# Check your clients' CIPC annual returns through an API

> Read the AR compliance list, outstanding annual returns and enterprise details for the companies on your CIPC customer code, one API call each. A workflow can check every client each Monday and email you the ones near their AR non-compliance date.

Page: https://fous.com/automate/cipc-eservices
Updated: 2026-11-12

Works with your own CIPC eServices account. Fous is an independent product.

## What you can build on CIPC eServices

### Get AR compliance for my enterprises

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

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

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

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](/product/workflows) 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

Starts: Every weekday at 7:00, South African time

1. Get the AR compliance list for every enterprise on your customer code.
2. Keep the enterprises that are not AR compliant and mark the ones that were compliant on the last run.
3. Email you the list with enterprise number, name, status and type.

### Annual returns coming due, per client

Starts: Every Monday at 8:00, South African time

1. For each enterprise number on your client list, get its outstanding annual returns.
2. Keep the AR years whose AR non-compliance date falls in the next 30 days.
3. Email you one line per client: enterprise number, AR year, AR month and non-compliance date.

### Changes to your clients' directors and status

Starts: Every Friday at 16:00, South African time

1. For each enterprise number on your list, look up the enterprise in Enterprise Enquiry.
2. Keep the enterprises whose status, addresses or directors changed since the last run.
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](/product/methods), 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.

Example request:

```
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": {}
  }'
```

Example response:

```
{
  "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.

| Option | What it covers | What it takes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Companies API | Read-only search and retrieval of company data. | A subscription on developer.cipc.co.za and a subscription to the Authorisation API for OAuth 2.0 access. |
| Filing and Documents APIs | Changing company information, and company documents and disclosure certificates. | Marked Coming Soon on the developer portal. Filing is for clients authorised to change the company's information. |
| CIPC eServices by hand | File Annual Returns, Enterprise Enquiry, director amendments, Certificates & Disclosures, Transaction Status and Customer Transactions. | A CIPC customer code, and the fee for each filing, paid by Card, Customer Balance or EFT and Cash. |

Read on November 12, 2026: [CIPC developer portal](https://developer.cipc.co.za/), [Step-by-step guide: filing annual returns](https://www.cipc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Step-by-step-guide-on-how-to-file-AR_v4.0.pdf), [CIPC eServices](https://eservices.cipc.co.za/).

## 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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Other industries: [EUDR Information System](/automate/eudr-information-system), [Companies House WebFiling](/automate/companies-house-webfiling), [Texas811 Portal](/automate/texas811-portal), [Mercury Network](/automate/mercury-network), [FINRA Gateway](/automate/finra-gateway), [AASHTOWare Project Civil Rights & Labor](/automate/aashtoware-project-civil-rights-and-labor).

## Frequently asked questions

### Does CIPC eServices have an API?

Partly. CIPC's developer portal offers a read-only Companies API and a BO API over OAuth 2.0, with Filing and Documents APIs marked Coming Soon. The portal does not state eligibility or price. Filing annual returns and amendments is done in eServices with a customer code.

### How do I see which of my companies are not AR compliant?

Sign in to eServices: the home page lists every enterprise on your customer code in the Annual Return (AR) Compliance table, with its status, type and an AR Compliant column. With Fous, you can build a workflow that reads that table each weekday morning and emails you the ones that are not compliant.

### How do I work out what a company owes in annual returns?

Use the Annual Return Calculator under File Annual Returns. Enter the enterprise number, then the turnover for each outstanding AR year, and it shows the AR Amount, Penalty Fee and Total Due. The Continue button is inactive on the calculator, so nothing is filed.

### Why can't I continue with an annual return filing?

Usually because the Beneficial Ownership Declaration or the AFS or FAS is not up to date for that AR year. eServices shows the option to continue only when both are filed. A validation message also appears when the entity's status does not allow annual returns.

### Is Fous affiliated with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission?

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own CIPC customer code, and a method reads and does only what that customer code can.

Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of CIPC eServices (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.