The only way to stop SARS’ monthly penalties for non-submission of your dormant company’s tax returns is to do the returns or de-register the company at CIPC then at SARS.

The first step is de-registration at CIPC and there are two cost options –

1) Simply stop submitting Annual CIPC returns and wait for CIPC to de-register the company. This can take between two and five years, but there’s no cost. Of course, if you don’t do the Annual Tax Returns the monthly penalties will pile up dramatically.

2) We can apply to CIPC to de-register the company. If the compny has never traded, the cost, including outstanding tax returns, is currently R2 500, but you’ll have to pay any SARS penalties that have accumulated as we need a Tax Clearance to complete the job.

3) If the company traded at some time and those tax returns have not been submitted. Now the fee jumps to R10 500 and that includes a reasonable amount of outstanding bookkeeping and tax returns.

4) Once the company is de-registered at CIPC you need to make it dormant at SARS. The cost is currently R3 500

5) And finally, you may have to de-register it as an employer, R4 500 and as a VAT vendor R8 220

Unfortunately, with SARS aggressive application of penalties, it’s probably best to bite the bullet and go through the de-regstration process.