Category Archives: business

Is your business legally compliant?

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B3Compliance refers to a company obeying all of the legal laws and regulations regarding how they manage the business, their staff, and their treatment towards their consumers. The point of compliance is to make sure that corporations act responsibly.

Is compliance for every business the same?

Certain businesses may be required by law to register with an industry association. For instance, if you want to practice as a public auditor and issue an opinion on assurance engagements, you must be registered with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors (IRBA). Compliance in this regard would depend on the type of business involved.

What are general requirements for all businesses:

Tax compliance (SARS, VAT Act) – First and foremost, the business enterprise must be registered with SARS for tax purposes (to be taxed on the income that it makes), secondly, if the business is an employer it must register itself as such and as an agent of government required to deduct employees’ tax from the earnings of employees and pay the amounts deducted over to SARS on a monthly basis. Thirdly, if applicable, a business may register for VAT in terms of the VAT Act.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act – The government requires businesses that employ people to provide a work environment that is safe and without risk to the health of employees.

Skills Development Levy (SDL) – Employers must pay 1 percent of their workers’ pay to the skills development levy every month. The money goes to Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and the Skills Development Fund to pay for training.

The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) – This Act seeks to ensure that employers are duly covered to provide compensation for disablement caused by occupational injuries or diseases sustained by employees in the course of their employment, or for death resulting from such injuries or diseases.

Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) – Employers must register with the Department of Labour to ensure that their employees are appropriately covered when out of employment.

Auditing requirements – Depending on the type of company you register, it may be required to be audited on an annual basis.

Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) – If your company will be engaged with financial services, estate agencies, insurance, etc. you are required to comply with this Act in order to combat money laundering.

References:

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your legal adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

Requirements to restore a deregistered company

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B2There are various circumstances in which a company (or close corporation) can become deregistered at the CIPC.

  1. The company itself can apply for deregistration at the CIPC, for any number of reasons.
  2. If a company has not submitted and paid its annual returns for more than two successive years, the CIPC will inform such a company of the fact and the intention of the CIPC to deregister said company. If such a company does not take any steps to remedy the situation, the CIPC will proceed to finally deregister it.
  3. If the CIPC believes that the company has been inactive for seven or more years.

How can a company be restored?

It is possible to restore such a company or close corporation which has been finally deregistered, but all outstanding information and annual returns (including the fees) will have to be lodged with the CIPC. An additional R200 prescribed re-instatement fee must also be paid.

Recently, the CIPC has set additional requirements to do this, which also impacts on the time, administration and cost to restore such a company. These requirements took effect from 1 November 2012.

The steps and requirements for the re-instatement process are:

  1. The proper application CoR40.5 form Application for Re-instatement of Deregistered Company must be completed and submitted, originally signed by the duly authorised person.
  2. A certified copy of the identity document of the applicant (director / member) must be submitted.
  3. A certified copy of the identity document of the person filing the application must be submitted.
  4. A Deed Search, reflecting the ownership of any immovable property (or not) by the company, must be obtained and submitted together with the application.
  5. If the company does in fact own any immovable property, a letter from National Treasury must be submitted, indicating that the department has no objection to the re-instatement of the company.
  6. Also, if the company does in fact own any immovable property, a letter from the Department of Public Works must be submitted, indicating that the department has no objection to the re-instatement of the company.
  7. An advertisement must be placed in a local newspaper where the business of the company is conducted, giving 21 days’ notice of the proposed application for re-instatement.
  8. If the deregistration was due to non-compliance with regards to annual returns, an affidavit indicating the reasons for the non-filing of annual returns must be submitted.
  9. If the company itself applied for deregistration, an affidavit indicating the reasons for the original request for deregistration must be submitted.
  10. Sufficient documentary proof indicating that the company was in business or that it had any assets or liabilities at the time of deregistration must be submitted.
  11. All outstanding annual returns must be submitted and paid, along with any penalties.

