Starting a business in Ireland: foreigner's guide (2026)

Ireland must transpose EU AMLD6 provisions requiring the RBO to grant beneficial-ownership access to persons with a legitimate interest and to interconnect with EU systems, partially reopening data that was restricted after the 2022 CJEU ruling. It re-shapes the transparency obligations attached to forming and owning an Irish company.

Section 22 of the 2024 Act commenced, so a small/micro company no longer automatically loses its audit exemption on a first late annual return — only on a second late filing within five years. This materially lowers the compliance burden and cost for newly formed small businesses.

Section 22 of the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Act 2024 commenced, so a small or micro company no longer automatically loses its audit exemption on the first late annual-return filing in a five-year period. This materially reduces compliance cost and risk for newly formed small businesses.

64 of the 90 provisions of the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Act 2024 took effect, including statutory footing for fully virtual general meetings and new grounds for involuntary strike-off (e.g. failure to file beneficial-ownership data). It modernises governance and administration of Irish companies.

The President signed the Act, the most significant amendment to the Companies Act 2014, overhauling governance, insolvency, enforcement and supervision rules. It sets the current legal framework within which Irish companies are formed and operate.

Directors must supply a PPS number (or apply for an Identified Person Number via Form VIF) when filing incorporation (A1) and other CRO forms, cross-checked against the Dept. of Social Protection database. This added an identity-verification step to the company-formation process to combat fraud.

In WM and Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Registers (C-37/20 & C-601/20) the Court of Justice of the EU ruled general public access to UBO data breaches privacy rights, prompting Ireland's CRO to suspend public RBO access and limit it to competent authorities and designated persons.

The CEA replaced the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement as a statutorily independent agency with enhanced powers and resources to investigate and enforce Irish company law. It strengthened oversight of directors and companies across their lifecycle.

The RBO began accepting online filings, requiring all Irish companies to disclose their natural-person beneficial owners (with a 22 November 2019 deadline to file without breach). Beneficial-ownership filing became a mandatory step in establishing and maintaining a company.

The European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 110/2019) transposed the EU 4th/5th AML Directives, obliging all Irish corporate entities to identify and register their beneficial owners. This added a new transparency layer to company formation.

The Act took effect, consolidating company law and introducing a streamlined private company limited by shares (LTD) that can have a single director, a one-document constitution, and unlimited objects. This made forming and running a small Irish company markedly simpler.

Ireland enacted the Companies Act 2014, the largest substantive Act in the history of the State, replacing the Companies Acts 1963–2013. It is the foundational statute governing how every Irish company is incorporated, registered with the CRO and administered.

Following EU agreement, Ireland introduced a single 12.5% corporation tax rate on trading income, replacing the earlier mix of manufacturing/IFSC reliefs and higher general rates. The low rate became a defining reason businesses choose to incorporate in Ireland and remains unchanged today.

The Companies Act 1963 codified the rules for incorporating and operating limited companies in independent Ireland, establishing the memorandum-and-articles model and registration regime that governed company formation for over five decades until the 2014 Act.