A COIDA Letter of Good Standing is issued by the Compensation Fund after your Return of Earnings is submitted and your assessment is paid in full. If both are done, the Letter of Good Standing can be issued within 24–72 hoursin most cases. The problem is almost never the LOGS itself — it is one of four things blocking it.
The four things blocking your Letter of Good Standing
If you are trying to get a Letter of Good Standing for a tender and it is not coming through, one of these four blockers is almost certainly the reason.
Your ROE has not been submitted.The Compensation Fund cannot issue a Letter of Good Standing without a submitted Return of Earnings. No ROE means no assessment, and no assessment means no LOGS — full stop. If the 30 June window has passed, you can still submit a late ROE. A 10% penalty applies automatically, but the Letter of Good Standing is issued after payment regardless of whether the submission was on time or late. Every day you wait without submitting is a day further from the LOGS your tender requires. See our missed COIDA deadline guide if you are in this position.
Your assessment has not been paid.After you submit your ROE, the Compensation Fund issues a Notice of Assessment showing your annual contribution amount. The Letter of Good Standing is only issued once this amount is paid in full. You have 30 days from the notice date to pay before interest starts accruing — but the LOGS will not generate until payment clears, regardless of when it is made. Payment is by EFT only, using the banking details on your assessment notice. Card payments are not accepted by the Compensation Fund.
Your payment was made but the reference number was wrong. This is more common than most employers expect, and it is particularly frustrating because the money has left your account but nothing happens. The Compensation Fund cannot match an EFT to your account without the correct reference number on the deposit. The payment sits unallocated. Your account still shows as unpaid. The Letter of Good Standing does not generate. If you have paid but have not received your LOGS within 72 hours, contact the Compensation Fund at cfcallcentre@labour.gov.za or call 086 010 5350 and provide your proof of payment. The Fund can manually allocate the payment once the reference issue is identified.
Your account has a discrepancy or hold.If there is a mismatch between your registered business details and the Fund’s records — a change in business nature, outdated contact details, a director change not reflected, or an address that doesn’t match — the Fund may place your account on hold. LOGS generation is blocked until the discrepancy is resolved. Log in to cfonline.labour.gov.za and check your account details. If anything is outdated, update it and allow 1–2 business days for the change to process before requesting the LOGS again.
The fastest path to a Letter of Good Standing from scratch
If you have never registered with the Compensation Fund and need a Letter of Good Standing for a tender, here is the realistic timeline done correctly:
Registration: 1–3 business days from submitting your online application at cfonline.labour.gov.za to receiving your employer account approval and reference number.
ROE submission: same day once your account is active. The ROE itself takes under 30 minutes for most employers with straightforward payrolls.
Assessment payment: same day you receive your Notice of Assessment. The notice is typically issued within 24 hours of ROE submission. Pay immediately by EFT with your COIDA reference number on the deposit.
Letter of Good Standing issued: 1–3 business days after your payment is confirmed and allocated to your account.
Fastest realistic timeline from never-registered to Letter of Good Standing in hand: 3–7 business daysif each step is completed without delay and the Fund portal is not experiencing backlogs. During peak periods — particularly July and August after the 30 June ROE deadline — Fund processing can slow. Factoring in an additional 2–3 business days during these periods is prudent if your tender deadline allows it.
For a step-by-step walkthrough of the full registration process, see our COIDA registration and Letter of Good Standing guide.
What to do if your LOGS expired and you need it today
This is the most common scenario for contractors in a tender situation — the Letter of Good Standing expired, the tender portal flagged it, and the submission deadline is imminent.
Three immediate actions in order:
Log in to cfonline.labour.gov.za now.Check your account status. If your ROE for the current year is filed and your assessment is showing as paid, your account should be in good standing and a LOGS should be available to download. If it is not generating, there is a system delay or an allocation issue — call 086 010 5350 immediately with your reference number and ask them to investigate.
If your ROE is not submitted, submit it today. The 30 June deadline has passed. A 10% penalty applies. Submit anyway. A LOGS with a late penalty is better than no LOGS at all, and every day of further delay adds more interest to the outstanding balance. See our ROE deadline and late submission guide for the submission steps.
If your ROE is submitted but your assessment is unpaid, pay today. Locate your Notice of Assessment in the portal, confirm the correct COIDA reference number, and make the EFT immediately. Retain your proof of payment. If the LOGS has not generated within 72 hours of payment, contact the Fund with your proof of payment to chase allocation.
Can a tender portal verify your LOGS without a physical document?
Yes. Third parties — including tender portals and procurement teams — can verify a Letter of Good Standing using the certificate number at cfonline.labour.gov.za/VerifyLOGS/. If a tender portal requires verification rather than a physical PDF upload, this is the link to provide to the procurement team. The verification is real-time and draws directly from the Compensation Fund’s records.
The fastest path to a Letter of Good Standing is a correctly submitted ROE and a correctly referenced payment — everything else is fixable.