Page 27 - Nexia SAB&T Business in South Africa Guide 2024

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process is that the juristic personality is withdrawn and the company or CC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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