Page 27 - Profmark BSA Guide 2025

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COMMISSION

The Companies Act is administered and enforced by the Companies and Intellectual
Property Commission (CIPC), which has jurisdiction throughout SA. Some of its main
functions are the registration and deregistration of companies, director appointments,
registration of business names, registration of intellectual property rights, disclosure
of information on its business registers, promotion and compliance with relevant
legislation, the monitoring and compliance with and contraventions of financial
reporting standards and making recommendations to the Financial Reporting Standard
Council.

A recent court case [CIPC vs Citiconnect 9503/18] confirmed CIPC’s authority to
issue administrative penalties for general non-compliance to the Companies Act,
2008.

CIPC Registration
All companies must register with CIPC. The registration process is relatively simple but
comes with certain responsibilities (such as filing and annual return and paying an
annual fee), irrespective of whether the business is trading or not.
Annual Returns
All categories of companies (including external companies) must file annual returns
with CIPC within 30 business days after the anniversary date of incorporation. The
purpose is to confirm whether the entity is still trading.
If annual returns are not filed within the prescribed time period, it is assumed that the
company or CC is inactive, and CIPC will start the deregistration process to remove the
entity from its active records. The legal effect of the deregistration process is that the
juristic personality is withdrawn and the company or CC ceases to exist.
Each year, in its annual return, every entity must designate a director, employee
or other person who is responsible for its compliance with the transparency and
accountability provisions set out in the Companies Act.

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