How to Register a Company in South Africa with CIPC

First: do you actually need a company yet?

CIPC itself warns people not to register a company “just in case”. Once a company exists, it has obligations whether it trades or not:

• CIPC notifies SARS, which issues an income tax number. SARS expects returns from then on, and you can only close the company at SARS once it has been formally deregistered at CIPC.
• You must file annual returns, a beneficial ownership declaration and a FAS or AFS every year.
• Dormant companies are targets for fraud, and your name is on it as a director.

If you are testing an idea, trading as a sole proprietor and registering a company when a real opportunity arrives (a contract, a tender, an investor, or a supplier who insists on a company) is often the smarter order. The chooser below helps you decide.

Choose your business structure

Structure	Registered with CIPC?	Liability	Best for
Sole proprietor	No. You trade in your own name and register with SARS as an individual	Unlimited: your personal assets are at risk	Testing an idea, freelancers, very small businesses
Partnership	No. Governed by a partnership agreement	Partners are personally liable	Two or more people sharing a small business
Private company (Pty) Ltd	Yes	Limited: shareholders risk only what they invested	Most growing businesses, tenders, investors, banks
Personal liability company (Inc)	Yes	Directors jointly and severally liable for debts incurred in their tenure	Professions that require it (attorneys, some engineers and auditors)
Non-profit company (NPC)	Yes	Limited	Charities and community, social or cultural organisations (at least three directors). See our NPC guide
Co-operative	Yes	Limited	Member-owned enterprises run democratically
Close corporation (CC)	No new registrations since 1 May 2011	Limited	Existing CCs only; they can continue or convert to a company

Public companies (Ltd, at least three directors) and state-owned companies (SOC Ltd) exist too, but they are not relevant to a new small business. Not sure which fits? Answer five questions:

Where to register: BizPortal, e-Services or a self-service terminal

A standard private company and an NPC without members can be registered through several channels. It is the same legal process whichever you use.

Channel	Best for	Payment	Turnaround
BizPortal (bizportal.gov.za)	Owners registering their own company. CIPC calls it “the easiest”	Card	Immediate
CIPC e-Services (eservices.cipc.co.za)	Accountants and agents registering for clients	Prepaid credit on your customer code	About 1 working day; supporting documents may be requested
Self-service terminals and the mobile app	Owners without a computer	Card	Immediate
Email (manual)	Public, state-owned, personal liability (Inc), customised-MOI and external companies	Customer code credit	About 5 working days

How much does it cost to register a company?

Item	CIPC fee
Private company with standard short-form MOI (CoR15.1A), including name reservation	R175
Same, registered with the registration number as its name (no name reservation)	R125
Company with a customised or long-form MOI (CoR15.1B/D/E)	R475
Name reservation on its own (online)	R50 per application (up to four names)
Changing from a registration-number name to a real name later	Free

Name reservation fees are non-refundable, even if every proposed name is rejected, so always submit four strong options. Fees per CIPC’s published schedule; confirm on cipc.co.za before paying. Using an accountant or agent adds their professional fee on top. We charge R650 all-in, including the CIPC fee, share certificates and the beneficial ownership filing.

What you need before you start

• A CIPC customer code: free; one per ID number. See how to register a customer code.
• Each director’s SA ID number. IDs are validated against Home Affairs. Foreign directors need the manual process.
• Each director’s own email address and cell number. CIPC does not allow directors to share them, and all future OTPs and notices go there. Use the directors’ details, not your accountant’s.
• Residential and postal addresses for each director, and the company’s physical and postal address.
• Up to four proposed names, in order of preference, or decide to use the registration number as the name.
• A financial year end (most small companies choose the end of February to match the tax year).
• The number of authorised shares (a common choice for a small company is 1,000 ordinary no par value shares).
• A card, or credit loaded on your customer code (for e-Services).

Choosing and reserving the name

You have three options when you register:

1. Apply for a name as part of the registration. The company is only queued once a name is approved. If all your names are rejected, CIPC still registers the company, using its registration number as the name, and you must do a name change later.
2. Use a name you reserved earlier: the fastest route.
3. Register using the registration number as the name, for example “2026/123456/07 (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd”. You can add a real name later for free.

Before reserving, do three searches: a CIPC enterprise name search, a trade mark search (iponline.cipc.co.za), and a normal web search. Don’t type “(Pty) Ltd” in the name; CIPC adds the suffix. Check your options with our name checker.

Step by step: registering on BizPortal

1. Go to bizportal.gov.za and log in (or register) using your CIPC customer details.
2. Choose Company Registration, then Private Company.
3. Enter your proposed names, or choose to register with the registration number as the name.
4. Add each director by ID number; capture their contact details and addresses.
5. Enter the company’s address, financial year end and share details.
6. Review, accept the declarations and pay by card.
7. The registration documents are emailed to you once approved. BizPortal also offers optional add-ons (such as a B-BBEE certificate and links to SARS and the bank), so read each screen.

Step by step: registering on CIPC e-Services

1. Log in to eservices.cipc.co.za with your customer code, password and the case-sensitive security code.
2. Click Register a New Company and choose Private Company (Pty) Ltd.
3. Enter each director’s ID number. CIPC shows the name and whether the person is disqualified from being a director.
4. Edit each director to capture type, contact details, addresses and appointment date. The person filing does not have to be listed as the incorporator; you can list your client.
5. Capture the company details: financial year end, authorised shares, email, website and addresses.
6. Choose your name option (see above) and submit up to four names in order of preference.
7. Submit. The fee is deducted from your customer code credit, so load funds first.

What you receive from CIPC

• CoR14.3: Registration Certificate, the company’s “birth certificate”.
• CoR14.1: Notice of Incorporation, with directors and details.
• MOI: the standard CoR15.1A Memorandum of Incorporation. Read it; it is binding. See our MOI guide.
• Disclosure certificate and a welcome letter that summarises your compliance duties.

What you don’t get: share certificates and a securities register. The company issues those itself. Use our free share certificate template.

After registration: your first-month checklist

1. File beneficial ownership within 10 business days of incorporation. It is free and mandatory: how to file.
2. Issue share certificates and write up the securities register.
3. Open a business bank account using the CoR14.3, CoR14.1, MOI, director IDs and proof of address.
4. Check your SARS registration. The income tax number is issued automatically; register for VAT and PAYE if they apply.
5. Get a free B-BBEE certificate if turnover is under R10 million: B-BBEE guide.
6. Diarise your deadlines: annual returns every year around the registration anniversary. Use our deadline calculator.
7. Register on the Central Supplier Database (CSD) if you want government work.

Common mistakes CIPC warns about

• Registering without understanding compliance. Annual returns, BO and FAS are not optional.
• Using the agent’s contact details instead of the directors’. You miss notices and OTPs and can end up deregistered without knowing.
• Not filing annual returns and beneficial ownership, leading to penalties and eventually deregistration.
• Not monitoring the company and ignoring CIPC emails.
• Buying a shelf company and not updating the details: directors, address and beneficial ownership must all be changed.

Frequently asked questions