Page 9 - Profmark BSA Guide 2025

BUSINESS VEHICLES

The main business vehicles used for doing business in SA are:
■ Partnership.
■ Sole proprietorship.
■ Business Trust.
■ Profit company.
[includes public company, private company and personal liability company].
■ Non-Profit company.
■ External company (branch of a foreign company).
Tax and other considerations affect the choice of business vehicle. The most
commonly adopted forms of doing business by foreign investors are private
companies and branches of foreign companies.
South African law used to provide for a business entity type called Close
Corporations (CC’s) until the Companies Act, 71 of 2008 came into force on
1 May 2011. While CC’s may no longer be created, existing CC’s continue to
operate.

All companies must register with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission
in SA (CIPC).

COMPANIES ACT, 71 OF 2008

The Companies Act, 71 of 2008 (hereinafter referred to as “the Companies Act”
or “the Act”) regulates the formation and registration, governance, winding up,
deregistration and liquidation of all companies, and makes no distinction between
locally owned or foreign-owned companies. The Companies Amendment Act, 16 of
2024 and the Companies Second Amendment Act, 17 of 2024 were signed into law
by the President on the 26 July 2024, and published in the Government Gazette on
the 27 December 2024. The most material changes introduced by the Amendment
Acts relate to remuneration disclosures, the closing of certain "gaps" in the Act with a
view to curbing money laundering, and to enhance shareholder powers in a company
by clarifying the responsibilities of directors and senior management on the one hand,
and shareholders on the other.
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