by , on Jun 28, 2019 01:26:01 PM

The publication of legal notice 101 of 2019 on the 17^th of May 2019 prescribes that a company shall be exempt from the requirement of having annual accounts audited in respect of its first two accounting period if:

1. Annual turnover of the company does not exceed eighty-thousand euro (€80,000) or a pro-rata amount if the relevant accounting period is a period other than twelve months; and
2. All shareholders are individuals (not companies or other entities) who has completed his/her educational studies at least at MQF Level 3 or an equivalent level and who have completed such studies on a date being not earlier than three years from the date of the registration of the company.

An application as noted in the first schedule to the regulations needs to be sent within 6 months from the end of the relevant accounting period. This is to be sent to the Registrar. The obligation to inform the Commissioner for Revenue is placed on the Registrar i.e. no company needs to do such. If the shareholding structure of the company changes to the extent that not all shareholders satisfy the conditions laid out above, the exemption shall no longer apply.

The regulations shall only come into force upon the publication of such notice in the Government Gazette.