How to register a limited liability company South Africa

How to register a limited liability company South Africa

Foreign investors may know information on how to register a limited liability company in South Africa. We provide services: (1) New company registration in South Africa (2) Income Tax filing (3) Accounts and Audit service. The world of business is always expanding. Companies and potential foreign investors are looking beyond their national borders to see if they can invest in other countries and develop their businesses. South Africa is one such country that always had the eyes of foreign investors. The country is rich in natural resources, its working population is quite huge and the country’s economical conditions are impressive. So it is no surprise that every day there are new investors looking for ways to start their business in South Africa. While starting a business in this country is relatively easy, the process o registering their companies can be confusing. Thus we have gone on to describe the required steps and procedure of registering a company in South Africa.

Step One: Reserve a company name- The first and most important part of registering a company in South Africa is to ensure that the company name is selected and approved. The applicant will be asked to shortlist 4 different names for the company and if they are available then they will be assigned to the company. An applicant cannot use the name of an already existing company, thus checking and reserving the right name is of crucial importance. The agency tasked with reserving the name of the company is the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).

Step Two: Register at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC)- A foreign investor has the option of registering his or her company in South Africa with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission in four different ways. The easiest and most common way of registering however is online, through the CIPC website portal. In order to register the company online, the applicant, in this case, the foreign entrepreneur has to register themselves as a customer on the CIPC website. The registration cost is 125 ZAR and this money can be paid via wire transfer. While registering the applicant has to provide the following information

  • All the details of the owners or the directors including their name, country of origin, passport number and all sorts of general information.
  • All the details of the company. This should include the financial year end reports, the authorized shares and the contact details such as email address, website, physical address and the postal code too.

Once the two above steps are done the applicant will receive an email that will ask them to provide other documents such as Certified ID copies of all the owners and directors as well as all the signed registration forms. After all, these are done, the company in question is registered. The applicant will then have to wait for a confirmation email. The email shall provide a link back to the CIPC website. From there the applicant can find all the details from where to collect the Certificate o Registration from.

Step Three: Open a bank account- While all the main steps of registering a company in South Africa are done, there are certain things that need to be taken care of. The first of them involves opening up a bank account. The requirements for opening a bank account in South Africa for foreign investors include submitting proof of the director’s identity as well as the original documents of the company in question.  The bank account is needed to deposit the initial sum of capital that will start off the business.

Step four: Register the company with Unemployment Insurance Fund- Another important step regarding the registration of a company in South Africa is to deal with the UIF or the Unemployment Insurance Fund. In South Africa, under the Unemployment Insurance Act and Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act, all workers who are working for more than 24 hours a month are legally required to be registered with the UIF. The employers are liable for seeing through that their employees are registered with the UIF. All employers are expected to pay unemployment insurance contributions of 2% of the salary that each worker receives per month. The employers are supposed to be cover 1% of the pay while the employee is to be paying the other 1%. The payment for this fund is made through the SARS. Once the registration is completed, the employer is sent an email to confirm the registration.

Our information on how to register a limited liability company in South Africa will help foreign investors to set up business. There are other steps that should be included in the act of registering the company. These include registering with the Registering for income tax and withholding taxes. This is done via the South African Revenue Services or commonly known as the SARS. Their website has all the detailed information regarding what kind of documents are needed.  The SARS also deals with the process of registering the company for VAT also.  That is another main issue that needs to be taken care of before the Certificate of Registration is handed out.

More information: South Africa Company Registration 

CAN WE HELP?
+601151177141

Company Registration Expert Since 2012