Choosing Your Irish Company's Business Activity: Form A1 and NACE

Describe what customers will buy from the company

Start with the product or service, customer type and delivery model. Business services says little about whether the company will develop software, repair equipment, sell goods or advise clients. A useful first draft explains the work in terms that another person can understand without reading the entire business plan.

For example, a fictional founder might describe providing bookkeeping support to small businesses through a remote team, rather than using the broad label technology solutions. Another might explain that the company sells its own subscription software, rather than selecting consulting merely because the founder sometimes helps users.

Write the description before searching a code list. Ask whether the company earns its main income from a service, its own product, reselling goods, holding assets or arranging transactions between others. That question often exposes an assumption that needs discussion with the formation adviser.

Why the Irish activity declaration matters

Section 18 requires it to appear to the Registrar that the company, once registered, will carry on an activity in the State. This is more than choosing an Irish-sounding brand. Explain the intended arrangement honestly, particularly if founders, management, customers or delivery teams are overseas.

Do not invent a local office, employee or customer simply to fill a field. Where the proposed connection is unclear, seek advice before filing. The adviser needs the actual operating plan, not a description copied from another company's website or from a package sales page.

An incorporation application is a proposed setup, not proof that every commercial milestone has happened. Keep intended locations, planned contracts and current facts clearly separated in your brief. A sensible plan can still require further explanation; no example in this guide promises that the Registrar will accept a particular structure.

• Companies Act: Section 18 activity in the State

Separate the activity location from administration and the registered office

Section 22 distinguishes the registered office, normal central administration location and the proposed activity places in the State. These fields should reflect their actual functions. A mail-handling address is not automatically where a founder makes decisions or where a team delivers the work.

Create a location schedule before completing the application. Identify the proposed Irish activity address or addresses and where central administration will normally be carried on, including an overseas location where appropriate. If locations are not settled, tell the presenter rather than substituting a convenient address without assessment.

Ask what permission or supporting information is needed to use a proposed location. The practical discussion should cover access, delivery of notices, premises use and the intended work. Do not use a provider's public contact address before your company's allocated arrangement has been confirmed.

• Companies Act: Section 22 incorporation particulars

Choose the principal activity when there are several

CRO guidance says the declaration for a company formed for multiple activities relates to its principal intended activity in the State. It also calls for the activity's general nature, the relevant NACE classification or a precise description where it cannot be classified, and the relevant location particulars.

For a consultancy that plans a small online shop later, discuss which activity is genuinely principal at formation. Explain both plans and their timing. Do not use the most ambitious future idea as the main description merely because it sounds more impressive than the business that will actually begin.

Keep a working note explaining the choice. It can help the accountant, insurer or bank understand the same business without inconsistent descriptions. A principal activity is a useful classification decision; it is not permission to ignore the obligations attached to another activity.

• CRO: activity in the State and Form A1

Check the classification version before copying a code

NACE is a statistical classification, not a list of businesses the government endorses. The CSO explains its hierarchy and the transition to NACE Rev. 2.1 in statistical outputs from 2026. That statistical transition is not evidence that every filing interface uses the same version on the same day.

Use the classification available in the current CRO filing process and read the relevant explanatory notes. A number from an older blog, a UK SIC list or another country's registration record may not map directly. Ask the presenter to confirm the version and description instead of choosing whichever number appears first in search.

Compare nearby categories when the model sits between them. Selling access to a product differs from performing a bespoke service; selling goods differs from introducing buyers to sellers. Provide the adviser with the actual revenue model and delivery responsibilities so that the comparison is about your business, not only your brand name.

• CSO: NACE classifications and the Rev. 2.1 transition

An LTD's capacity does not replace licences or approvals

Section 38 gives an Irish LTD broad capacity, while preserving obligations under other law. A principal classification does not itself authorise regulated services. Equally, broad capacity is not a statement that every company type or every proposed operation belongs in a routine LTD package.

Describe any financial, property, transport, food, childcare or other regulated element early. Ask the relevant authority or a suitable professional what permissions the operator, premises and individuals need. Do not advertise the activity as approved merely because the Certificate of Incorporation has arrived.

Build a launch sequence showing incorporation, any application, insurance and operational readiness separately. If a provider says licensing work is outside the formation scope, arrange it elsewhere rather than assuming the filing agent will quietly complete it. Obtain specialist advice where the intended activity affects the appropriate company type.

• Companies Act: Section 38 LTD capacity

Keep tax registration separate from the formation description

Revenue has a separate registration process for a new company. Giving an activity description to the CRO does not complete that work. Agree who will review the tax registrations and when the adviser needs the business's actual start date, customer locations and transaction model.

Do not choose a category because somebody claims it automatically produces a lower tax rate or simpler reporting. Educational tax analysis and company formation are different tasks. The accountant needs to assess the facts, including what the company supplies, where it operates and how it is managed.

Keep forecasts and actual transactions distinguishable. If the first signed contract differs from the initial plan, share it with the adviser before invoices and recurring bookkeeping processes are set up. A consistent, current business brief is more useful than leaving everyone to work from an old incorporation description.

• Revenue: registering a new business for tax

A fictional software founder's preparation example

Imagine a founder planning a scheduling product, occasional implementation work and a later marketplace. Rather than write internet services, she records the first product, who buys it, who delivers support and how subscriptions are earned. She labels the marketplace as a later plan, not an operating fact.

She then gives the presenter a location schedule and asks which current classification best fits the principal proposed activity. The accountant receives the same commercial explanation for separate tax and bookkeeping work. The insurer hears about implementation services instead of receiving only the word software.

If the operations will mostly be abroad, she discusses that honestly before filing. No guessed Irish premises are added to make the form look easier. This is an organisational example, not an accepted application, and it deliberately supplies no supposedly universal NACE number.

Send a usable brief before choosing your formation package

CRO's required-steps guidance describes Form A1 and the constitution as part of incorporation. An activity brief supports that preparation; it is not a substitute for the company name, officers, subscribers and share decisions. Check the broader A1 guide for those separate fields.

StartCompany.ie offers formation packages and works with authorised partners to provide services. Compare the current scope, state any unusual activity and confirm the total payable before ordering. Routine incorporation preparation is not a bespoke licensing, tax-residence or classification opinion for a complex operation.

Before authorising filing, read the final description and addresses rather than checking only the spelling of the name. Ask the presenter to explain any unclear classification. Keep the final agreed version with your formation documents so that future providers can see what was actually submitted.

• Main product or service and intended customer type.
• How the company earns income and who delivers the work.
• Principal initial activity and separately labelled future plans.
• Proposed Irish activity locations and normal central administration.
• Any regulated work, premises permission or specialist-advice question.
• Classification version and description confirmed by the presenter.
• Agreed formation scope, separate professional work and total payable.

• CRO: required steps for company incorporation