No matter the size or type of your business, company registration with the CIPC has a number of benefits. These benefits include personal asset protection, funding, credibility as well as tax efficiency. The whole process can seem rather daunting and complicated. Managing and running a business is busy enough, how do you find the time to research how to register your business, get the necessary documents and submit everything?
If your business is ready for registration, you’ve come to the right place. In fact, the process is rather uncomplicated, and can be split into three simple steps.
Read on to find out how to go about registering your small business.
Firstly, there are three types of businesses:
- Sole proprietorship
- Partnership
- Private company
As a sole proprietorship or partnership, you don’t need to be registered in order to operate. But, to operate as a private company and get the benefits that come with it, you will need to be registered.
While various entities offer company registration, the basics are all the same and your company will ultimately be registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) at the end of the day.
We’ve outlined the three basic steps of company registration in South Africa:
Step 1:
Provide your company name. Three options must be given in order to ensure that at least one has not already been registered by another company.
For example:
- Alpha Projects
- New Amazing Trading
- Lucrative Product Investments
Step 2:
Submit the necessary documents. The documents needed to register a company include:
- Proof of address no older than three months
- Three latest bank statements
- Proof of Identification
- Director’s proof of identification
- SARS registration document including income tax number
Depending on your industry, additional documents may be required. Examples of these include:
- PSIRA Registration – Security Industry
- NHBRC Registration – Building & Construction Industry
- CIDB Registration – Construction Industry
- NCCA Registration – Cleaning Industry
- A Health and Safety Plan or File – Various Industries
Did you know? You can register your business in less than 30 minutes with 1-grid! You’ll even get a domain name at the same time.
Step 3:
Wait for your company registration certificate to be sent to you. It can take up to five days for your documentation to be processed.
Once your company is registered you will get the following important documents and numbers:
- Company Name Reservation certificate
- Income Tax Number
- BEE certificate
- Company name reservation
As your company evolves, company registration will become more beneficial. And while it can seem like a complicated process at the start, it is in fact a rather straight forward process once the required documents are gathered and process. For more information what our how-to video below.