Checking the documents a South African buyer sends you

A buyer sends a registration certificate, a B-BBEE (Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment) certificate, a tax compliance status from SARS, a payment confirmation, an NRCS Letter of Authority — documents that look official and are easy to take at face value. Each one was either issued by a body you can write to, or by nobody at all, and that difference decides what checking it is worth. Below: the issuer of each document, the check you can run yourself, and the sign that the document in front of you is false.

Which of these documents can I check with the issuer?

Every document below has an issuer you can go back to — the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), the agency that signed the B-BBEE certificate, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) — except two. A sworn affidavit is the company's own statement, sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths — the official South Africa authorises to administer an oath — so there is nobody to ask but the company itself. A "proof of payment" has no issuer at all: only your own bank can confirm the money arrived.

Document	Who issues it	How to verify it with the issuer	Sign it may be fake
Company registration certificate (CIPC disclosure certificate)	CIPC	Order the disclosure yourself from CIPC — a free shortened one, or the full one for R30 — which CIPC says gives assurance "that the certificates presented are authentic as well as confirming and verifying information of entities against the CIPC records" (CIPC). You need a CIPC customer code first — see below	The registered name, registration number, directors or status on the buyer's document do not match the disclosure you ordered yourself
B-BBEE verification certificate (Qualifying Small Enterprises, or QSEs, with less than 51% black ownership, and large enterprises)	A verification agency accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) — required for these entities per the B-BBEE Commission, and an option a 51%- or 100%-black-owned QSE may also choose (Practice Guide 01 of 2022 §16)	Ask the agency named on the certificate to confirm it issued that certificate — Practice Guide 01 of 2022 §27 says the recipient of a certificate may request that confirmation — and reach it through the contact details on its own website, never the ones printed on the certificate; check the same agency under "Verification Agency (B-BBEE)" in the SANAS Database of CABs to confirm its accreditation is current	No SANAS accreditation symbol, no agency name or logo, or no issue-and-expiry period on the face of the certificate — all three are required by the same practice guide §26
B-BBEE sworn affidavit (Exempted Micro Enterprises, or EMEs, and QSEs that are at least 51% black-owned)	The company swears the affidavit itself, before a Commissioner of Oaths (Practice Guide 01 of 2022 §9 and §17)	There is no issuer to ask — check the dates and the signatures yourself, against the signs in the next column	Same practice guide §17: the person who swore it (the deponent) and the Commissioner of Oaths signed on different dates, or the Commissioner is an employee of the company — a person cannot commission an affidavit in which they have an interest (§17(j)). An affidavit commissioned more than 12 months ago is out of date, not forged (§17(k) gives it 12 months' validity) — ask for a current one
B-BBEE certificate issued by CIPC (EMEs and start-up enterprises)	CIPC, which the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) mandated to issue B-BBEE certificates for EMEs and start-up enterprises (Practice Guide 01 of 2022 §18), at no cost to EMEs — companies with an annual turnover of R10 million or less (CIPC, B-BBEE certification)	Email it to the B-BBEE Commission, for the attention of Mr Madidimalo Ramare at MRamare@beecommission.gov.za, which confirms whether it was generated by the CIPC system (same practice guide §21)	Same practice guide §21: no certificate number, no barcodes, no dtic logo top-left and CIPC logo top-right, no CIPC watermark, or issue and expiry dates that do not add up to twelve months
Tax Compliance Status (verified by a SARS PIN)	SARS	Ask the buyer for its tax reference number and PIN, then run the check yourself in SARS's TCS Verify tool — SARS names it and eFiling as the two channels for PIN verification, but says of eFiling that "you must be authorised to use eFiling" and must activate the verification service first, so TCS Verify is the route open to a foreign supplier	The PIN returns a different taxpayer than the company on your contract — that document was not issued for this buyer. A PIN result reflects the status only at the date and time it is used, so a compliant-looking document dated months ago proves nothing either way: a non-compliant result today may just mean the status has lapsed since the document was issued, which is a reason to stop and ask rather than proof of forgery. A "tax clearance certificate" is not a substitute for the PIN check and not proof of anything by itself: SARS "does not issue Tax Clearance Certificates anymore", and the printed version is one the taxpayer produces itself (National Treasury Instruction 9 of 2017/2018 §3.2). Ask for the tax reference number and PIN instead
"Proof of payment" (a screenshot or PDF of a transfer)	Not issued by any authority — it's a copy of a message	Wait for the money to clear in your own account, confirmed by your own bank, before you ship	There is no sign to look for: a payment confirmation is a copy of a message, not a record from your own bank, so it cannot tell you whether the money arrived — genuine or forged. SABRIC describes the method as a criminal who "orders goods or services from a business and tricks the victim into thinking the money has been paid into their account by providing proof of payment"
NRCS Letter of Authority, or LOA (regulated products)	NRCS	Ask NRCS in writing to confirm the LOA number, who holds it and which products it covers — its contact page publishes info@nrcs.org.za and +27 12 482 8700 for the head office, and lists electro-technical contacts at the border posts. The page NRCS titles "Search Approved Letter of Authority" carried no working search form when we checked it on 3 November 2026, so a written enquiry is the only route open to you	NRCS replies that the number is not on its records, or the LOA it confirms names a different company or different products than the goods in your deal. No reply is not an answer either way: with no lookup you can run yourself, an unanswered enquiry leaves the check open rather than proving the document false

What do I need before I can order a CIPC disclosure?

Both disclosures are eServices transactions, and eServices says "To transact on this system you must have a valid CIPC customer code" (CIPC eServices). A supplier with no South African ID registers for one with a passport number (CIPC, customer registration), so open the code before you need the document, not on the day the deal closes.

Why wait for your own bank, not a screenshot?

SABRIC, the shared risk-information body South Africa's banks run together, says it in one line: "a Bank customer should wait for all payments to first be cleared before releasing the goods and proving the service" (SABRIC). It gives the same advice about refunds: no refund should be made without first verifying with the bank that the deposit into your account is valid. A screenshot, a forwarded confirmation email or a PDF receipt is just a copy of something someone sent you — it costs nothing to fake and proves nothing on its own. The only confirmation that counts is your own account, checked through your own bank.

B2B.Africa never asks you to pay a buyer, a tender committee or an agent.

See checking a South African company for the registry side, and a real company name, a fake buyer if the documents check out but the person sending them may not be part of the company. For the full map, see Trade scams aimed at exporters to Africa.

This is general information, not legal advice.