The Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC ) through its online platform has now made CAC registration of company easier.
GoldenNewsNg gathered that You can now get your company or business name registration online with CAC. This can be done with little or no help from anyone, except, for Section E in the Registration Form CAC 1.1, that requires the signature of a Legal Practitioner and attestation by a Notary Public or Commissioner for Oaths.
Read on to see how to do your company registration at CAC official website/portal.
Steps on how to register a Company in CAC portal
Before incorporation, it is important to check whether the name you have in mind has been registered by another individual. How to check if a company is registered in Nigeria can be done through the CAC’s public search website before making any reservation.
CAC name search helps you determine if a company brand name you have in mind is available for Incorporation.
Company registration online with CAC through its online platform involves several steps that must be adhered to strictly in getting the desired results. The steps for company registration in Nigeria include:
Step 1. Reservation of Name
Before you can incorporation any company online with CAC you have to fill for a name reservation online. Doing this helps to reserve the proposed company name for 60days by CAC until it is open for use by another person.
Basically, all you have to do in this stage is:
- Visit CAC Registration portal>> https://www.cac.gov.ng
- Create a sign up with the CAC for first-time users or to log in for existing users.
- Click on Name Reservation — then New Name Reservation;
- Fill the necessary column and pay the necessary fee.
- Lastly, wait for 24hrs for a response from the CAC officials and make ensure you print out the “Approval note” if your application was successful.
Step 2. Pre-Incorporation
The success of this stage determines if your company will be incorporated. Basically, all you have to do is follow this steps below;
- Fill all necessary columns in the Registration Form CAC 1.1 rightly and submit same online, You have to rightfully fill the following information:
- Particulars of the Company (Nature of Principal business the company will be engaged in, The Registered Office Address of the Company, and Email address of the Company).
- Particulars of the 1st Directors (minimum of 2 persons above 18years ) :
- (Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Phone Number, Email Address, Forms of Identification-(National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence or International Passport), Percentage of shares to be held: if the director is also a shareholder).
- Particulars of Shareholders (minimum of 2 persons) :
- (Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Phone Number, Email Address, Forms of Identification-(National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence or International Passport), Percentage of shares to be held).
- Particulars of the Company Secretary (He/she could be an individual or a corporate body)
- (Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Phone Number, Email Address, Forms of Identification-(National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence or International Passport ).
- Statutory Declaration of compliance with the requirements of CAMA by a Legal Practitioner. (To be signed by a Legal Practitioner, and attested to by a Notary Public or Commissioner for Oaths)
- Particulars of alien participants, if any.
- (Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Phone Number, Email Address, Nationality, Forms of Identification-(National Identity card, Permanent Voters card, Driver’s Licence or International Passport).
- Particulars of the Articles and Memorandum of Association. It is important to note that there is a template for already drafted Article of Association from CAC portal, which can be adopted by any person registering a company. However, any new company that intends to include additional information pertaining to the company’s governance or pre-incorporation agreements among shareholders and directors through its article can seek service of professional such as a legal practitioner to draft different articles solely for the company.
- After the successful filling of the form, an applicant is to proceed to payment to effect payment for the necessary fee. The specific payment to be paid to for incorporation include:
- CAC Registration Fees
- Stamp Duty to the Federal Inland Revenue Service Fees (FIRS).
- Subsequently, an applicant is expected to print the completed and electronically stamped Form CAC 1.1 and the Memorandum and Article of Association online, sign in the necessary columns, notarize the attestations page and then proceed to upload the scanned copy of the signed and dated documents.
Step 3. Uploading all the Incorporation document
You are also expected as an applicant to login to the CAC portal to upload all the incorporation documents. Below are the documents to be scanned and uploaded on the CAC portal:
- Availability Printout, (this is the same as the Approval Note).
- Registration Form CAC 1.1
- Identification of Directors and Shareholders
- Payment Receipt of CAC
- Stamp Duty Certificate (This is to be printed, once the stamp duty fee is paid).
- Memorandum and Article of Association
- Certificate of Incorporation of the Company Secretary (required only where the Secretary is a corporate body).
Ensure all the above documents must be in PDF format.
The CAC will register the company and issue incorporation of your company to you in less than 48 hours. Then the applicant will visit the commission with all their original documents to pick up the certificate.
Provided all the required documents are made readily available, applicants of CAC can get their company approved in just three days of submitting application.
Also, some parts of incorporation still require external support, especially from a legal practitioner. For example, Section E of the form requires a legal practitioner to attest to all incorporation by completing the form.
Similarly, service of a corporate lawyer may be required for the drafting of articles of association different from general articles’ template provided by the CAC.
In summary, here are all of CAC registration requirement for registering a company:
- The proposed name of the business
- The proposed objectives of the business
- Business memorandum and articles of association
- Statement of the authorized share capital
- Form CAC 1, reservation and availability of name
- Names and addresses of the parties (Directors) incorporating the company
- Two recent passport photographs of each Director, including valid means of identification
- Statutory declaration of compliance by a legal practitioner
- The name and address of the company secretary
- The address of the business principal office
- Fillings with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for tax purposes
- All other documents or fees that may be required by the commission to satisfy any law or condition
