How to register a company online in South Africa: Step by step guide

Estimate Cost : ZAR

Time Needed : 1 days 00 hours 00 minutes

This guide will take you through the process of how to register a company online in South Africa, in the shortest possible time. No need to fear, the process is easy, fast and painless. It is open to both South Africans and Non-South Africans.

1. Gather your certified identity documents

   Have a black and white photocopy of the directors' ID documents or Passports. Get them certified by a commissioner of oaths or at any police station near you. If you are not in South Africa, the same applies.
   
   Once your documents are certified, scan and save them in your computers. Remember, it should be documents of all directors.

2. Go to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) website

   Go to eservices.cipc.co.za. This is where you will do almost everything. And then click on “CUSTOMER REGISTRATION” on the left-hand side of the page.
   

3. Indicate if you are a South African or not

   On this step you need to indicate if you are a South African or not. This is for grouping purposes, even if you are not a South African you can still register a company.

4. Type in ID or passport number

   Fill in your ID or Passport number. Then click continue and fill in all the required information. Its general information of the person doing the registration.

5. Login with your user code and password

   Once you have entered your information and login details. You will need to now login into your account by clicking Customer login on the left-hand side of the page.

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6. Click 'transaction' to get into option dashboard

   When you have logged in, click the 'Transaction' button on the top right of the left-hand side of the page.
   

7. Click company registration

   This is where all the magic 🎩 happens. This is a very busy dashboard with a lot of things. Ignore everything and click Company Registration. It is at the beginning of the centre where the buttons are.
   

8. Choose between registering your company with eServices or Bizportal

   For the purposes of this guide we will use eServices because it the one that accommodates both foreigners and South Africans. However, Bizportal is much faster, almost instant. If you are a South African and are tech savvy we suggest you use Bizportal. You will get your company without having to upload any documents.
   
   If you are not willing to take the easier way, eServices is still relatively easy and with this guide you should be able to complete the process without having any challenges.

9. Select the type of company you want to register

   You will be presented with the option to register between a Non-Profit Company and Profit Company. You can choose any of the two between the available options, depending on whether or not you are a profit company. Most people register profit companies.

10. Enter Directors Information

    You will be prompted to enter the ID details or Passport Numbers. You will notice that if you are a South Africa citizen, when you enter your ID number most of your information will be pre-filled. This is largely because the system is linked with the home affairs system.
    
    You will need these for directors:
    – The full name of the director
    – Specify director type. For all directors employed by the company choose Director, for non-active directors choose None-executive director.
    – Country of Origin
    – Director Status, choose 'active'
    – Appointment date. Choose the day you do the registration
    – Date of Birth
    – Cell phone number
    – Email Address
    – Physical Address
    – Postal Address
    
    

11. Enter financial details of the company

    Choose the financial year-end of your Business. This can be any month. You will be further asked to choose the number of authorised shares, you probably know the number you want to issue but if you don't, choose 1000.

12. Reserve a name

    Once you click continue, you will be taken to a screen that will prompt you to Apply for a name as part of the registration process. Choose that option.
    
    PLEASE NOTE:
    Applying for a name is a part of this process: Company will only be added to the company registration queue after the proposed name has been approved. If all proposed names fail then this company will still be registered using the company's enterprise number as the company name. You will have to apply for another name and when it's approved you will have to follow a company name change process.
    
    Name already approved: If you have already applied for a name then your company will be added to the company registration queue immediately, on condition that there is enough credit in your customer account.
    
    Registering using the enterprise number as company name: Your company will be added to the company registration queue immediately, on condition that there is enough credit in your customer account.

13. Choose a company name(s)

    Type in the name(s) of the company you are registering. You can choose upto 4 options.
    
    Once you have chosen the names submit the proposed names and lodge them. Once you do, you will get a reservation name.
    

14. Lodge the company

    Almost done! Once you lodge the company, you will receive an email with a C039 form that you must print and sign. Once you do, go back to that email and check the email address of where to send the form. You should send back the form alongside certified black and white ID/Passports of directors.
    
    That's it, DONE 🎉 If you submit the form and ID documents before 10 am during the week, you will likely get your company registration documents within the same day.