companies Act 2014. These are failure to file an annual return or not having the EEA resident director or insurance bond. As previously mentioned, no company was liquidated for failure to file annual returns to the suspension of enforcement activity by the CRO in March 2023. 24 companies were struck off the register because they did not have an EEA resident director.
Company Restoration Ireland
A company can be restored to the Registrar following a strike-off. Where the company has been struck off the register for a period not exceeding 12 months, it can be restored through an application to the Registrar for restoration. Once the 12-month period has elapsed, it’s only possible to restore a company through a Court Order restoratopn. A total of 62 companies were restored to the register in 2023 which is a decrease in the number restored in 2022 (96).
Business Name Registration
It is obligatory to register a business name if any individual or partnership or body corporate carries on businees under a name different from their real names. The purpose is to make public the identities of those individual(s), partnerships or corporate bodies being the legal entity behind the business name. Business name registration does not lead to creation of a separate legal entity.
The number of new business names registered by the CRO in 2023 was 19,752 which is a slight decrease to 20,006 new business names registered in 2022.
CRO Online Services: Online Filing Statistics
The introduction of a CRO IT system in December 2020 driven be Covid pandemic made a number of new forms available for filing online. Some of such forms like The Form A1 for company incorporation was made mandatory for online filing. In 2023, this trend for e-filings was still going strong. In total, 96% submissions filed with CRO electronically which is an increase compared to 94% during 2022.
