01
Company & Entity Formation
We help match the Irish entity to its job under the Companies Act 2014. The private company limited by shares (LTD) carries ordinary holding and trading roles. The designated activity company (DAC) is the usual choice for regulated, special-purpose and capital-markets entities, including aircraft-leasing SPVs. The public limited company (PLC) serves listed and larger structures; Irish solicitors confirm the fit.
Incorporation through the Companies Registration Office (CRO) is efficient once the directors, company secretary and registered office are settled, so we line those up with corporate-services providers first. The Central Register of Beneficial Ownership (RBO), maintained under the EU AML directives, must record the ultimate beneficial owners; banks and counterparties check it, so the ownership chart should be final first.
02
Trusts & Foundations
Where a family wants a common-law trust inside the EU, we coordinate the Irish settlement with Irish solicitors and licensed trustees. Ireland follows English-derived trust principles, so discretionary, fixed-interest and bare trusts for succession, philanthropy and asset holding behave as English-trained advisers expect. The trust here is a familiar, well-developed instrument rather than a statutory novelty, which simplifies drafting.
Registration is part of the design. A relevant trust must be entered on the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (CRBOT), maintained by the Revenue Commissioners, and the beneficial-owner details filed there have to match the trust deed and the bank file. The settlement, registration and ongoing administration are carried by Irish solicitors and licensed trustees; we coordinate them.
03
Banking & Accounts
Ireland offers full Eurozone banking with SEPA and euro-system access, alongside one of Europe's deepest fund-banking and depositary sectors built around its servicing industry.
Onboarding applies the EU AML/CFT standards: expect beneficial-ownership, substance and source-of-funds diligence, with enhanced scrutiny for complex ownership chains and higher-risk profiles. We help assemble a clean, well-documented file and introduce banking and depositary relationships from our partner network; the account relationship itself is held with the licensed institution.
04
Funds
We help a manager place the fund at the right point on Ireland's retail-to-alternative spectrum, all regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland under the EU UCITS and AIFMD frameworks. The Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (ICAV) is the flagship corporate fund form, and the choice between it and the other vehicles below drives authorization timing, investor eligibility and running cost.
- The ICAV is a dedicated corporate fund vehicle, electable as a partnership or corporation for US tax purposes (check-the-box).
- UCITS are passportable retail funds for pan-European distribution.
- The QIAIF, the Qualifying Investor AIF, serves professional and qualifying investors with no investment or leverage limits.
- The ILP, the Investment Limited Partnership, is the modernized partnership vehicle for private-asset strategies.
The servicing bench is half the case. Because Ireland is one of the world's largest fund-servicing centers, administration and depositary capacity exists at institutional scale, and EU passporting runs through an authorized manager, so the management company or AIFM has to be appointed before the launch timetable is real. We assemble the administrator, depositary and manager from the network.
05
Regulatory & Licensing
The Central Bank of Ireland authorizes and supervises banks, fund managers, insurers and investment firms, applying EU prudential and conduct standards and operating the authorization regimes for ICAVs, UCITS and QIAIFs.
AML/CFT obligations derive from the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts as implemented from the EU directives. Matters before the Central Bank are run through locally admitted Irish solicitors and licensed management companies; we coordinate the engagement and do not ourselves speak for the regulator.
06
Tax & Treaty Posture
We model the Irish layer on the split that matters: a competitive corporate tax rate on trading income and higher rates on passive, non-trading income, which means the entity's activity profile, not its label, sets the rate. An extensive double-tax treaty network supports cross-border flows, and the Knowledge Development Box can apply to qualifying intellectual property.
Ireland participates in the OECD Common Reporting Standard and FATCA, and it applies the OECD Pillar Two minimum tax as a top-up on in-scope large groups, so a group near the threshold should model the top-up alongside the headline rate. Irish counsel and tax advisers develop the structuring itself; this page is educational and is not tax advice.