Beneficial Ownership Wizard
Since 1 July 2024 you can't file your CIPC Annual Return without first filing Beneficial Ownership. This tool walks through your shareholders and works out who CIPC counts as a 5% beneficial owner, including the messy cases (holding companies, trusts, nominees).
Your shareholders
Your beneficial owners (1)
- (unnamed) - 100% (natural)Natural person owning 100%. File directly as a beneficial owner.
What CIPC needs for each beneficial owner
- Full names + ID number (or passport for non-residents).
- Residential address.
- Nationality.
- Effective ownership / control percentage.
- Date they became a beneficial owner.
- Certified ID copy.
- Share certificate or extract from the share register.
- If the MOI allocates control differently to the share %: a copy of the MOI.
Where to file
Filed at eservices.cipc.co.za using Form COR70 (Beneficial Ownership Declaration). Free of charge directly with CIPC. You file annually with your AR, and within 10 business days of any material change (new shareholder, % change crossing the 5% threshold, etc.).
Edge cases worth flagging
- Holding company chain. If your Pty is owned 100% by another Pty, owned 60/40 by two natural persons, both natural persons are beneficial owners (60% and 40%). You trace up.
- Voting rights override share %. If the MOI gives a 4% shareholder 51% of voting rights, they ARE a beneficial owner via "effective control" even though their share % is below 5%.
- Right to appoint directors. If a person has the right to appoint or remove a majority of directors, they're a beneficial owner regardless of share %.
- Trusts owning shares. The trust beneficiaries who exercise effective control are the BOs. The trustees themselves are usually not (unless they also exercise control).
- Pledged shares. Pledging doesn't change beneficial ownership unless the pledgee has acquired voting rights.
- Nominee shareholders. The underlying owner, not the nominee, is the BO. You must disclose this even though the share register shows the nominee.
Related
This wizard is general guidance, not legal advice. Complex shareholding structures (trusts, foreign holding companies, nominee chains) often need a tax practitioner or attorney to review. The penalty for getting it wrong is loss of AR-filing capacity and eventual deregistration.