Upon compliance of all of the above requirements, the CIPC will issue a notice to the company that it is restored.

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your legal adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)

New requirements to re-instate a company or close corporation

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B3A company or close corporation may be deregistered upon request from the company or close corporation or any other third party. A company or close corporation may also be re-instated. However, since the withdrawal of Practice Note 6 of 2008, and its replacement with Notice 08 of 2017, there are new requirements for the re-instatement.

The Practice Note is issued in terms of Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Companies Regulations, 2011, and is applicable to the re-instatement of companies and close corporations in terms of Companies Regulation 40(6) and (7).

What are the new requirements?

Since December 2016, to re-instate a company or close corporation, the re-instatement application on a form CoR40.5 must comply with the following requirements regardless of the cause or date of deregistration:

  • Certified identity copy of the applicant;
  • Certified identity copy of the owner of the customer code;
  • Multiple deed search (deed search of each of the 10 regional deeds offices);
  • Letter from the Department of Public Works, only if the multiple deed search reflects immovable property;
  • Sufficient documentary proof indicating that the company or close corporation was in business or that it had any outstanding assets or liabilities, at the time of deregistration;
  • Mandate from the applicant confirming that the customer may submit on his/her behalf.

When can a company or close corporation be re-instated?

CIPC will only consider re-instating a company or close corporation if it can provide proof that it was conducting business at the time of deregistration, or has any other economic value. Furthermore, upon the successful processing of the re-instatement application, all outstanding annual returns must be filed in order to complete the process, within 30 business days from date of the re-instatement.

Reference:

  • Companies and Intellectual Property Commission | CIPC. Practice Note 08 of 2017, Requirements for re-instatement in terms of Regulations 4(2)(b).

This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your legal adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE).

Succession planning

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A2BOwning a business requires careful succession planning and is part of your estate planning as you have to determine who will succeed you, or who will purchase your shares, or who will be entitled to the income after your death. The future ownership of your business is at stake.

A Partnership automatically dissolves upon the death of a partner and the remaining partners will then have to dissolve it and divide the assets amongst them.

In the case of a Company the shareholders may agree that:

  1. The remaining shareholders have a right of first refusal to purchase the deceased shareholder’s shareholding, as opposed to dealing with it in a will.
  2. The future of ownership of shares can be regulated by a written agreement between shareholders that is referred to as “buy and sell” agreement and has an influence at the death of a partner or shareholder.
  3. The buy and sell agreement compels the executor of the deceased to offer the shares at a pre-determined price, and life policies between shareholders normally cover the purchase price.
  4. The remaining shareholders are the beneficiaries of the policy on the life of the deceased and use it to purchase the shares, normally pro rata to the shares they already own.
  5. Buy and sell policies fall outside the deceased estate and are not subject to estate duty provided that three requirements are met:
  • None of the premiums should have been paid by the deceased;
  • The shareholder relationship must have existed at the time of death;
  • A written agreement must exist.
  1. When the skill and knowledge of a partner is essential for the survival of the business, “key man insurance“ can be taken out on the life of such a partner or shareholder. The premiums are paid by the business and the benefit is paid to the business to prevent financial loss or to appoint and train a replacement.

In the case of a “sole proprietor”, succession planning is dealt with in the Last Will and Testament.

  1. All the value of the business vests in the deceased estate.
  2. Planning is essential as the business terminates at death, although the executor may sell it as a going concern.
  3. It is a good idea to grant a right of first refusal to an associate, who can purchase the business and intellectual capital at the time of the death.
  4. A life policy can provide for cover on the life of the owner, with the associate being the beneficiary, and the proceeds at time of the death utilised to purchase the business.
  5. It deserves no debate that planning increases the benefit for the estate as opposed to closing the business down, where the assets will be worth far less.

Continued succession planning must be part of your business strategy to ensure your hard work benefits the right people.

This newsletter is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your legal adviser for specific and detailed advice. E&OE (Errors and omissions excepted.)