Cipc To Deregister Non Compliant Companies

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission CIPC has announced that it will embark on a mass deregistration of companies that have not met their obligations.

The obligations include the timely submission of annual returns and ownership declarations.

The CIPC says deregistration will address the high number of inactive businesses and mitigate the risks posed by dormant companies.

CIPC Commissioner Rory Voller says the company needs to be compliant with the registered database of active businesses by lodging an annual return.

The Companies Act further states that if you fail to lodge this annual return which is a factual information request that we do to companies, to tell us exactly if the company is still functioning, who are the directors, is it still at the same location etcetera? If they fail to do that, after two- consecutive annual return cycles, then the law says we must deregister that company, because in the eyes of the CIPC, that company is dormant, failed to trade and is required to be removed from the register.