CIPRO annual return

[duncan drennan]

All companies must lodge an annual return with CIPRO each year in the month following their month of incorporation. Currently only registered companies (private, public, external, incorporated) need to do so. Currently close corporations are not required to lodge a return.

This must be done online and you can start by going to www.cipro.co.za. The front page has some basic info about the annual return, and you can also download the Private Company Annual Return Manual. The manual should have all the info that you need to complete your return.....but here is my experience.

Use internet explorer for doing this. CIPROs site does not properly support Firefox.

You will first need to create a user account on CIPROs website, which they call an "Agent." If you haven't done this already then either enter the web site (by clicking on the CIPRO web site button on the main page), and use the left hand navigation to go to "Our Customers" -> "Register as a customer," or follow this direct link to register as a customer. Scroll down and you'll see a form for registration.

Two important things to note with your registration,

1. Your "Customer Code", or user name, must be 6 or fewer characters
2. Your password must be 8 or less characters

If your user name or password are longer than this you will get an error message when you try to register, so just keep it within those bounds to save you some time. You should get a message confirming your registration.

Now use the left hand navigation, "Annual Return" and select the relevant type of return (public, private, etc.). Enter your enterprise number and it should give you some info about your company and when the return is due. Click on "Lodge Annual Return" and you should be sent to the login page. Use your user name and password to login.

You'll be asked to confirm your mandate to complete the return, i.e. you actually do have the authority to complete it. After that you'll be asked to enter your last annual turnover so that it can figure out how much to charge you Then continue to lodge the return.

The next step is paying the money due, which depends on your annual turnover (for a private company),

• Public company = R4000
• External company = R4000
• Private company, turnover < R10m = R450
• Private company, R10m <turnover < R50m = R2500
• Private company, turnover > R50m = R4000

So I then paid the amount due, and it went through the payment process and then returned me to a screen where it said something like balance is now x. Nothing other than the usual nav bars. Hmmm....confused.

So I start the process again. After going through the mandate and turnover process again, the next screen is different. There is now a list of things you can review, and change if necessary. Click on the sections to get more detail and confirm that it is all correct.

Once done click submit and it will tell you that the amount due has been deducted from your balance. You can also get a copy of the submitted return by following the link under, "Click here for this Annual Return Disclosure" which you can print out or save.

So that is that. Just to make sure I started the process again, and it showed that the next return was only due again next year.

Yay! I did it May you have success too, and I hope this helps.

[duncan drennan]

Hmmm, so now I am slightly stumped....I realised I hadn't captured the payment for the annual return, and decided to do that this morning. I then realised, I don't have any kind of invoice for the payment. The next question was, is VAT applicable (I somehow don't think so...but not sure).

You can get a transaction history when logged into CIPRO's site, but not too sure about getting an invoice. Sending off an email...will report back.

If you do happen to know how this works, then please drop me a line.

[Martinco]

Ok, I have found the thread,

Please help...........I do not understand when the annual submission date should be ?
The instruction on CIPRO website reads " during the month of anniversary"

I have 3 CC's, incorporated during Feb 2001, July 2007 and Oct 1991.
Exactly when should I submit each return ? ( Month and year )

[Dave A]

Feb 2001 would be in Feb each year.
July 2007 would be in July each year.
etc.

Which reminds me, renewal time for me this month, I think

[IanF]

Am I reading this correctly an annual return for a cc is R1000 or is it R100?
Cipro link
I can't download the manual at the moment

[duncan drennan]

Am I reading this correctly an annual return for a cc is R1000 or is it R100?

Do CC's have to do an annual return? I was trying to find a clear answer for this. Look a bit lower in the fees structure and under "Annual return fees" it only mentions companies.

[duncan drennan]

I see this has changed from 1 September 2008. There is a decent article on MoneywebTax about the CC annual return.

The cost is R100 for CC's with a turnover under R50mil and R4000 if turnover over R50mil. I think there is just a formatting error/typo on their site. If you look at the description there is R100 in there, and then R1000 under the fees.

[IanF]

I see this has changed from 1 September 2008. There is a decent article on MoneywebTax about the CC annual return.

The cost is R100 for CC's with a turnover under R50mil and R4000 if turnover over R50mil. I think there is just a formatting error/typo on their site. If you look at the description there is R100 in there, and then R1000 under the fees.

Thanks Duncan must get this done, the red tape adds up.

[Martinco]

Hi Dave,

I was still not sure but got it out of the horse's mouth. ( CIPRO)
Any CC incorporated during Sept ( any year ) or after will have to submit from now on i.e. Incorporated in Oct must submit during Oct 2008. If incorporated prior to Sept then only on birthday next year.
I trust this makes sense.
Further, how do we make sure all members with businesses ( CC's and PTY's ) know about this requirement ?
I only found out by accident.

[Marq]

Thanks for that information.

The original story is here.. Like you say they do not mention the prior September scenario and the cipro site needs someone with a bit of logic to tackle it and give us some relevant up to date information.

Sometimes I am not sure which end of this horse you are dealing with! Lucky you got the mouth bit.