Amended guidelines governing the voluntary strike-off of companies under Section 311 of the companies Act 1963 (as amended) will apply to all applications for voluntary strike-off which are received by the Companies Registration Office (CRO) after the date of closure of the current application list i.e. 31st August 2003 and to all applications already received by the CRO, which have not compiled by 31st August 2003 with all the guidelines currently in force.

The new guidelines will differ from those currently in force in the following two respects:
In the letter of application, the applicant will be required to confirm that the company will not commence or re-commence trading in the period after the date of application and prior to its strike-off and dissolution

The company will have to be up-to-date with its Annual Return filing requirements as at the date of closure of the list.

As an example of the effect of latter requirement above, in the case of a voluntary strike-off list which opens, say, on 1st September and closes on 31st December in any year, any company with an Annual Return Date (ARD) falling on or before 2nd December would be obliged to file an Annual Return in respect of that year in order to be eligible for voluntary strike-off. A company with an ARD falling on or before 2nd December would be late in filing its Annual Return as at 31st December. It would therefore not be up-to-date with its filing requirements as at the date on which the voluntary strike-off list closes. However, companies with an ARD falling between 3rd December and 31st December in that year would NOT have to file this additional Return.

THE NEW GUIDELINES TAKE EFFECT ON 1ST SEPTEMBER 2003.

So, whets involved in making such an application for voluntary strike-off?

The current procedure is as follows:

- All outstanding Annual Returns/financial statements, if any, must be filed in the C.R.O.

- Confirmation must be obtained from the Revenue Commissioners that they have no objection to strike-off.

- An advertisement must be published in one national daily newspaper advising that an application for strike-off will be made to the C.R.O.

- Application for voluntary strike-off is prepared and submitted to the C.R.O.

ICC would be pleased to take your instruction in the matter of voluntary strike-off applications and to deal with all relevant authorities on your behalf. Just give us a call on 01-2405805 or e-mail us at sales@iccinformation.ie and we will be pleased to give you a quote