CIPC annual return deadlines for your clients

Every company and close corporation registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) must lodge an annual return each year. For a practice that looks after dozens or hundreds of entities, the hard part is not the return itself – it is knowing exactly when each one falls due, because every company has its own date. This guide explains how the deadline is worked out, walks through two examples, and shows how to keep track of many anniversaries without a spreadsheet full of formulas.

The rule: 30 business days after the registration anniversary

A company’s annual return is due within 30 business days after the anniversary of its date of incorporation. If a company was registered on 1 September 2019, its anniversary is 1 September every year, and the 30-business-day window starts counting from there.

Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays and South African public holidays. That matters: a window that crosses Heritage Day, the Easter weekend or Freedom Day ends later than a simple “add six weeks” estimate would suggest. When a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday that follows is also a public holiday, and it is skipped too.

Worked examples

The dates below are calculated by the same rules engine Compliance Tracker uses for your clients, using the published 2026–2027 public holiday list.

Example 1: a September anniversary

A company registered on 1 September has its anniversary on Tuesday, 1 September 2026. Counting 30 business days forward, Heritage Day on 24 September is skipped along with every weekend, so the annual return is due by Wednesday, 14 October 2026.

Example 2: a March anniversary with the Easter weekend

For an anniversary on Monday, 15 March 2027, the window runs through one of the busiest holiday stretches of the year. Human Rights Day on 21 March 2027 falls on a Sunday, so Monday 22 March is the observed public holiday. Good Friday, Family Day and Freedom Day are also skipped. The result is a due date of Friday, 30 April 2027 – several days later than a rough count would give.

Beneficial Ownership comes first

CIPC requires companies to keep their Beneficial Ownership (BO) information filed and current. In practice, the annual return cannot be lodged while the BO filing is outstanding or out of date, so it is worth checking BO before the annual return window opens. In Compliance Tracker, when a company’s BO status is marked as outdated, its annual return is flagged Blocked – Beneficial Ownership outdated on the dashboard, deadlines list and company page, and reminder emails include a warning that BO must be updated first.

Tips for practices managing many anniversaries

• Capture the registration date, not just the year. The day and month drive the deadline. The CIPC registration number shows the year only.
• Watch the holiday-heavy months. Anniversaries in March, April, September and December produce windows that cross several public holidays.
• Check BO early. A missing or outdated BO filing is a common reason an annual return gets held up.
• Agree who receives reminders. Some clients want to be told directly; others prefer that only the practice is reminded.
• Batch the work by month. Grouping companies by anniversary month helps you plan staff time across the year.
• Mark returns as filed. A clear filed record stops duplicate work and keeps the history for each client.

How Compliance Tracker handles CIPC annual returns

When you add a company or import your client list, Compliance Tracker reads each company’s registration date and works out the next anniversary and the 30-business-day due date, using the South African public holiday list. Once a year’s deadline has passed, the next year’s deadline is created automatically, so the calendar keeps itself up to date.

Reminder emails go out 42, 14 and 3 days before each due date, to the practice, the client company or both – you choose per company. The dashboard shows every client’s annual returns alongside their provisional tax deadlines, B-BBEE certificate expiry dates, VAT, EMP501 and tax clearance dates, colour-coded as on track, due soon or overdue.

See pricing for plan details. Every plan includes unlimited users.

Related guides

• Provisional tax deadlines
• B-BBEE certificate expiry
• Compliance Tracker pricing and plans
• All deadline rules and the published test pack