Registering a company gives you a registration number and nothing else. Before you trade you need a bank account, an income tax registration, a working SARS eFiling profile with the correct registered representative, a securities register, and a diarised anniversary month. Most of the problems that surface two years later — a blocked eFiling profile, a deregistration warning nobody received, no record of who owns the company — trace back to something on this list that was never done in month one.
The registration is the easy part, and it is the part everybody focuses on.
The first week
1. Save your registration documents somewhere permanent. The CoR14.3, the notice of incorporation and directors, and the MOI. Cloud storage, not one person's laptop. See what company registration documents you actually need.
2. Read your MOI. Most people never do. It is your company's constitution — what the board can decide alone, what needs shareholder approval, how shares may be transferred. Ten minutes now saves a genuine argument later. See what is an MOI and do you need a custom one.
3. Diarise your anniversary month. The month you were incorporated is when the CIPC annual return and beneficial ownership filing fall due, every year, forever. Nothing will remind you. Put it in the calendar now, one month early, recurring. See what is your company's anniversary date.
4. Set the registered address properly. It must be somewhere post is actually opened and acted on. A stale registered address is how companies find out about deregistration two years late. See how to change your registered address.
The first month: SARS
5. Confirm your income tax registration. Companies are generally registered for income tax automatically on incorporation — confirm it exists and note the number rather than assuming.
6. Set up eFiling and appoint the registered representative. This is the single most consequential item on the list.
SARS recognises one person as authorised to act for the company. Where that is wrong, or is somebody who has left, you cannot transact at all — you cannot file the returns that would fix your compliance status, and SARS correspondence goes to the wrong person. The RAV01 process to change it can take up to 21 business days.
Do it now, while it is simple. See what is a SARS registered representative.
7. Work out whether you need VAT, PAYE and UIF — and register when you cross the line, not later.
VAT — compulsory above the threshold, voluntary above the lower one. See the VAT registration threshold
PAYE and UIF — from your first employee. See when must you register for PAYE
UIF at Labour is a separate registration from the SARS side. See UIF: SARS and Labour are two separate things
8. Note your provisional tax dates. Two payments a year, based on your financial year end. See what is provisional tax.
The first month: the company's own records
9. Set up the securities register. Who holds which shares, in what class, from what date. CIPC does not hold this — if you do not, nobody does. See do you need share certificates.
10. Issue share certificates to the founding shareholders.
11. File beneficial ownership. Required, and required again whenever ownership changes. See how to file beneficial ownership.
12. Start a resolutions file. Every board decision that matters, written down and dated. It takes minutes at the time and is impossible to reconstruct later. See how to write a board resolution.
13. Where there is more than one shareholder, discuss a shareholders' agreement. Exit, valuation, deadlock, who has to work in the business. The window for a fair agreement is now, before anyone knows which side of each clause they will be on. See what is a shareholders' agreement.
The first month: actually trading
14. Open a business bank account. Expect to need registration documents, a current CIPC extract, directors' identity documents and proof of address. See how to open a business bank account.
15. Set up bookkeeping from day one. Not "once we have some transactions". A company whose first six months were never recorded properly starts life behind, and catching up costs more than doing it. See what is a chart of accounts.
16. Keep business and personal money completely separate. One account, one card. This is the discipline that determines whether your books mean anything — and mixing them creates loan account problems SARS takes an interest in. See what is a director's loan account.
17. Set your invoice template up correctly, including everything a valid tax invoice needs if you are VAT registered. See what makes a valid tax invoice.
What else, depending on what you do
Not universal, but check whether these apply before you start trading rather than after.
| If you | You need |
|---|---|
| Employ anyone at all | COIDA registration — no minimum size. See what is COIDA |
| Want to sell to government | CSD registration and a tax compliance status |
| Are an EME | A B-BBEE affidavit, free. See what is a B-BBEE affidavit |
| Do construction work | CIDB registration and a Letter of Good Standing |
| Run security services | PSIRA registration, company and individuals |
| Import or export | SARS customs registration. See import/export licence vs permit |
| Trade from premises | Whether a business licence applies. See do you need a business licence |
| Have a brand worth protecting | A trade mark application — a company name is not a trade mark. See company name vs trade mark |
The two that cause the most damage
Out of everything above, two items account for most of the trouble I see two years later.
The registered representative at SARS. Wrong or absent, and the company is locked out of its own eFiling profile. Returns go unfiled, tax compliance status turns non-compliant, and the tax clearance certificate needed for a tender or a licence renewal cannot be issued. All from a step that takes minutes in month one.
The anniversary month. Unfiled annual returns start a deregistration process, warnings go to a registered address nobody reads, and the company is deregistered — with its bank account frozen and its contracts in question. See what happens if CIPC deregisters your company.
Both are calendar entries. Neither costs anything. Both are skipped constantly.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to do after registering a company in South Africa? Save the registration documents, read the MOI, diarise the anniversary month, confirm the registered address, set up eFiling with the correct registered representative, register for VAT, PAYE and UIF where applicable, set up the securities register and issue share certificates, file beneficial ownership, open a bank account, and start bookkeeping.
Is my company automatically registered for income tax? Companies are generally registered for income tax on incorporation, but confirm it exists and note the number rather than assuming.
What is the most important thing to do in the first month? Appoint the correct SARS registered representative. Where it is wrong or absent, you cannot transact on eFiling at all — which blocks the returns that keep your tax compliance status clean.
When is my CIPC annual return due? In your anniversary month — the month the company was incorporated — every year. Nothing reminds you, so diarise it a month early on a recurring basis.
Does CIPC record who owns my company? No. Private company shareholding is not on the public register. You must keep your own securities register, and it should be set up from day one rather than reconstructed later.
Do I need to register for VAT immediately? Only once you cross the compulsory threshold, or if you choose to register voluntarily above the lower threshold. Check your rolling 12-month taxable supplies rather than waiting for year end.
Do I need COIDA if I have one employee? Yes. There is no minimum turnover, no minimum hours and no exemption for part-time or casual employment.
Should I get a shareholders' agreement straight away? Where there is more than one shareholder, yes — discuss it at the start. The window for a fair agreement is before anyone can predict which side of each clause they will end up on.
Month one is cheap, year three is not
Almost everything on this list takes minutes and costs little. The same items, discovered two years later as a blocked eFiling profile or a deregistration notice, cost real money and real time.
Smartbook sets new South African companies up properly — SARS registrations and the registered representative, the securities register and share certificates, beneficial ownership filed, the anniversary month tracked, and bookkeeping running from the first transaction.
Sort out your SARS registered representative — R499 →
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Last reviewed: 28 August 2026. Written by the Smartbook team — SAIPA and SAICA accredited, SARS registered tax practitioners. Registration requirements, thresholds and processes change from time to time — confirm current requirements before relying on them. General guidance, not advice on your circumstances.
Primary sources: CIPC · SARS · Companies Act 71 of 2008 · Department of Employment and Labour · BizPortal