Anyone who knows me will tell you that my second home is on the internet. So besides Twitter and Facebook, the following are the websites I used most often, in no particular order:
1. Revenue Online Services – ROS (access through www.revenue.ie)
I log on to ROS a few times a day to get details of which returns are due for my clients, details of taxes that have been paid and most importantly to file returns. Practically all our client tax returns are filed online now. As well as being convenient (no need for stamps and a trip to the post office), extended deadlines are available when filing online.
It’s hard to imagine a time when we used to send a trainee accountant to queue in the tax office for an hour or more to collect a simple report.
2. Revenue Commissioners (www.revenue.ie)
If you know what you are looking for, this is a great site. It has all the Revenue leaflets and publications online as well as handy list of the VAT rates on thousands of products and services. The downside is that the search facility isn’t great. It can turn up strange results for your search terms and doesn’t appear to sort the results in terms of relevance.
3. Dept of Enterprise, Trade & Innovation – Redundancy (www.deti.ie/employment/redundancy)
Given the times we are in, I find myself on this site often. As well as giving information on redundancy payments and procedures, it has an online calculator which will compute an employee’s redundancy entitlements and you can even file a claim online.
4. National Employment Rights Authority – NERA (www.employmentrights.ie/en/)
This is a good site for general employment advice such as how many holidays an employee is entitled to, which days are public holidays each year, what happens if a public holiday falls on a Saturday as well as minimum wage entitlements for different industries.
5. Companies Registration Office – CRO (www.cro.ie)
The CRO site has lots of information on forming companies and responsibilities of directors but I use it mainly for the company search facility. You can search by company name, number or address and then download any documents filed with the CRO such as Form B1 (details of directors and shareholders) or annual accounts . There are fees involved for downloading docments which can be paid by credit card. Note that certain types of companies such as unlimited companies don’t need to file accounts and that small and medium sized companies file abridged accounts.
6. Citizens Information (www.citizensinformation.ie)
This is a treasure trove of information on all aspects of being a citizen of Ireland – from births and deaths to education, the welfare system and consumer rights. Everything is in plain, simple English with links to further information.
While the information above doesn’t replace advice from a professional, they can be a great starting place for finding out information on a topic. Do you have any favourite business websites?
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