What is an Incorporation?
A Incorporation is basically the same as a private company which we know as Pty Ltd. However the Incorporation are exclusively used to register professionals such as accountants, lawyers and practises.
In the past for you to register an Incorporation you would need a practise number. However, that is not necessary anymore cipc will register your Incorporation without you having a practice number.
How do you register an Incorporation?
An Incorporation can either be registered with the Company intellectual Property Commission using their online website portal .Which is quite easy if you want to do it yourself. However not everyone has the patience or knowledge to do it themselves.
So I suggest to rather save yourself all that time and get a professional company to assist you like Swiftreg Company Registration.
What documentation will be required to register an Incorporation?
The documents that will be required to register the Incorporation will basically just be the green bar coded id document. If you are using the smart card, Company intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) will require the front and the back of the smart id card. Then depending on who will assist you with the registration be it a professional company like Swiftreg Company Registrations or even an Accounting officer they will have their own requirements and documentation to be completed.
How long does It take to register an Incorporation?
The standard time frame can be from one to three weeks reason being when doing an Incorporation company, registration documentation normally get sent off manually to Company intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). Before the documentation get sent off to Company intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) the following must first take place.
You will first have to reserve a name for your company. Remember the name reservation is valid for six months and in that six month period you will have to register your company .If you do not register your company within the six month period. Your company name will be expired and you will have to start the name reservation process all over again.
Once the name is approved you have will have to compile the following documentation Cor9.4(approved name) ,Cor 14.1(Notice of Incorporation),Cor 14.1A( Notice of Incorporation to appoint directors of the company),Cor15.1B(Memorandum of Incorporation long standard form and the id documents of all the directors. With all those documents it will also accompany the Memorandum of Incorporation which has a minimum of five articles.
Do you have to register your Incorporation for Income Tax number?
No you do not have to register your Incorporation with South African Revenue Service (sars). Reason being Company intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) , Home affairs as well as SARS have combined their services which means when your company get registered you will receive a Income Tax number automatically from Cipc.
If you did not receive the income tax number no need to be worried. You can simply just contact South African Revenue Service call centre and they will provide you with the Income Tax number telephonically.
In the past all companies had to apply for an Income tax number once the company was registered. However South African revenue service has saved all entrepreneurs the trouble of standing in long lines for hours and issuing them income tax numbers automatically.
Will I receive a Tax Clearance when I register an Incorporation?
No when you do register your company you will receive a tax number automatically. However In order for you to obtain tax clearance you will have to apply for a tax clearance with South African Revenue Service (SARS). Or if you want to save alot of your time and all the paper work you can just get a professional company to assist you like Swiftreg Company registration.
Remember when applying for the tax clearance you have to open a business bank account as South African Revenue Service (SARS) they will require the business banking details. They will also need the income tax number for the company which was issued to you when your companies registration was done.
Must you apply every year for a tax clearance certificate?
Once you receive your tax clearance certificate weather you did it yourself or you had a professional company assist you to obtain one. Your tax clearance certificate will be valid for one year. Once you receive It the date until It is valid will be on the tax clearance certificate.
Remember tax clearance certificate is mainly to say that your company are clear from all taxes. Many cases when the company was registered and you apply for a tax clearance but the tax season has past the South African revenue service (sars) will ask you to submit your outstanding tax returns. Yes I know It is confusing Its a new company and here sars says you must submit tax returns but remember while you applied for the tax clearance It was the tax season where all your tax returns has to be paid. If you feel you need assistance South African revenue service has a call centre that will be happy to assist you.
Can I apply for a bee certificate or bee affidavit for the Incorporation?
Yes you certainly can. All companies with a turnover of less than R50 million per year can use a BEE affidavit. Companies with an annual turnover of more than R50 million per year need to apply for BEE certificate. There is a few definitions you can also remember.
Companies turnover that’s less than R10 million per annum are also known as EME ( Exempt Micro Enterprice). Companies turnover thst is more than R10 million but less than R50 million are known as QSE (Qualifying small enterprise).
Does the bee certificate or the bee affidavit last forever or does it have to be renewed?
No unfortunately It does not last forever. The bee certificate or the bee affidavit has to be renewed every year. Once your bee affidavit or certificate is received the expiry date will be on the certificate which will state Its only valid for 12months.
Many organisations require companies to have a bee affidavit or bee certificate to do business with them. The higher the BEE level the better your chances are of getting the tender or even doing business with very big companies or even government organisations.
Must I pay any fees after Incorporation is registered?
Yes once the company is registered you will have to pay annual returns every year on your company anniversary date when your company has been registered. By paying your annual returns you will keep the company in an active status.
Which means that even if you do not conduct any business as long as you pay your annual returns your company status be active .However if you do not pay your annual returns your company will go into deregistration process and the company might just closed down.
Mostly clients get little confused with submitting annual returns and submitting your tax returns. Tax returns get submitted with South Africa revenue service. Annual returns get submitted with Company intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).
Can there be amendments done on the Incorporation after It has been registered?
Yes definitely once the company has been registered various changes can be done on the incorporation. You can do a director and share change on the company. If your address as well as your registered address has changed you can do a registered address change and a director change to change your physical address. If you added another director to your company and you want to amend the companies name you can certainly do that. This changes you can either do yourself or you can use a professional company like Swiftreg Company registration to assist you and believe me It will save you a lot of time.
Can there be unlimited directors and shareholders on a Incorporation?
Yes there can be unlimited directors on the company as well as share holders on the company .However if any director should wish to resign from the company as well as the share holders of the company they can do so.
Will I be able to apply for a Vat number once my company is registered?
In order for you to register for a Vat number your companies turnover should exceed R50 000 per annum. Reason being when your submit your application to south African revenue service .They want to see the amount reflect on the bank statements and invoices that must correspond that the business has reached that amount which is R50 000 or more. However once your companies turnover does reach a 1 million it will be compulsory for you to register for Vat number.
Will I receive share certificates once registration is completed?
It actually depends on who you do the registration with. If you are using a professional company like Swiftreg company registration they actually give you share certificates once your registration done.
However if you did your company registration elsewhere and you did not receive share certificates Swiftreg can issue share certificates to you as well by either using their online portal share vault or you can do the application manually. Now that is great service.
How much does it cost to register an Incorporation?
The price will vary from R1190 depending on who you do the registration with. Remember when you doing the application yourself with cipc the price will probably be less .However if you simply don’t have the energy and the time on your hands you can get a professional company to assist you.
The price will be more as they need to include their admin fee. When agents do certain services on cipc as well as professional companies they do get charged for each application or service they use on Company intellectual property commission (cipc) website.
> Does the Incorporation get registered with a standard Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI)?
Yes it does or you can customised your Memorandum of Incorporation(MOI).The memorandum of Incorporations is basically there to set out the rules the rights as well as the responsibilities of the shareholders within the company.
The standard memorandum of incorporation does not bring any justice to the rights the rules as well responsibilities of the share holders in your company you can apply with cipc or a professional company to customise your Memorandum of incorporation.