A letter mentioning strike-off is not an ordinary annual-return reminder. Before deciding what to file or buying help, establish whether your Irish company has received a statutory notice, appeared in the Gazette or already been dissolved. Those stages call for different responses.
This guide focuses on notices concerning missing CRO annual returns for an Irish company. It is a preparation checklist, not a determination of your company's legal status or a promise that filing will stop every enforcement process. Official sources were checked on 17 October 2026. If a deadline is imminent, grounds are disputed or dissolution has occurred, obtain urgent professional advice.
Identify the company and the stage before taking action
Use the exact company number and legal name to check the CRO record and relevant Gazette publications. Do not rely on an old incorporation certificate, a third-party search snapshot or a similar business name. Save the record you checked and the date, together with the full correspondence.
A reminder, a statutory notice and a public notice of intended strike-off are not the same document. Nor is a listing for intended strike-off the same event as dissolution. If the wording or record is unclear, ask the CRO or an appropriate adviser to identify the stage rather than guessing from the heading.
Use the table as an organising aid. It does not calculate a deadline or establish eligibility for a particular application. Have the actual company record, notice and filing history reviewed together before deciding that a routine annual-return order is the complete answer.
| Stage | First check |
|---|---|
| Reminder | Missing filings |
| Statutory notice | Grounds and date |
| Gazette notice | Published deadline |
| Dissolution | Restoration advice |
A statutory notice contains a specific response date
Section 728 requires the notice to state the grounds, the remedial step and the date by which it must be taken. That date must be not less than 28 days after the notice date. It is not a fresh 28-day period starting when you open the envelope.
Record the printed date and deadline immediately. Send the complete notice to the person reviewing the matter, including every page and any reference. Do not forward only a cropped photograph of the word strike-off and expect the adviser to reconstruct the timeline.
Allocate a lead person and an earlier internal target for gathering information. That target is a planning tool, not an extension of the statutory date. If the deadline has passed, say so plainly when contacting the adviser or CRO; do not assume the absence of another letter means nothing has happened.
Why the registered office and mail handover matter
Section 727 provides for the statutory notice to be sent by registered post to the registered office in the ordinary annual-return case. It also provides for officer copies, but failure to comply with the copy provision does not invalidate an otherwise compliant notice.
Do not assume a missed personal copy or delayed forwarding cancels the process. Check whether the address on the CRO record is current, who receives the post and whether an earlier provider still holds letters. Keep envelopes and delivery information where available for the adviser to assess.
Correcting the address is a separate administrative task, not the missing-return remedy. Arrange a clear scan-and-escalation process for future correspondence. If more than one person handles the post, identify who alerts the directors and who confirms that the underlying action was actually completed.
For missing returns, deal with the whole outstanding list
Section 729 identifies the remedy for the annual-return ground as delivery of all the returns the company has failed to make. Filing only the latest B1 does not resolve older missing returns. A notice citing another ground may require a different step.
Prepare a year-by-year schedule from the filing history. For each return, show its effective date, submission reference, status, required supporting documents and unresolved questions. Ask the adviser to reconcile that schedule with the notice rather than assuming the most recent reminder lists everything.
Tell the adviser about concurrent notices too. A Revenue statement, officer issue or another ground is not automatically fixed by a B1. This article deliberately does not turn a single filing product into a universal strike-off solution; the actual grounds decide what needs doing.
A B1 draft is not a complete annual return
CRO guidance describes the annual return as Form B1 plus the documents required to accompany it and the filing fee. For most companies that includes financial statements. A new company's first six-month return has a different accounts position from later returns.
Ask what remains outstanding at each stage: accounts preparation, approval, officer certification, submission or correction. A saved draft, an uploaded PDF or a payment receipt on its own should not be described as the complete return. Check the actual submission record and any subsequent CRO correspondence.
If records are missing, contact the accountant promptly and explain the notice date. Do not invent figures, omit required accounts or copy a prior year's signatures to accelerate submission. Our sent-back B1 guide covers correction issues separately; the enforcement notice still needs its own attention.
What changes when an intended strike-off appears in the Gazette?
Under Section 730, a public notice follows where the specified remedial step was not taken by the earlier date. It must identify the ground, remedy and a deadline at least 28 days after publication. The earlier letter and the Gazette entry should both be reviewed.
Do not add two headline periods together and assume you have an automatic 56 days from today. The process may already be advanced when you discover it. Use the actual published date and deadline and obtain advice immediately if time is short.
Keep evidence of what was delivered, when and under which reference. Ask how the company will verify that the relevant default has been remedied and the enforcement position resolved. A phone conversation or an order confirmation is not the same as checking the public record and the CRO's response.
Late fees and audit exemption still need a separate review
Resolving the missing filing does not mean the consequences of lateness disappear. Have the applicable fees and filing history checked. Financial-statement preparation, an audit where needed and any court application are separate work from simply completing a B1.
