You need to decide on the following before you start

Step 1

Decide on a company name

• The name cannot be too similar to an existing company name. You can check possible names by clicking here.
• Insert name for CRO search
• Check company name
• Is your company name available? If not choose another

Estimated time to complete – 2 mins

Step 2

Business Location & Registered Office

Every company must have a Registered Office and a Place of Business and generally speaking these will the same and will quite often be the home address of the director(s) / owners of the company where they do not have separate offices.

Estimated time to complete – 2 mins

Step 3

Company Directors

Every company must have at least one director. Directors are the people who are appointed to run and manage the day to day affairs of the company. Directors are responsible for ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation and the management of the company’s affairs in a correct manner. A director can be held personally liable for the debts of a company if the company trades recklessly and incurs losses.

The vast majority of companies are formed by Irish residents. If a non-Irish resident is forming an Irish company at least one of the directors must be EEA Resident (the EEA being the countries of the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), otherwise a special bond must be supplied. Please contact our office for further details if this applies.

Estimated time to complete – 2 mins

Step 4

Company Secretary

Every company must have a Company Secretary. If a company has two directors then one of the directors can also be the Company Secretary. However, where there is only one director a separate individual needs to be the Company Secretary.

Traditionally for a married couple one of the spouses will be the Director and the other Secretary.

The Company Secretary should be someone who is familiar with company law requirements for a limited company.

Estimated time to complete – 2 mins

Step 5

Shareholders

The shareholders are the owners of the company. They can also be the Director(s) and Company Secretary.

For many small companies in Ireland the company will be owned by a couple on a 50/50 basis say out of a total of 100 €1 ordinary shares each will own 50 shares.

Estimated time to complete – 2 mins