Deregister or Re-Instate Your Company

A Business can be deregistered upon request from the company or close corporation or any other third party, provided that the company or close corporation has ceased to carry on business; and has no assets or, because of the inadequacy of its assets, there is no reasonable probability of the company or close corporation being liquidated. Form more information on Company Liquidation click here. 

South African Companies that are registered for VAT must charge an additional 15% on the prices of their products and services. Most expenses will then be VAT deductible, such as rent, telephone, consumables, advertising and stock (depending if VAT was paid on these expenses). The difference will then be paid over to SARS, or claimed back from SARS. To start the process, apply on this page below or call 0800 007 269 toll free.

• The company or close corporation is not carrying on business or is dormant; and
• Has no assets, or because of the inadequacy of its assets, that there is no reasonable probability of the close corporation being liquidated (if third party, the statement must be supplemented with sufficient documentary proof confirming the statement);
• If the company or close corporation submits the request, the letter must be signed by at least 50% of the active directors of the company or members of the close corporation, or otherwise by the third party who is requesting the deregistration; and
• Tax number (if available)

The company or close corporation was in business at the time of deregistration (Sufficient documentary evidence in the form of bank statements for a period of six months before and six months after deregistration are required).

Multiple Deed search (reflecting ownership of immovable property or not);
Sufficient documentary proof indicating that the company or close corporation was in business (Provide evidence that the company was conducting business related activities at the time of deregistration, namely bank statements for a 12 month period that runs over the date of deregistration) or that it had any outstanding assets or liabilities (e.g. property, intellectual property rights) at the time of deregistration.

I want to Deregister my company:

If you wish to deregister your existing company, we will prepare the legal documentation required and deregister your company at CIPC. Just complete the online form above to start.

I want to re-instate my company which has been finally deregistered.

CIPC requires all companies which has been deregistered to follow a re-instatement process. This is an extensive process where certain company documents need to be retrieved and re-instatement procedures at CIPC needs to be followed.We offer this extensive service in full.

There are two processes that we will follow for which you can pay partly upfront and partly afterwards:

1. Re-instatement representation at CIPC: R 2990 (payable upfront)
2. Updating outstanding Annual Returns: CIPC will quote you after re-instatement (payable afterwards)

My company is in the deregistration process and I want to stop it.

a) Beginning Stages of Deregistration:

If  your CC or Company is in ‘deregistration’ you first need to make sure if your Company can still be revived by getting your Annual Returns up to date. The total cost to revive the entity (including all fees and penalties) depends on the amount of years that the annual fee has been outstanding.  There will be no need for you to deal with CIPC or to open an admin panel with CIPC as we take care of that for you.

Revive your Company online by completing and submitting the Annual Returns Form online as soon as possible

b) Latter stages of Deregistration:

Sometimes the Deregistration Process is in its “Final Stage”, which means that you need to go with one of the following options:

1. You have to Register a New Pty.
2. As mentioned before, we offer a ‘Re-instatement’ service for deregistered companies. If you would prefer to continue trading with your existing company, we can surely assist. Note that it will be a more expensive process than the Registration of a new Company. If you prefer this option, please complete the Application Form below.

To find out in what process of deregistration your CC / Company is, please complete and submit the Annual Returns Form online as soon as possible.

What is the difference between Deregistration and Liquidation?

Deregistration implies that a business ceases to be registered at CIPC as either a company or close corporation if it is no longer doing business and has no outstanding assets or liabilities. Liquidation means that a business ceases to operate, usually due to financial problems. Where a business has assets, liabilities or both, it may have to follow the liquidation route. Click here for more info on the Liquidation process.

Deregistration can take up to 12 weeks to complete. Whereas Re-instatement typically takes between 15 – 21 working days. The aforesaid being subject to the CIPC workload.

All your taxes needs to be up to date before you can deregister your business. The deregistration at the CIPC needs to be completed before you can apply at SARS to deregister your company.

Your company is not automatically deregistered at SARS. You will need to apply once you have completed the deregistration at the CIPC.