Changing your Company Name

Please use our name checking service to check the availability of company names.

There is a number of reasons for a company to change its name, maybe the particular name is no longer suitable for your business as it has diversified, in which case the company may be required to have its memorandum and articles of association amended.

Once a suitable new name has been decided upon, we will draw up for signature a special resolution to change the name and amend the name on the memorandum and articles of association.

After we have received the signed resolution we submit it with the minutes and appropriate forms to the Companies Registration Office and they issue a Certificate of Incorporation of Change of Name when the name is registered. The name of the company is not changed until the new certificate is issued.

When making an application to change the name of a company, the following must be submitted:

• Form G1Q – Change of Name by Special Resolution
• The amended Memorandum and Articles of Association for the company
• The accompanying fee

Please ensure that the company is up to date with filing its annual returns before we submit the change of name application. The application will not be approved if the company is out of date with its annual returns. If the company is strike off listed or on a CRO prosecution list as a result of its non-filing of returns, approval for change of name will not be granted by the Registrar of Companies until the relevant enforcement process has been completed and all outstanding returns have been filed.

Completing Form G1Q

The following areas of the form must be completed.

Company number – This is the number given to the company when incorporated and is available from the original certificate of incorporation.

Company name in full – This is the current company name. It must always appear as it is written on the certificate of incorporation, or on any previous change of name certificates, inclusive of all appropriate suffices (Limited/Teoranta, etc.) and all punctuation marks, etc. matching exactly.

Special resolution of the above named company – The applicant must tick the appropriate box indicating the method used to pass the resolution to change the name of the company. If an extraordinary general meeting was held, the address where and when the meeting took place must be entered.

Subject to the approval of the Minister the name of the company shall be changed to – The new name should be noted here.

I hereby certify that the particulars are correct – Form G1Q must be signed by a current director/secretary of the company. The appropriate box should be ticked to indicate the signatory is a director and/or secretary, and the signature date should be entered. To enable verification, the signatory’s name must also be entered in block letters below the signature. Only one signature is needed on this form.

Presenter’s name – This section must always be completed. A contact name and address is required to enable documents to be returned for amendment or to ensure certificates of incorporation on change of name can be posted. If not completed, documents for amendment will be returned to the registered office of the company and certificates will be held in the CRO.

Memorandum and articles of association

Form G1Q must be accompanied by the latest copy of the memorandum and articles of association for the company.

• All documentation received in the CRO are scanned onto the computer system to facilitate faster access to documents.
• All documents submitted must, therefore, be of  acceptable standard. The text of the memorandum and articles must be black, easily legible and presented on A4 white paper which is suitable for scanning i.e. no staples, whitening fluid, etc. Photocopies showing black lines, faint text, pages where the text runs off the end of the page are not acceptable.
• The new name of the company, inclusive of the appropriate suffix, should appear twice on the first page of the memorandum i.e. under the title ‘Memorandum of Association’ and in clause 1 of the objects. It must also appear on the first page of the articles of association under the title ‘Articles of Association’.
• The Companies Act cited in the first page of the memorandum and articles of association should be the Companies Act 2014.
• The share capital in the memorandum and articles should always be the latest amount as reflected in the most current relevant documentation on file in the CRO.
• The original subscribers page need not be completed. Photocopies of subscribers’ details from the most current relevant documentation will be acceptable.