This is entirely dependent on CIPC and what their turnaround time is. Sometimes it can take a day but it usually doesn’t take longer than a week. For (Pty) Ltd and Standard NPCs the processing time is quicker as it is by far the bulk of companies registered so is automated at CIPC; Bespoke NPCs and Incorporations do take a little longer.

A Director runs the company; the Shareholder owns the company and they can be the same person. Minors (people under 18) may not be Directors of companies but they may be Shareholders. We do not recommend having minors as Shareholders as they do have functions to perform such as the appointing of Directors.

Yes, provided that they have valid passports and that the company has a physical South African address.

Yes, we register 3 main company types: a private company (Pty) Ltd, a personal liability company (Incorporation) and a non-profit company (NPC). A Pty has Directors and Shareholders, an Incorporation all Directors are required to be Shareholders as well, an NPC only has Directors and no Shareholders. An Incorporation is for professionals such as Accountants, Medical Doctors, Engineers etc. who wish to form a company.

No, you will need to apply to the TEU (Tax Exemption Unit) at SARS for Section 18A approval. None of the Directors of the registered entity may be related in any way; by blood, marriage or adoption or the application will be rejected until the Directors are changed.

Not right now. When the new Companies Act of 2008 became law in 2011, no new Close Corporations could be registered and the Act stated that existing CC’s would be converted within 10 years. That does not appear to have happened. It is however pretty straight forward to convert a CC to a Pty Ltd and currently takes about a week to process.

Company documents are those issued by CIPC which are a record of the information CIPC has on the company. All CK documents refer to Close Corporations; a CK1 is the founding statement and is the commonest document requested by institutions such as banks. CM documents refer to (Pty) Ltd companies registered before the Act changed in 2011. CIPC currently use CoR documents to refer to Ptys, Incorporations and NPCs.

Many government databases are automatically linked and synched. All companies registered with CIPC are automatically registered with SARS for Income Tax. The Tax Registration document which indicates the company details (name and registration number) is issued to the Directors and emailed directly to them.

Annual returns are a tax levied by CIPC for your company to remain registered with CIPC and comply with company law. Each year on the anniversary of your company’s registration the annual returns are due even if your company did not trade or made a loss. The annual returns dues are calculated on annual turnover. If you fail to settle your annual returns, penalties will be levied against the company. If the annual returns and penalties continue to remain outstanding, CIPC may start a Deregistration process. This is the point when bank accounts are frozen and fixed properties become assets of the lender. You may be able to restore the company if you are still trading. This is a time consuming and costly process which is best avoided.

Yes, absolutely. Depending on what you would like to do, you can change pretty much everything on a company after its registered as long as you follow the correct procedure. It is important to advise CIPC of any changes to your company such as address, financial year end and any Director changes.