CRO's current lateness rule, effective from 16 July 2025, concerns filing late more than once within a five-year period and loss of audit exemption for the following two years. Other conditions and transition issues still matter; do not use a blanket statement that every single late return automatically has the same result.
Give the accountant the full history, not just this year's notice. Ask which financial statements can properly be prepared and filed, and what additional work is required. Keep the tax-return position separate from the CRO return: settling one register or agency does not complete the other obligations.
Can a court extension or voluntary strike-off solve it?
A court extension concerns the filing time for a particular annual return. It is not a routine postponement button or a guaranteed order. CRO's missed-deadline guidance also explains restrictions where proceedings have commenced. Have the actual stage and proposed route reviewed before deciding whether and when to file.
If the business is no longer needed, ask about an orderly closure route rather than deliberately ignoring the notice. Voluntary strike-off has conditions, including outstanding annual returns, and is not the same as being involuntarily removed for non-compliance.
Neither buying a court-application service nor requesting voluntary closure automatically suspends an existing notice. Ask the adviser how the procedures interact in your case and what must happen before the stated date. Companies with insolvency concerns, assets, debts or disputes need appropriate professional advice rather than a routine closure order.
If the company is dissolved, the question changes to restoration
Section 733 places dissolution at publication of the notice that the company has been struck off. That is different from the first Gazette notice of an intention to do so. CRO warns that the company then ceases to exist as a legal entity and company property can vest in the State.
Do not continue on the assumption that a late B1 or buying a fresh incorporation fixes the old company. Seek urgent advice before further trading, signing in its name or dealing with assets. Section 734 also preserves relevant existing officer or member liabilities; dissolution is not a general debt-erasure route.
CRO describes administrative restoration with an H1 application received within 12 months of dissolution and other conditions to be completed within 15 months. These are different deadlines, not permission to wait. Eligibility, court alternatives and the actual completion requirements need review. Routine annual-return support is not a restoration application.
A fictional example: the newest return is not the only gap
Maeve, a fictional bakery director, receives forwarded post from a former address provider. It contains a statutory strike-off notice, and the printed response date is already close. She remembers approving an annual-return draft and initially assumes the notice must be outdated.
The reviewer checks the company number, record and submission history. The newest return is still incomplete, and an older year is also outstanding. Maeve gives the accountant the accounts file and full notice, while another named person checks the mailing address and retrieves earlier correspondence.
The team identifies the required work and urgency rather than counting 28 new days from the delivery of the forwarded envelope. They retain completed filing evidence and check the enforcement position. The example illustrates a review process, not a promise that every late-discovered notice can be resolved before strike-off.
The information pack to prepare today
Provide a concise, secure handover to the accountant or adviser. Do not publish notices containing personal details in a public forum. A useful file makes the company, dates, grounds and unfinished work clear without requiring someone to search through several unrelated message threads.
- Exact company number, legal name and current contact person.
- Complete notice, envelope if relevant, date received and printed response date.
- Current CRO record and relevant Gazette entry or publication details.
- Every outstanding return and its current submission or correction status.
- Relevant accounts, approvals, officer details and signing availability.
- Earlier CRO or Revenue correspondence and any court or enforcement documents.
- Who holds the records and what an outgoing adviser still needs to provide.
- Confirmation of who will act, what they will deliver and how completion will be checked.
Choose filing support without assuming it stops enforcement
StartCompany.ie's published annual-return service covers B1 preparation and filing, company-detail checks, attachment of required financial statements, the filing fee and confirmation. Attaching accounts is not the same as preparing or auditing them. Review the current product and total payable alongside the work actually needed.
For a live strike-off notice, contact the team before ordering and provide the company number, grounds and response date through the agreed channel. Confirm whether the team can assist, which returns and documents need work, any additional scope and the total payable. Do not assume an online purchase reserves an urgent filing slot.
A routine filing order does not include company restoration, litigation or cancellation of a CRO notice. Ask for specific advice where those issues arise. Once the immediate issue is addressed, assign responsibility for the next return, records, correspondence and follow-up so the same gap does not recur.
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Annual Returns
Official information and next steps
Official CRO guidance and revised Companies Act provisions checked on 17 October 2026. This guide concerns the missing-annual-return ground, not every possible strike-off ground. Use the actual notice and current company record; obtain case-specific legal or accounting advice where needed.
- CRO: involuntary strike-off and its consequences
- Companies Act 2014: Section 727, notice to the company
- Companies Act 2014: Section 728, notice contents and response date
- Companies Act 2014: Section 729, the applicable remedial step
- Companies Act 2014: Section 730, public notice of intended strike-off
- Companies Act 2014: Section 733, strike-off and dissolution
- Companies Act 2014: Section 734, continuing liabilities and dissolution
- CRO: filing an annual return and required documents
- CRO: current audit-exemption rules
- CRO: administrative restoration and its deadlines
- CRO: missed deadlines and court-extension conditions
- CRO: conditions for voluntary strike-off