ComplianceWhat Is a Share Buyback and Can a Small Company Do One?The company buys the shares instead of the other shareholders funding it personally. It needs a board resolution and the solvency and liquidity test — and buying back from a director needs a special resolution.cipc_company_secretarial_business_structureSmartbook·2 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceHow to Reconstruct a Securities Register That Was Never KeptMost small companies never set one up. When a buyer, a bank or an estate asks who owns the shares, there is nothing to show them. Here is how to rebuild it honestly — and why you must never backdate.cipc_company_secretarial_complianceSmartbook·2 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceWhat Is a Shareholders' Agreement and Do You Need One?It covers what the MOI does not — exit, valuation, deadlock, who has to work in the business, and restraints. It is private, unlike the MOI. And any clause conflicting with the MOI is void.cipc_company_secretarial_business_structureSmartbook·2 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceHow to Write a Board Resolution (With Examples)A resolution is the evidence a decision was properly taken. It needs the company details, the date, who was present, the decision and signatures — and for distributions, that the solvency and liquidity test was applied.cipc_company_secretarial_directorsSmartbook·2 August 2026·8 min readRead more
ComplianceWhy Your SARS and CIPC Records Must MatchNeither institution updates the other. Mismatched directors, addresses or year ends cause failed tender screening, blocked eFiling and correspondence going to someone who left three years ago.cipc_sars_complianceSmartbook·2 August 2026·6 min readRead more
Company registrationWhat It Really Costs to Start and Keep a Compliant CompanyRegistration is the small part. Year one also brings annual returns, beneficial ownership, financial statements, two provisional tax payments and an income tax return — and that is before any tax registration you actually need.cipc_company_registration_complianceSmartbook·1 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceLiquidation vs Deregistration: Which One Applies to You?Deregistration is for a company with no assets and no liabilities. A company with debts must be liquidated. Choosing the wrong one does not make the debt disappear — it exposes the directors.cipc_deregistration_directorsSmartbook·1 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceWhat Is Business Rescue and When Should a Director Consider It?Business rescue puts a distressed company under a practitioner with a moratorium on claims while a plan is developed. Directors have a duty to consider it — and trading recklessly through distress instead is what creates personal liability.cipc_directors_complianceSmartbook·1 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceCan Shareholders Remove a Director?Yes — by ordinary resolution, and the MOI cannot take that right away. But the director must get notice and a chance to make representations, and skipping that step is how removals get overturned.cipc_directors_complianceSmartbook·1 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceWhat Is a Delinquent Director Declaration?A court can bar someone from being a director — for at least seven years, and in some cases for life. Reckless trading is one of the grounds, which is why it matters to ordinary SME directors and not only to fraudsters.cipc_directors_companies_actSmartbook·1 August 2026·7 min readRead more
ComplianceDoes CIPC Deregistration Cancel My VAT and PAYE?No. SARS registrations run independently and keep generating returns and penalties for a company that no longer legally exists. It is why reinstated companies emerge owing SARS more than they did going in.cipc_deregistration_sarsSmartbook·1 August 2026·6 min readRead more
ComplianceHow to Catch Up Years of Unfiled CIPC Annual ReturnsYou file them all, oldest first, with the fee and penalty for each year. Beneficial ownership has to go first or nothing will process. And you have to know each year's turnover, because the fee is banded.cipc_annual_returns_complianceSmartbook·1 August 2026·6 min readRead more