This page covers the first ninety days of a new business: what to do in what order, what to spend money on and what to defer, and the decisions taken early that are expensive to reverse later.
The registrations themselves are straightforward. What determines whether a business survives its first year is usually the decisions around them — how money is separated, what records are kept, and whether obligations are understood before they are breached.
Business Requirements at a Glance
The first ninety days, in order.
- Week 1: decide the legal form, and check municipal zoning before signing anything
- Week 1–2: register with the CIPC if forming a company, and reserve the name
- Week 2–3: SARS income tax registration, which follows automatically for a company
- Week 3–4: open a business bank account — FICA verification takes time, so start early
- Week 4 onwards: apply for sector licences and municipal approvals, which take longest
- Before the first employee: register for UIF and the Compensation Fund
- From day one: keep records of every transaction
- Ongoing: build the compliance calendar — provisional tax, CIPC annual return, VAT if applicable
Registration and Legal Requirements
The decisions that are expensive to reverse. The legal form, the business name, the premises and the shareholding structure are all difficult or costly to change once established. Spend time on them.
Shareholding in particular. Businesses started by two or more people frequently begin without a written agreement about who owns what, who does what, what happens if someone leaves, and how decisions are made. That omission destroys more small businesses than competition does. A shareholders’ agreement drafted at the start costs a fraction of a dispute later.
The business name. Registering a company name with the CIPC does not give you trade mark rights. If the name matters commercially, consider a trade mark application, and check first that you are not infringing someone else’s.
Zoning before lease. Signing a lease for premises that cannot lawfully host your activity is a common and expensive error. Confirm zoning with the municipality first, in writing.
Sector licences take longest. Liquor licences, health approvals, financial services authorisation, credit provider registration and similar approvals run for months. Start them first even though they feel like the last step.
Documents and Ownership Information Required
The documents to assemble once, because they are asked for repeatedly.
- Certified copies of identity documents for all owners or directors
- Proof of residential address for each
- CIPC registration certificate, company profile and memorandum of incorporation
- Beneficial ownership information for filing with the CIPC
- SARS tax reference number and tax compliance status PIN
- Business bank account confirmation letter
- Proof of business address and the lease agreement
- Shareholders’ agreement, where there is more than one owner
- B-BBEE affidavit or certificate
- Sector licences and professional registrations
- Proof of UIF and Compensation Fund registration, if employing
Tax, Licence and Compliance Requirements
Cash flow is what kills new businesses, not profit. Build a monthly cash flow forecast before you start and update it monthly. Know your runway — how many months you can operate before revenue must arrive — and make decisions against it rather than against optimism.
Do not spend on the wrong things first. New businesses routinely overspend on branding, fit-out and equipment before revenue exists, and underspend on the things that generate revenue. Defer anything that does not directly produce sales or satisfy a legal requirement.
Provisional tax catches new businesses out. It is payable twice a year, based on estimated taxable income, and it is a real cash outflow on fixed dates. Businesses that have not budgeted for it face penalties and interest.
Get the employment basics right before hiring. Written particulars of employment, the National Minimum Wage, UIF, the Compensation Fund and any applicable sectoral determination or bargaining council agreement all apply from the first employee. Hiring informally and regularising later creates liability that accumulates.
Insure the exposures that would end the business. Public liability, professional indemnity where relevant, and cover for the assets the business depends on. Not everything, but the things that would be terminal.
Free support is the highest-value thing available. SEDA, provincial development agencies and municipal local economic development offices assist with registration, planning, records and funding at no charge, and they know what local funders require.
Process, Deadlines and Ongoing Obligations
Sequence the registrations, start the slow ones first, and keep the money and the records separate and clean from day one. Those habits are what make the business fundable and saleable later.
Then build the compliance calendar and put a reminder against every date. Most small business compliance failures are missed dates rather than deliberate omissions.
- Check zoning before signing any lease
- Start sector licence applications first — they take longest
- Open the business bank account early; FICA verification takes time
- Put a shareholders’ agreement in place if there is more than one owner
- Keep business and personal money completely separate
- Build a monthly cash flow forecast and know your runway
- Budget for provisional tax from the first year
- Get employment basics right before hiring anyone
- Insure the exposures that would end the business
- Use free support from SEDA and your provincial agency
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do first?
Decide the legal form and check municipal zoning before committing to premises. Both are expensive to reverse.
Which registration takes longest?
Sector licences — liquor, health, financial services, credit provision and similar — run for months. Start them first even though they feel last.
Do I need a shareholders’ agreement?
If there is more than one owner, yes. The absence of one destroys more small businesses than competition does, and drafting it early costs a fraction of a dispute later.
What surprises new businesses most?
Provisional tax, which is payable twice a year on estimated income, and the employment obligations that apply from the first employee rather than the fifth.
Registration requirements, tax thresholds, employment obligations and licensing differ by activity and are revised. Confirm current requirements with the CIPC, SARS, the Department of Employment and Labour and your municipality.