CRO Form A1 Walkthrough — Line by Line (2026)

What is Form A1? Form A1 is the single application form you file with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) to incorporate a private limited company in Ireland. It captures the company name, registered office, share capital, directors, secretary, shareholders and a statement of compliance. You file it electronically through the CORE portal together with the company Constitution. Filing fee is €50 online (€100 paper).

This guide walks through every field on Form A1, what to enter, and the common mistakes that get applications returned.

Section 1 — Company name

The first field is your proposed name. Three rules to know:

Must end with a legal suffix: Limited / Ltd / Teoranta / Teo for LTD, DAC for designated activity company, CLG for limited by guarantee, PLC for public limited.
Must be distinguishable from existing names. Use the CRO CheCK search first. Names that differ only by punctuation, spacing or "and" vs "&" are not distinguishable.
Cannot use restricted words like Bank, Insurance, University, Group, State, Society, Royal without prior ministerial approval.

Common mistake

Founders pick a name that contains a generic word ("Tech Solutions Ltd") and then learn it conflicts with 200 existing companies. Add a distinctive word — usually your brand or a coined word.

Section 2 — Company type

Tick one box: Private Company Limited by Shares (LTD), Designated Activity Company (DAC), Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), Public Limited Company (PLC), or Unlimited. For 90% of founders, this is LTD.

Section 3 — Constitution

You must file a Constitution alongside Form A1. For a standard LTD this is a one-page document under Part 2 of the Companies Act 2014. Our software generates this for you with the correct article numbering and language.

Section 4 — Registered office

The registered office must be a physical address in Ireland (not a PO box). Acceptable options:

Director's home address — free, but goes on the public register
Virtual office service — €150–€300/year, mail-forwarding, privacy
Accountant or solicitor's office — often included in their setup package

If using anything other than your own address, you must attach a signed consent letter from the address holder (Section 50 Companies Act 2014).

Section 5 — Place of business

If the company will trade from a different address, list it here. For most online businesses, this is the same as the registered office.

Section 6 — Directors

For each director, you must provide:

Full legal name (matching passport / national ID)
Residential address — not business, not PO box. The CRO will reject business addresses.
Date of birth — full DD/MM/YYYY
Nationality
Occupation — be specific (e.g. "Software Engineer", not "Engineer")
PPS number if Irish-resident, or Verified Identity Number (VIN) if non-resident (apply through CRO)
Other directorships currently held in Ireland or abroad

Section 137 trigger

If none of the directors is ordinarily resident in the European Economic Area (EEA), you must either attach a Section 137 bond certificate or appoint a nominee EEA director. Do not file Form A1 without resolving this — it's the single most common rejection reason for non-resident founders.

Section 7 — Secretary

Every Irish company must have a Secretary. If the company has only one Director, the Secretary must be a different person (or a corporate body). With two or more Directors, one of them can also serve as Secretary.

The Secretary's responsibilities include filing annual returns, keeping the register of members, and ensuring statutory compliance.

Section 8 — Share capital and shareholders

For each subscriber (founding shareholder):

Name and address
Number of shares taken
Class of shares (usually "Ordinary")
Nominal value per share (usually €1)

The standard structure is 100 ordinary shares of €1 each = €100 share capital, split between founders by their agreed equity percentages.

Section 9 — Activity description and NACE code

The CRO requires a brief description of the principal business activity plus a 4-digit NACE Rev. 2 code. Common codes:

62.01 — Computer programming activities (SaaS, software dev)
63.12 — Web portals
73.11 — Advertising agencies
47.91 — Retail sale via mail order or internet
70.22 — Business and other management consultancy
69.20 — Accounting, bookkeeping, auditing

Pick the code that matches your main activity. Multi-activity companies still pick one primary code.

Section 10 — Statement of compliance

The form ends with a statutory declaration that all requirements of the Companies Act have been complied with. This is signed by:

A solicitor concerned in the formation, or
A person named as a director or secretary in the application, or
A subscriber to the Constitution

For online filings via CORE, this is a digital signature with your CORE account credentials.

Filing checklist

Before you click Submit:

✓ Constitution PDF attached
✓ Registered office consent letter attached (if not your own address)
✓ Section 137 bond certificate attached (if applicable)
✓ All director residential addresses verified
✓ All PPS / VIN numbers entered
✓ NACE code chosen
✓ €50 fee ready (Visa / Mastercard accepted on CORE)

What happens after you submit

Online submissions are typically processed within 5 business days. You'll receive an email from the CRO with one of:

Approved — Certificate of Incorporation issued. Your CRO number is assigned.
Returned — A list of issues. Fix them and resubmit. Use our Rejection Fixer AI if you want help.

After approval: register for Corporation Tax with Revenue, open a business bank account, file Beneficial Ownership (RBO) within 5 months, and diary your first annual return for 6 months from incorporation.

Where GetIrishCompany helps

Our software fills in Form A1 fields from your wizard answers, generates the Constitution and consent letters, validates director details, and warns you about Section 137 before you file. If you do get rejected, the Rejection Fixer AI parses the CRO email and regenerates the corrected paperwork.

Start Form A1 →

CRO Form A1 Walkthrough — Line by Line