When your CIPC annual return is due
When a South African company or close corporation files its CIPC annual return, how the fee is worked out from turnover, and what must be filed with it.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa
Ask a small business owner when the company's year-end is and they will usually know. Ask when its CIPC annual return is due and many will guess the same date. It is not. The annual return runs on a different clock, set by the day the company was registered, and that is why it is so often missed.
Missing it is not a paperwork slip that sorts itself out. Late filing leads to penalty fees, and a company that falls far enough behind can be deregistered. This guide explains the due date, how the return is filed and paid, what has to be filed alongside it, and how to keep the date from catching you out.
Thirty business days after the anniversary
CIPC's information guide on annual returns says companies must file annual returns within 30 business days after the anniversary date of incorporation, and that annual returns may only be filed electronically. The CIPC information guide on annual returns explains why the return is required and what happens when it is not filed.
Two things in that sentence matter. The anniversary is the date the company was incorporated, which appears on its registration certificate; it has nothing to do with the financial year-end. And the window is counted in business days, so weekends and public holidays stretch it on the calendar.
A worked example in words: a company registered in the second week of June has its anniversary in the second week of June every year. Its return is due within 30 business days after that, which takes it into July, whatever month its financial year ends in.
The duty comes from the Companies Act itself. The Act's text, as originally published on the government's page, requires every company to file an annual return in the prescribed form, with the prescribed fee, within the prescribed period after the anniversary of its incorporation, and to designate a person responsible for its compliance. Name that person, so the date has an owner.
Filing electronically with a customer code
CIPC's step-by-step guide says annual returns are filed on its e-services site using a registered customer code. The fee is calculated from the turnover entered, and payment is by card or from the customer code's balance. The filing certificate is e-mailed to the address on the customer code profile.
That last detail is a quiet trap. If the customer code belongs to a former bookkeeper or an old e-mail address, the confirmation goes there. Make sure the business controls its customer code and that the e-mail on the profile is one someone reads. Where an accountant or company secretary files on your behalf, ask them to forward the certificate each year, so the business holds its own proof of filing.
The fee follows the turnover you enter
Because the fee is worked out from the turnover entered, the figure you enter needs to be right. Guessing low to save a little invites questions; guessing high costs money for nothing. Take the figure from your books for the period the form asks about, and keep a note of where it came from.
What has to go in with the return
The annual return is no longer a single form. CIPC says companies must file annual returns, beneficial ownership declarations and a securities register and/or beneficial interest register each year within 30 business days after the anniversary of incorporation.
CIPC also says that from 1 July 2024 all companies and close corporations must submit beneficial ownership declarations with their annual returns, and a non-compliant entity cannot finalise its annual return. In other words, the return cannot be completed until the beneficial ownership side is in order. CIPC adds that late filing can lead to penalty fees and, ultimately, deregistration.
Depending on the company, financial statements or a financial accountability supplement may also be due with the return; statements or a FAS with the annual return explains which.
Turnover from your books, and a diary you keep yourself
If your books are in Achekam, the turnover figure is close at hand. Management accounts show an income statement for a chosen period beside the period before, and a balance sheet at period end, added up from the business's own journals and exportable as PDF or CSV. Set the dates yourself rather than using the year-to-date preset, which starts on 1 January instead of at your own year start.
For the deadline itself, keep your own diary entry. The obligations list on Achekam's Tax Dashboard is sample data at present, and obligations added there are not saved, so it is not a place to track the CIPC date. A recurring calendar reminder set a month before the anniversary, owned by the person designated for compliance, does the job.
Annual return checklist
- Find the date of incorporation on the registration certificate.
- Diarise the anniversary each year, with a reminder a month before.
- Check the customer code is in the business's control and its e-mail is current.
- Confirm beneficial ownership details and the securities or beneficial interest register are up to date.
- Take the turnover figure from the books and keep the working.
- File and pay on CIPC's e-services site within 30 business days of the anniversary.
- Save the filing certificate when it arrives.
A company that misses enough returns can be deregistered, and getting it back is slower than filing on time; reinstating a company CIPC deregistered sets out what that involves. One diary entry a year is the cheaper route.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
