Ireland saw a surge in new business registrations last year, a phenomenon likely related to the low cost of starting a company here, digital bank Bunq has said.
The Dutch-registered fintech conducted a study of start-up costs across the ten countries with the highest gross domestic product in the European Union.
Bunq found that while Greece and Portugal have the lowest financial barriers to starting a business in the sample of countries at €287 and €751, the Republic is “competitive” with start-up costs €808.17.
The initial costs associated with setting up a new business relate to notary fees, the cost of tax advice for entry into commercial registers and fees for registering the business with the relevant statutory body and setting up a company bank account.
In Germany – where start-up costs for limited liability companies stand at around €26,266, according to Bunq – companies also have to comply with high mandatory capital requirements, raising business set-up costs.
Here, the mandatory capital requirement is just €1, while the Companies Registration Office (CRO) charges a “nominal fee” of €50 to register a new business, the fintech said.
Bunq said the Republic also compared favourably with other countries due to the relatively low cost of essential tax advice, which it calculated at €750 for 15 hours.
This sits “well below” countries like France and Austria, where essential tax advice costs €3,300 and €3,000 respectively.
Ireland’s statutory 12.5 per cent rate of corporation tax also offers an “unbeatable” advantage.
Citing CRO figures, Bunq said some 23,384 new businesses of all types were established in 2024, up 5.5 per cent from 2023.
Last year was “the second busiest year for new business registrations in over a decade”, Bunq said. “Only 2021, right after the pandemic, saw more.”
A “key factor” in this low financial barriers to establishing a business
