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Compliance

Find the licences and permits your business may need

A plain list of the municipal, industry and sector permits a business like yours commonly needs, and who issues each one. Worklog works nothing out and tracks nothing here: it is the list nobody hands you.

What Licences & Permits is for

Most new businesses don't miss a permit because it was hard to get. They miss it because nobody told them it existed. Licences & Permits lists the permits a business like yours commonly needs, what each one is for, and who issues it, so you know what to go and ask about.

You will find it under Compliance, as Licences & Permits. It is on every plan. It works nothing out, keeps no record and sends no reminders: it is a list to read, not something to fill in.

Read the list

  1. Open Licences & Permits from the Compliance section.
  2. The first card, Applies to every business, shows the Municipal business / trading licence, which most municipalities ask for before you trade from premises or on the street.
  3. The next card shows the permits for your kind of business, headed with your business type, for example "Because you're a food business".
  4. Tap any permit to open it: what it is for, who issues it, and, where there is one, a ↗ button to that authority's website. Tap it again to close it.
  5. Permits for other industries are listed greyed out under Other industries, in case one of them applies to you as well.

What's on the list

  • Municipal business / trading licence: every business, from your local municipality.
  • Certificate of Acceptability (R638): anyone handling food for sale, including a home kitchen, from your municipality's Environmental Health department. Shown to food and retail businesses.
  • Liquor licence: anyone selling alcohol, from the provincial Liquor Authority. It takes months and needs zoning approval first. Shown to food and retail businesses.
  • CIDB registration and NHBRC enrolment: for trade and construction, to tender for public construction work and to build homes.
  • PSIRA registration: every security service provider, and every security officer they employ.
  • Professional body registration: for professions such as accountants (SAICA, SAIPA), attorneys (Legal Practice Council), health practitioners (HPCSA) and architects (SACAP).
  • Sector levies: the Tourism Levy (TOMSA) for accommodation and some tourism businesses, and your SETA, where an employer paying SDL may claim back part of it against approved training.

Change which industry it shows

The list starts on the business type set in Business details. Tap a different industry at the top (Service business, Retail business, Food business, Trade & construction, or Professional & personal services) to see its permits instead, or tap Show every industry to see them all. This only changes what you are looking at; to change your business type for good, use the Business Details link at the bottom of the screen.

💡If no business type is set yet, the screen starts on Show every industry.

Good to know

⚠️The list never says you must have a permit. What applies depends on your municipality, your province, your premises and your turnover, and differs from one business to the next. Treat it as a prompt to go and ask: your municipality's licensing office is the place to start, and your accountant will know the sector ones.

Keep a copy of the list

  • At the bottom, 📄 PDF and 📊 CSV / Excel give you the list for your kind of business, with who issues each licence and what it is. On a phone, each opens your phone's share menu with the file attached, so you can send it on WhatsApp or email, or save it; on a computer it downloads.
Related guides
Stay on top of SARS and labour rules with the Compliance Dashboard →Set up your business →
Still stuck? Open the in-app help assistant, or email us at hello@worklogsolutions.co.za.
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