Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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1. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to commence the sections of the Companies (Accounting) Act pertaining to filing requirements for unlimited companies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36828/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 (Commencement) Order 2017 (S.I. 246 of 2017) and the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 (Commencement) (No. 2) Order 2017 (S.I. 250 of 2017) together commenced all sections, except for section 80, of the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017. The commencement date was 9 June 2017. 

The Commencement Orders provide that the Act applies to financial statements in respect of financial years that began on or after 1 January 2017.

As subsection (2) of section 78 of the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017 specifically provides that the amended section 1274(2)(a)(iii) of the Companies Act 2014 shall come into operation on 1 January 2022, unlimited companies (ULCs) that are holding companies of limited undertakings will not have to comply with section 1274(2)(a)(iii) until that date. All other provisions in section 78 concerning the financial reporting obligations of unlimited companies are in operation since 9 June 2017 and, under the Commencement Orders, apply to financial statements in respect of financial years that began on or after 1 January 2017.

Section 80 amends the definitions of “EEA company” and “non-EEA company” in section 1300 of the Companies Act 2014. These are types of external companies. As a result, some unlimited companies that are incorporated outside of Ireland and that have a branch in Ireland will become subject to the obligations that the Companies Act 2014 imposes on external companies, as soon as section 80 comes into effect.

One such obligation is to register the external company in the Companies Registration Office within 30 days of establishing a branch in Ireland. Part of that registration includes the delivery of the most recent accounting documents to the Registrar of Companies. Therefore, any company that becomes an external company as a result of the amended definition in section 80, will be obliged to register and file financial statements within 30 days of the establishment of a branch in Ireland. Had section 80 been commenced with immediate effect, this 30 day deadline could have required such  companies to file accounting documents in respect of financial years that began before 1 January 2017, which would be earlier than for the other types of company that face new reporting financial reporting obligations under the Companies (Accounting) Act 2017.  

A draft Commencement Order for section 80 is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for settling.  I intend to make that Order shortly, with a commencement date that will meet the objective of ensuring that companies being brought within the scope of section 1300 of the Companies Act 2014 do not have to file financial statements and related reports with the Companies Registration Office for financial years earlier than those for which companies being brought within the scope of section 1274 of that Act, other than those being brought within that scope by virtue of section 1274(2)(a)(iii), have to file such documents.