CIPC Annual Returns 2026. What you'll pay, and why Beneficial Ownership comes first

Every company and close corporation registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) must file an Annual Return every year — it's what keeps your entity active on the register, separate from your tax return to SARS. Two things trip clients up every year: the filing fee changes depending on turnover, and CIPC will not let the Annual Return through unless your Beneficial Ownership declaration is up to date first. Here's what you need to know before your filing window opens.

CIPC Annual Return fees for companies (by turnover)

Companies incorporated under the Companies Act, 2008 pay a fee based on annual turnover. The fee must be paid to CIPC before the Annual Return can be filed — it's a statutory payment to the Commission, not a professional fee.

Annual turnover	Fee (filed within 30 business days)	Fee if filed late
Less than R1 million (including dormant companies)	R100	R150
R1 million – R10 million	R450	R600
R10 million – R25 million	R2,000	R2,500
R25 million and above	R3,000	R4,000

Your filing window opens on your company's incorporation anniversary each year and stays open for 30 business days. Miss it in year one and penalties accrue; miss it again the following year and CIPC begins deregistration proceedings, which can expose directors to personal liability for the company's affairs.

CIPC Annual Return fees for close corporations

Close corporations (CCs) under the Close Corporations Act, 1984 have a simpler — but still turnover-linked — fee structure, with a two-month filing window:

Annual turnover	Fee
R0 – R50 million	R100
Above R50 million	R4,000

Most CCs fall comfortably in the R100 band, but it's worth checking turnover each year rather than assuming — CIPC calculates the fee off what you declare, and getting it wrong delays the filing.

Beneficial Ownership: why it has to be done first

Since 1 July 2024, CIPC has built a "hard stop" into its system: you cannot complete an Annual Return submission until your entity's Beneficial Ownership (BO) declaration is current. The two are now filed together, and BO comes first in the sequence.

Beneficial Ownership is a declaration of the natural persons who ultimately own or control the company or CC — not the registered shareholders or members on paper, but the actual individuals behind them (including through layers of trusts or holding entities).

CIPC introduced this after South Africa was placed under increased monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2021 for gaps in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism-financing controls.

Requiring every registered entity to disclose its real owners is part of South Africa's response to that finding, and of closing the gap FATF flagged.

In practice, this means:

• Every company and CC (cooperatives are exempt) must have a BO declaration on file with CIPC.

• Any change in ownership or control must be updated within 10 business days.

• If your BO record is outdated or missing when your Annual Return falls due, the return simply won't go through until it's fixed — which can push you past your filing deadline and into penalty territory through no fault of the return itself.

Why this isn't part of your retainer

Clients sometimes ask why CIPC Annual Return fees are billed separately rather than bundled into the annual retainer. Two reasons, both practical:

The CIPC fee isn't ours to absorb. It's a statutory payment made directly to CIPC, not a professional fee for our time. We facilitate the filing; CIPC sets and collects the amount.

The CIPC fee is genuinely variable, year to year and entity to entity. It's calculated off your actual turnover for the period, which we only know once that year's figures are finalised — and it can move between bands as your business grows (or contracts). Billing it separately, at cost, means you only ever pay what CIPC actually charges for your specific turnover band that year.The CIPC fee is a pass-through cost specific to your entity's turnover, and we'll always confirm the exact amount with you before it's paid.

There is effort to prepare and submit your CIPC Annual Return and Beneficial Ownership filing as a company secretarial function. Our retainer does not cover the time to prepare and submit your Annual Return, or to manage and update your Beneficial Ownership register — both are billed separately

What we need from you

If your shareholding, membership, or control structure changed at all in the past year, let us know before your Annual Return is due — it's the single biggest cause of delay we see.

Otherwise, our team will confirm your turnover band, the applicable fee, and your filing deadline as your anniversary date approaches.