Check your clients' CIPC annual returns through an API

What you can build on CIPC eServices

• Get AR compliance for my enterprises

  Build this

  Reads the Annual Return (AR) Compliance table on the eServices home page: every enterprise linked to your customer code and whether it is AR compliant.

  Takes

  Nothing

  Returns

  Customer balance, and per enterprise: enterprise number, enterprise name, status, type, AR compliant

• Get outstanding annual returns

  Build this

  Reads Paid and Outstanding Annual Returns for one enterprise number, and the AR Amount, Penalty Fee and Total Due from the Annual Return Calculator for your turnover.

  Takes

  Enterprise number, turnover (optional)

  Returns

  Paid AR years with amount paid, tracking number and date filed; outstanding AR years with AR month, non-compliance date, AR amount, penalty fee, total due

• Look up an enterprise

  Build this

  Runs Enterprise Enquiry for one enterprise number and reads Enterprise Details, the addresses and the Registered Directors / Members table.

  Takes

  Enterprise number

  Returns

  Enterprise name, type, status, registration date, physical address, postal address, directors or members with name, masked ID number, type and status

• File an annual return and pay from balance

  Build this

  Files the outstanding annual returns for one enterprise through File Annual Returns, adds them to the cart and pays with Customer Balance.

  Takes

  Enterprise number, turnover per AR year

  Returns

  Reference number, enterprise number, AR years, AR amount, penalty fee, total

Automate CIPC eServices with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• Enterprises that are not AR compliant, every weekday

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 7:00, South African time

  Step 1

  Get the AR compliance list for every enterprise on your customer code.

  Step 2

  Keep the enterprises that are not AR compliant and mark the ones that were compliant on the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the list with enterprise number, name, status and type.

• Annual returns coming due, per client

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Monday at 8:00, South African time

  Step 1

  For each enterprise number on your client list, get its outstanding annual returns.

  Step 2

  Keep the AR years whose AR non-compliance date falls in the next 30 days.

  Step 3

  Email you one line per client: enterprise number, AR year, AR month and non-compliance date.

• Changes to your clients' directors and status

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Friday at 16:00, South African time

  Step 1

  For each enterprise number on your list, look up the enterprise in Enterprise Enquiry.

  Step 2

  Keep the enterprises whose status, addresses or directors changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Post each change to your practice management system's webhook.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get AR compliance for my enterprises” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "eservices.cipc.co.za/get_ar_compliance",
    "input": {}
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "customer_balance": 1250,
    "enterprises": [
      {
        "enterprise_number": "2019/412087/07",
        "enterprise_name": "Acme Logistics (Pty) Ltd",
        "status": "In Business",
        "type": "Private Company",
        "ar_compliant": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

CIPC eServices’s own options

CIPC runs a developer portal whose APIs all use OAuth 2.0. The Companies API gives read-only search and retrieval of company data, and a BO API searches beneficial ownership. Filing, Documents and other APIs are marked Coming Soon. The portal does not state who qualifies or what it costs. Annual returns, director changes and certificates are done in eServices by hand.

Read on November 12, 2026: CIPC developer portal, Step-by-step guide: filing annual returns, CIPC eServices.

Signing in to CIPC eServices

CIPC eServices signs you in with your customer code and a case-sensitive password. The same password is used for eServices, New eServices and BizPortal, and one customer code can file for many enterprises. With Fous you sign in once through the eServices sign-in with your own customer code. The login is sealed with AES-256, and Fous signs back in when a session expires.

Worth knowing

BO and financials come before the annual return

Continue appears only when the Beneficial Ownership Declaration and the AFS or Financial Accountability Supplement are up to date for that AR year. The BO Declaration and the annual return must be filed in the same calendar year.

Turnover is a whole number, checked against AFS

Turnover on the calculator takes no decimals. If the company filed AFS, CIPC validates the turnover against the revenue in that filing and shows a message when they do not match.

An annual return cannot change the record

Only contact details can be updated in an annual return. Any other change to the company's record needs its own amendment filing.

Certificates go to the customer code's email

The Annual Return filing certificate is emailed to the address on the customer code profile. Re-Print AR Certificates regenerates it, and one cart can hold annual returns for several enterprises with one payment.

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