Should consultants incorporate as a limited company in Ireland?

Yes, consultants benefit significantly from incorporation, especially when dealing with larger corporate clients. Limited companies provide professional credibility, 12.5% corporate tax rate, limited liability protection, and ability to claim business expenses for office costs, travel, and professional development.

What are the tax advantages for consulting companies in Ireland?

Irish limited companies pay 12.5% corporate tax on trading income. Consultants can deduct business expenses including office costs, travel, equipment, and professional development. This provides significant tax savings compared to sole trader personal income tax rates.

How much does consultant company incorporation cost in Ireland?

Open Forest offers consultant incorporation from €99 including CRO fees and basic constitution. For growth-oriented consulting businesses, the Future Proof package (€250) includes investor-ready documentation and advanced share structures.

Do consulting companies need a company secretary in Ireland?

Yes, if you're the sole director of your consulting company, you must appoint a separate company secretary by law. Open Forest provides professional company secretary services for €99/year to handle all CRO filings and statutory compliance.

Can consultants use trading names different from their company name?

Yes, consultants can use trading names that differ from their registered company name. For example, 'Smith Consulting Ltd' might trade as 'The Digital Marketing Experts.' Trading names must be registered with the CRO if they differ from your company name.

When should consultants register for VAT in Ireland?

Consultants must register for VAT once turnover exceeds €42,500 for services in a 12-month period. However, you can voluntarily register before reaching this threshold if it benefits your business operations or client requirements.

How quickly can Open Forest incorporate my Irish company?

Open Forest completes company incorporation within 5 business days once all required information is provided. In urgent cases, we work weekends and after hours to ensure rapid registration, with some companies registered within one week even with complications.

What legal documents are included in the incorporation service?

Our incorporation service includes company constitution, founders agreement (for multi-founder companies), IP assignment agreements, and all necessary CRO registration documents. We ensure you have the right legal framework from day one.

Is Open Forest suitable for first-time founders?

Absolutely. We specialise in helping first-time founders navigate Irish company registration seamlessly. Our team provides expert guidance to ensure you have the proper constitution and legal agreements in place that are right for your company.

What makes Open Forest different from other incorporation services?

Open Forest combines speed, efficiency, and ongoing support. We work flexible hours including weekends, provide seamless stress-free service, and offer continued compliance management so you can focus on growing your business with confidence.

What happens if there are complications with my company registration?

We handle all complications professionally. Even when the CRO requests changes (like name modifications), we work diligently to resolve issues quickly, often completing registration within a week despite setbacks.

Incorporate | Open Forest

We help all types of businesses, especially yours...

Small Businesses

From cafes to hairdressers, we make sure that your company registration and ongoing compliance is fully taken care of.

Learn more

Consultants

We can set your consulting company up, help you invoice the client, look after your bookkeeping and help you pay yourself.

Learn more

Freelancers

Open Forest is the perfect company to help you set up your creative agency, whether you are flying solo or have a team.

Learn more

Holding Companies

Open Forest helps founders set up their personal holding companies, or their group holding company structure.

Learn more

Non-Residents

We help international entrepreneurs set up and maintain their Irish company structures under one roof.

Learn more

High-Growth Companies

Hardware, software or otherwise, we know the perfect structure for your business and can guide you through your entire business journey.

Learn more

How it works

You bring the business idea,
& we build the company

Get started

View Pricing

Bespoke Pre-Incorporation Advice

Speak to us about your situation and we will advise on the best plan for you.

Expert Company Structuring

Ensure you get the foundations of your new company right from the start by letting us do the tricky legal parts.

Automated Process

Sit back and let us do all of the hard work. We will take care of everything behind the scenes.

Company Registration

We will inform you when your company is live and introduce you to our accountant and our bank contacts.

Post-Incorporation Actions

We prepare all your legal registers, share certs and everything else that is required for you to be fully compliant.

Ongoing Compliance

And you will stay compliant under our watch. We monitor all of your upcoming obligations with our compliance tracker.

Company Registration the way it should be

Modernised Incorporations

Save hours of time, effort and confusion with our founder friendly incorporation process.

CRO approved incorporation within 5 working days

Professional Company Secretary Service

Approved Irish Registered Office Address

Ongoing compliance monitoring at no additional cost

Self-service legal administration with the click of a button

Get started

Learn more

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about Open Forest.

What is Open Forest?

Open Forest is an alternative legal services provider that is built on modern tech. We are a team of experienced lawyers and software developers - and most importantly, we are founders too.

Do you offer legal advice?

While we are not a law firm, our lawyers are regulated by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority and so we give legal advice when it relates to our products.

Is it safe to set up my company with you?

Open Forest is a TCSP, meaning we are approved by the Dept. of Justice to incorporate companies, provide company secretary services and provide registered office addresses.

Why is Open Forest's pricing lower than everyone else?

Because we build our products & services with a technology-first strategy - meaning we can do a lot more with a lot less people.

But I feel safer with a real human?

No need to worry - our humans supervise and monitor everything that happens within Open Forest - our technology just does all the heavy lifting first.

How do I get started?

Check out our pricing or jump straight to our incorporation page, follow our instructions and we will take it from there.

Don’t just take our word for it

Hear from some of our amazing customers who can now focus on their business,
while we watch their compliance.

PS - these are real reviews, see for yourself.

"OpenForest were so helpful to myself and my co-founder as first time founders. They helped us get setup quickly and ensured we had a constitution and founders agreement in place that was right for the company."

Christopher Lynch

Founder, Rekord

"Thanks to the Open Forest team for helping us navigate Irish company registration so seamlessly - professional, friendly and highly recommend".
‍

Fi from Fineo

Founder, Fineo

"Super helpful and efficient service that saved us so much time in setting up our business. Would highly recommend Open Forest to any start up that wants to get their business set up perfectly from the start"

Conor Fay

Founder, Abhar Materials

"Open Forest has truly been a game changer for us as founders. Their service has made obtaining vital legal documents at this early stage incredibly seamless."
‍

Laura Downes

Founder, Everly

"Open Forest set up our business, the entire process was seamless, stress-free and very efficient. The team just gets it, which allowed us to focus on other parts of the business with confidence. Thank you, Open Forest!"

Elaine Kelly

Founder & CEO, Curly Crowns

"Super service. They worked on weekends and after hours to ensure rapid registration. Despite a name change request by the CRO, we had the company registration in a week."

Brian Mahony

CEO, LCA Developments

Automated
Company Registration

So much more than just
your new company