Late Submission Of B1 Form - Do I automatically lose Audit Exemption?

I forgot to submit my B1 Form for my companies Annual Return Date - It was due on the 12th Of February.
I got it mixed up with submitting my yearly accounts to revenue which was all done in plenty of time.
I posted it this evening after getting the reminder. Do I automatically lose my Audit Exemption? I'm selling my business at the moment & am a bit worried about the impact of this. Should I follow up with the Companies Office?

Yes, as far as I am aware, you must get your accounts audited next year.

You lose your Audit exemption for this year and next!

For manual filers you get 28 days from the date of your ARD to submit the annual return. 1st return six months after incorporation. 2nd return must have accounts attached. Penalty for late submission is €100 plus €3 per day up to a maximum of €1,200. Costly mistake! There is no discretion. You lose the audit exemption for that years accounts and the subsequent year. On an average company with a t/o of €800K to €1 million I would probably be charging €800 to €1,000 extra for the audit (estimate). Assuming 50 days late total extra cost €1,850 to €2,250. Beware of DIY, beware of accountants and agents that do not do their job and beware of clients who do not co-operate with their agents.

If it was your first annual return made up to 6 months after incorporation (which I don't think this is!) you can still avail of audit exemption for your first accounts.

If it is a subsequent annual return, and it is filed after the due deadline, the CRO will send it back to you to have the accounts audited and re-submitted with the appropriate late filing fee. You will need to get that sorted ASAP, but once that's done, here's a possible way out from having to have your NEXT set of accounts audited too; if your current ARD (15th January? (based on your stated deadline of 12th Feb)) is less than 9 months after your accounting year-end date (lets say the year-end is 30th September 2007), submit the (now) audited accounts with ANOTHER annual return made up to 9 months later (ie, 30th June in the following year), file by 28th July and state on the B1 that you DO NOT WANT to retain your existing ARD, and this will count as having submitted audited accounts "with the next annual return".

Good luck

Cheers Oops - I'll double check this with an accountant friend of mine.

This is a bloody disaster - looks like it's going to cost me 3K to get the accounts audited. Closing on the sale of the business & now this comes up. It's an expensive lesson.