How to check a company’s CIPC status (and what the status words mean)

Company registration status is a factual question with one authoritative answer, and it is worth knowing how to get it - as a supplier checking a customer, as a customer checking a supplier, or as a director checking that the annual return you thought you filed actually landed.

Where to look

Two official channels, both free to search:

1. CIPC online services - a company search by name or registration number.
2. BizPortal - a government portal offering official company services on the same register.

Everything else - “free company check” sites, directories, apps - is a reproduction of CIPC data. Reproductions are often months out of date, which for exactly this question is the difference between a correct answer and a wrong one.

What the status words mean

Status	Meaning
Active / in business	Registered, and the CIPC’s records show it as in good standing - annual returns up to date
Annual return outstanding	The registry obligation is in arrears; penalties escalate with each year
Deregistered	Removed from the register; no longer a legal person
In business rescue	Under the statutory rescue process; a business rescue practitioner is in control
In liquidation	Being wound up; a liquidator is in control
Final deregistration / dissolution	The end of the process - the entity no longer exists

Two distinctions matter in practice. Deregistered is not the same as “dormant”: a dormant company is still registered and still owes annual returns. And business rescue is not liquidation - it is an attempt to save the business.

Why the annual return is the whole story

The status people most often see is driven by one obligation: the annual return filed within 30 business days of the incorporation anniversary. A company that has filed every year shows as active; a company that has skipped a few years shows a flag, and continued skipping leads to deregistration.

That is covered properly in the CIPC annual returns guide, and the fix is the same either way: file, pay the penalty, and put the anniversary date in a calendar.

What a status check does not tell you

A registry status is a narrow fact. It is not:

• Tax compliance. SARS holds that; the CIPC does not check it.
• B-BBEE status. That comes from a certificate or a sworn affidavit - see the B-BBEE guide.
• Creditworthiness. Whether a company pays its bills is a credit question, not a registry one.
• Identity. A status report confirms a registration; it does not confirm that the person emailing you is a director of that company. Verify the individual separately, particularly before a transaction or a payment.

For procurement, add one more check: the National Treasury’s register of tender defaulters, which is where a restriction from state contracting is recorded. A clean CIPC status does not clear a supplier from that register.

If you are checking your own position

Directors checking their own company should look at three things at once:

1. Registration status on the register.
2. Annual return and beneficial ownership position, including for previous years.
3. Directors and address as recorded - an old residential address on the register is a common and easily fixed problem.

An entity being registered does not make it a taxpayer, a VAT vendor or an employer. Those are separate registrations, and the VAT registration and employer registration guides cover the two that most new companies need next.

Last reviewed 13 October 2026. Company status and the meaning of each status flag are matters for the CIPC under the Companies Act 71 of 2008; confirm the position on the CIPC’s own register.