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COMPANY RENEWAL FEES COULD BE SCRAPPED

05/02/2019 01:00:00 BY KWANELE DHLADHLA

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MBABANE – The days of paying an annual company renewal fee at the Registrar of Companies could soon come to an end.
This will happen should the proposal aimed at reducing a financial burden to businesses compelled to pay an annual fee see the light of day.

The Business Desk has learnt that following the imminent deregistration of over 500 companies, there has been a strong consideration to scrap the annual renewal fees.

Depending on the shares or nominal capital, the minimum amount of money that should be paid by companies as renewal fees starts from E470 up to E1 670 according to the Companies Act No.8 of 2009. All companies should submit their annual returns and also pay company renewal fees which make them eligible to be issued with a trading licence.

“Government continues to prioritise ensuring that it puts in place developments that make it more conducive. There are considerations to have a once-off registration fee but that is being deliberated upon at this stage,” said Registrar of Companies Msebe Malinga during an interview conducted at Happy Valley on Thursday.

Malinga’s disclosure to the effect that the annual fee could be scrapped was prompted by an update request following the advertisement where the department categorically stated that its companies comply or face deregistration and be struck off from the register of companies in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Known

A total of 1 012 companies, whose names are known to the Business Desk but will not be published for ethical reasons, faced not only deregistration but were at risk of being dissolved as well.

These entities, which were among the 52 000 locally registered companies at the time, stood to face the chop for continuous failure to comply with Section 62 (2) 151 of the Companies Act No.8 of 2009, by not submitting their annual returns to the Registrar of Companies.