Company name and registration number on South African invoices

If you trade through a company, your invoices have to say so. The VAT Act asks for your name, address and VAT number, but the Companies Act 71 of 2008 adds its own rule: every company must show its full name and its registration number. Many templates leave the number out, and some shorten the name.

This guide covers what section 32 of the Companies Act requires, the name endings for each type of company, how the registration number is built, and how sole proprietors show a trading name. The free invoice generator prints "Reg. No." next to your company's name.

What the Companies Act requires

Section 32(4) says every company must show its name and registration number "in legible characters" in all its notices and official publications, including electronic ones. That expressly covers all its:

• letters;
• delivery notes;
• invoices;
• receipts;
• letters of credit.

So the rule applies to the PDF you email as much as to a printed invoice. It makes sense to show the same details on your quotes, statements and credit notes too. Breaking it is an offence under section 32(5).

The 2008 Act doesn't require your directors' names on invoices. The old 1973 Act did, so you may still see them on older templates. You can leave them off.

Use the full name, with the right ending

Your company's name must end with the words that show what kind of company it is. Section 11(3) of the Act sets them out:

Write the name exactly as it's registered. "Mokoena Design" and "Mokoena Design (Pty) Ltd" are different things to a client's accounts team, and only one of them is your company.

Ring-fenced companies: "(RF)"

If your company's Memorandum of Incorporation has ring-fencing provisions, the name must include "(RF)" straight after the name, before the ending: for example, "Mokoena Holdings (RF) (Pty) Ltd".

Companies without a name

A company registered without a reserved name uses its registration number followed by "(South Africa)" as its name, such as "2021/123456/07 (South Africa)". Print that as the name on your invoices.

The registration number

A South African company registration number has the format YYYY/NNNNNN/NN:

• YYYY: the year the company was registered;
• NNNNNN: a six-digit number;
• NN: two digits for the type of entity. Private companies commonly end in /07, for example.

So 2021/123456/07 would be a private company registered in 2021. Close corporations often show their number with "CK" in front, such as CK 1995/012345/23. The number has no check digit, so copy it carefully from your registration documents.

Invoice Native checks the format as you type, and prints it next to your name as "Reg. No. 2021/123456/07" when your business type is "Company or close corporation".

How it fits with your VAT number

The registration number and the VAT number are different and both may be needed:

A company below the R2.3 million VAT threshold that isn't registered for VAT still shows its name and registration number. It just leaves the VAT number out. See your VAT number on invoices and invoicing when you're not registered for VAT.

Your address can be physical, postal or both; SARS's Binding General Ruling 21 accepts any of them on a tax invoice.

Sole proprietors and trading names

A sole proprietor isn't registered with CIPC, so there's no registration number to show. The business is you, and your invoices show your own name.

If you trade under another name, show both, using "t/a" (trading as). SARS's own guide uses this style, with an example of a business shown as "RM Vehicles t/a NZ Motors". So:

Thandi Mokoena t/a Mokoena Design

Don't add "(Pty) Ltd" or "CC" to a trading name unless you actually have that company. Invoice Native prints your name and trading name with "t/a" between them.

An example header

A private company registered for VAT could show:

Mokoena Design (Pty) Ltd

Reg. No. 2021/123456/07 · VAT No. 4321123459

12 Long Street, Cape Town, 8001

Under that come the title "Tax Invoice", the number, the date and your client's details. For the full list, see what a tax invoice must show.

Checklist

• ✅ Your company's full registered name, with the right ending
• ✅ "(RF)" if your company is ring-fenced
• ✅ Your registration number in the YYYY/NNNNNN/NN format, in legible characters
• ✅ The same details on PDFs, receipts, delivery notes and letters
• ✅ Your VAT number too, if you're registered for VAT
• ✅ Sole proprietors: your own name, with "t/a" for a trading name

This isn't legal advice. Check the Companies Act or ask an accountant or attorney about your own company.