Companies Act 2014 section 348

Documents to be annexed to annual returns: certain cases

Section 348 sets out the additional documents that a holding company must attach to its annual return when it has claimed an exemption from preparing group financial statements by relying on the consolidated accounts of a higher-level parent undertaking.

• A holding company that does not prepare group accounts because it relies on a higher parent's consolidated accounts must annex copies of those consolidated accounts, the consolidated annual report and the auditor's report to its own annual return — whether it prepares under Companies Act or IFRS rules, and whether the higher parent is registered in the EEA or outside it.
• Where a company has used the exemption from disclosing full information on related undertakings in the notes to its financial statements, it must instead annex the complete related-undertaking information to the annual return alongside those financial statements.
• Any annexed document that is not in English or Irish must be accompanied by a certified translation into English or Irish, and each copy document must be a true copy of the original accompanied by a certificate signed by a director and the company secretary confirming its accuracy.
• Failure to comply with any of these requirements is a category 3 offence, for which both the company and any officer in default — including shadow directors and de facto directors — may be held liable.