South Africa

Overview

Field	Value
Region	Africa
ISO 3166-1	ZA / ZAF
Registry	Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC)
Last updated	2026-05-04

Identifiers

Collect two identifiers from each business customer in South Africa and submit them as strings on the application body.

API field	Local name	Issuer
`businessInfo.taxId`	Income Tax Reference Number	SARS (South African Revenue Service)
`businessInfo.businessEntityId`	Registration Number	CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission)

Tax ID: Income Tax Reference Number for the entity. Registration number: Enterprise registration number printed on the CoR 14.3 certificate.

Sector regulators

SARB · FSCA · NCR · ICASA

Legal structures

Local name	Abbreviation	Description
Private Company	(Pty) Ltd	Closely-held share-capital company with limited liability; the default SME vehicle under the Companies Act 71 of 2008. Shares are not freely transferable to the public. Equivalent to a US LLC.
Public Company	Ltd	Share-capital company whose shares may be offered to the public; eligible for JSE listing and requires at least three directors. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp.
Personal Liability Company	Inc.	Share-capital company under the Companies Act where past and present directors are jointly and severally liable for debts; used by professional firms (attorneys, auditors). Closest US equivalent: C-Corp.
State-Owned Company	SOC Ltd	Share-capital company owned by the national or provincial government, subject to the Companies Act and the Public Finance Management Act. Closest US equivalent: C-Corp.
Close Corporation	CC	Member-based, limited-liability entity under the Close Corporations Act 69 of 1984; no shares, up to 10 members. No new CCs may be registered since May 2011, but existing CCs continue to operate. Equivalent to a US LLC.
General Partnership	—	Unregistered contractual arrangement between two or more persons carrying on business for profit; all partners bear unlimited joint liability. Not a separate legal entity. Equivalent to a US General Partnership.
En Commandite Partnership	—	Partnership in which one or more silent (en commandite) partners contribute capital and enjoy limited liability while at least one general partner bears unlimited liability. Equivalent to a US Limited Partnership.
Sole Proprietorship	—	A single natural person trading in their own name or under a trade name; no separate legal entity and no CIPC registration required. The owner bears unlimited personal liability. Equivalent to a US Sole Proprietorship.
Co-operative	Co-op	Member-owned and -controlled entity incorporated under the Co-operatives Act 14 of 2005; profits distributed on a patronage basis rather than share capital. Closest US equivalent: Cooperative.
Non-Profit Company	NPC	Company with no share capital that may not distribute income or assets to members; used by NGOs, charities, and religious bodies. Closest US equivalent: Nonprofit Corporation (501(c)(3)).
External Company	—	Foreign company that conducts business or non-profit activities within South Africa and must register with CIPC; equivalent to a foreign branch or representative office. Closest US equivalent: Branch/Rep Office.

How documents combine

For each evidence area, this table shows whether the listed documents are alternatives (any one of) or a bundle (all required). The artifact-by-artifact lookup follows below.

Evidence area	Documents needed
Legal Registration	Registration Certificate
Constitutive Documents	Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI)
Tax Registration	Any one of: SARS Tax Reference · VAT Notice
Operating Permit	Municipal Business License
Ownership Records	All required: Memorandum of Incorporation + Securities Register
Governance Records	Any one of: CoR 39 · CoR 14.1A
Signing Authority	Board Resolution
Address	Any one of: Lease Agreement · Utility Bill · Bank Statement
Good Standing	Letter of Good Standing

Documents to collect

The physical documents you’ll collect from your customer, with the evidence area each one proves. One document can prove multiple areas — for example, Brazil’s Cartão CNPJ covers both tax and business-registration proof, so it appears once with both areas listed.

Document	Proves
Registration Certificate (CoR 14.3)	Legal Registration
Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI)	Constitutive Documents, Ownership Records
SARS Tax Reference	Tax Registration
VAT Notice	Tax Registration
Municipal Business License	Operating Permit
Securities Register	Ownership Records
CoR 39 (Notice of Change of Company Directors)	Governance Records
CoR 14.1A (Initial Directors — annexure to CoR 14.1 at incorporation)	Governance Records
Board Resolution (account opening)	Signing Authority
Lease Agreement	Address
Utility Bill (≤90 days old)	Address
Bank Statement (≤90 days old)	Address
Letter of Good Standing (CIPC)	Good Standing
Sector-Specific License	SARB, FSCA, NCR, ICASA

Collection notes

Governance Records: CoR 14.1A is the Initial Directors annexure filed with the Notice of Incorporation (CoR 14.1) at registration; CoR 39 is the Notice of Change of Company Directors used for every subsequent appointment, resignation, or removal. Together they cover the historical and current director set under the Companies Act 71 of 2008.
Address: Conduit universal policy: lease (no time bound) OR utility bill OR bank statement, with utility/bank dated within 90 days. Same evidence satisfies both registered-address and operating-address checks.

Person roles

When you submit a person on the application body, set their role to one of Conduit’s canonical BusinessPersonRole values. Use this table to map a local corporate-governance title onto the right canonical role.

Local role	Canonical API role	Description
Director	`CONTROLLING_PERSON`	Board member. Min 1 (Pty Ltd), 3 (Ltd).

Notes

Uses a single MOI — there is no separate Memorandum and Articles.
B-BBEE is a procurement scorecard, not an operating license; do not gate onboarding on it.

Overview

Reference

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Africa

Europe

North America

Asia (West, South & Central)

Asia-Pacific

Overview

Identifiers

Sector regulators

Legal structures

How documents combine

Documents to collect

Collection notes

Person roles

Notes

​Overview

​Identifiers

​Sector regulators

​Legal structures

​How documents combine

​Documents to collect

​Collection notes

​Person roles

​Notes

Overview

Identifiers

Sector regulators

Legal structures

How documents combine

Documents to collect

Collection notes

Person roles

Notes