What will happen if the company or close corporation does not comply with annual returns?
The CIPC will assume that the company or close corporation is inactive, and as such CIPC will start the deregistration process to remove the company or close corporation from its active records. The legal effect of the deregistration process is that the juristic personality is withdrawn and the company or close corporation ceases to exist.
When must a company or close corporation file its annual returns?
It is an annual filing and it differs for companies and close corporations. Companies must file (regardless as to whether it was active or not) within 30 business days starting from the day after its date of registration. Close corporations must file (again regardless as to whether it was active or not) starting from the first day of the month it was registered up until the month thereafter. It may still file after such period, but an additional penalty fee will be applicable.
If a company or close corporation has filed its tax returns with SARS, is it still required to file annual returns with CIPC?
A clear distinction must be made between an annual return and a tax return. An annual return is a summary of the most relevant information regarding the company or close corporation and is filed with CIPC while a tax return focuses on taxable income of a company or close corporation in order to determine its tax liability to the State and is filed with SARS.
Compliance with the one does not mean that there is compliance with the other. It is two different processes, administered in terms of different legislation by two different government departments.
