Taxation
Tax Registration: SARS Requirements for New Companies
What your new company still needs on SARS eFiling after incorporation — income tax, VAT, PAYE — and what CIPC Partners can help with.
6 min read
Incorporation does not finish your tax life. SARS still needs you on eFiling. CIPC Partners can help with income tax registration as part of packages — we are not SARS.
A company with a valid income tax number but no verified representative is functionally locked out of its own SARS profile.
At a glance
- Day one — income tax. Confirm it on eFiling; do not assume the Commission’s notice is enough.
- Before salaries — PAYE, then UIF / COIDA on the labour side.
- At R1 million taxable supplies — VAT becomes mandatory (confirm the current SARS threshold).
- For tenders — a tax compliance PIN, not a 2015 paper certificate.
Income tax
Mandatory for every company. The Commission notifies SARS, but you should still register on eFiling so you can file returns and pull a tax compliance status.
VAT
Mandatory if taxable supplies will exceed R1 million in 12 months. Voluntary below that if you want to claim input VAT and can handle invoices. Confirm the current threshold on SARS before you register.
PAYE, UIF, SDL
Register before you pay salaries. UIF and Compensation Fund (COIDA) are separate labour-side registrations when you have employees.
Tax compliance status (PIN)
Tenders and corporates often want a SARS tax compliance PIN, not a paper “clearance certificate” from 2015. Keep returns in and ask SARS eFiling for the PIN. CSD and many buyer portals will not proceed without it.
Which registrations you actually need, and when
| Registration | Trigger | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | Every company, always | Automatic on incorporation, but confirm on eFiling yourself |
| VAT | Taxable supplies over R1 million in 12 months | Mandatory at the threshold; voluntary below it |
| PAYE | You pay any salary, including a director's | Before the first payment |
| UIF | You have employees | With PAYE |
| SDL | Annual payroll above the SARS threshold | With payroll registrations |
| COIDA | You have employees | Labour side, separate from SARS |
Most new companies need exactly one of these on day one: income tax. Everything else is triggered by turnover or by hiring. Registering for VAT in month one because it sounds professional buys you bi-monthly returns you do not need and penalties if you file them late.
The registered representative problem
SARS will not let anyone act for the company until a registered representative — usually a director — is recorded and verified. This one step blocks more new companies than any other, because founders discover it only when they try to do something urgent: activate eFiling, request a tax compliance PIN, or respond to a bank.
Verification requires supporting documents and, depending on the case, an appointment. Do it early, while nothing is on a deadline.
Order of operations that saves pain
- Incorporate (CoR14.3)
- Confirm income tax / eFiling
- Open bank account
- Add VAT / payroll registrations only when needed
- Keep annual returns and beneficial ownership current
Tax compliance PIN, not a 2015 certificate
Tenders and corporates ask for a tax compliance status PIN issued through eFiling, which lets them check your status live. The old paper "tax clearance certificate" is what people still say, but the PIN is what the portals want. You cannot get one with outstanding returns, and CSD and most buyer portals will not proceed without it.
Practical notes
Without eFiling access, tenders and banks stall even if the company exists perfectly well at the Commission. Directors taking a salary are not "no staff" for PAYE purposes — check SARS guidance against your actual facts rather than assuming a one-person company is exempt.
Foreign directors still need the company on SARS eFiling even when their personal tax affairs sit in another country. Keep the company income tax number, the eFiling login, and CoR14.3 together; banks, landlords, and buyers ask for combinations of those three constantly. If we obtained the income tax number as part of a package, you still activate and maintain eFiling yourself unless a follow-on service says otherwise.
A realistic first-90-days sequence
- Week 1 — Download CoR14.3 while documents are still free to fetch, and confirm the company's income tax number.
- Week 1–2 — Record and verify the registered representative on SARS. Everything else waits on this.
- Week 2–4 — Open the bank account. Banks want CoR14.3, director IDs, proof of address, and often a resolution.
- Month 2 — Request a tax compliance PIN if you will quote corporates or government.
- Month 2–3 — Add CSD registration if you tender, and a B-BBEE affidavit if buyers ask.
- Ongoing — Add VAT and payroll registrations only when turnover or hiring triggers them.
Nothing in that list is optional busywork; each step is something a bank, buyer, or regulator will eventually block you on. Doing them in this order avoids the common trap of discovering the registered-representative requirement during a tender deadline.
Need the income tax number in the pack?
Packages can include SARS income tax registration. You still activate eFiling yourself unless a follow-on service says otherwise.
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B-BBEE Compliance: What Small Businesses Need to Know