Company officers are being urged to file their annual returns on time amid a significant ramp-up in enforcement action by regulators, which has led to almost 3,000 entities being struck off the register of companies so far this year.
The Companies Registration Office (CRO) recommenced the automatic involuntary strike-off process on a phased basis last year after its suspension during the Covid pandemic.
Since the start of July, the body has been targeting as many as 1,000 non-compliant firms each week, a spokeswoman for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment confirmed to The Irish Times this week.
Some 2,987 companies have been involuntarily struck off the register so far this year for failure to file annual returns, the department said. That compares with a total of just 506 that were struck off last year for having no details of directors.
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The CRO is working through a significant backlog of cases after the strike-off process was suspended in March 2020 to afford company directors some breathing space at the outset of the Covid pandemic.
The enforcement regime was due to be reinstated in August 2023. However, bugs and technical issues in the electronic filing system, which led to as many as 1,500 entities being incorrectly struck off, forced its suspension again until 2024.
At that stage, the CRO began manually targeting companies which had no listed company directors for enforcement. The spokeswoman said that process concluded in June 2025 and was followed by “extensive testing” of the automated involuntary strike-off process.
“Once the CRO was satisfied with the automated process, the involuntary strike-off process recommenced in August 2025, with 100 companies per week targeted,” the spokeswoman added. “These companies have not filed annual returns, contrary to their company law obligations.”
The number of companies targeted each week rose to 500 companies in the second quarter and ramped up has further to 1,000 companies since the end of June.
Initially, companies are fined €100 for failing to file within 56 days of their annual return date and then €3 each day after that, up to a maximum of €1,200.
Persistent late filing can lead to the CRO levying on-the-spot fines and even prosecution of the company directors, who may eventually face disqualification from acting as directors under Irish company law. In practice, however, it is rare for directors to face disqualification for late filing.
