A Letter of Good Standing that lapsed last week is the reason most South African SMEs walk away from a tender they had already won on price. There is no automatic renewal, and the Compensation Fund will not shortcut the process because you have a deadline on Friday.
This guide is for employers whose Letter of Good Standing(LOGS) has expired, has been refused, or has been delayed — and who need to get it back quickly. It is also a practical roadmap if you have several years of missed Returns of Earnings and do not know where to start.
If you have not yet registered with the Compensation Fund, read the COIDA registration and Letter of Good Standing guide first — this article assumes you are already registered.
Why your Letter of Good Standing lapses automatically
A LOGS is valid for twelve months from issue, or until your next Return of Earnings falls due — whichever comes first. It will lapse the moment any of the following happens:
- You miss the 30 June ROE submission deadline (online via roe.labour.gov.za; 31 March for legacy paper submissions)
- You fail to pay the assessed amount by the due date on the Notice of Assessment
- You do not respond to a request from the Fund for additional information
- A penalty from a previous year remains unpaid or undisputed
There is no warning email. The letter simply stops being accepted as valid proof of compliance — often noticed for the first time when a procurement officer rejects a tender submission, or when a Department of Employment and Labour inspection lands. One nationwide inspection in September 2024 imposed fines totalling more than R10 million across non-compliant employers in a single operation — mostly for UIF and COIDA gaps that had gone unaddressed.
The recovery sequence — what you must do
An expired letter cannot be re-issued on its own. You must complete the full cycle for the current assessment year. This is the sequence the Compensation Fund actually follows.
Step 1 — Submit every outstanding Return of Earnings
Log into the Compensation Fund ROE Online portal via labour.gov.za → ROE Online and file the outstanding ROE for the current assessment year (1 March to end of February). If you have multiple missed years, file the oldest first and work forward — each year's assessment affects the next.
Step 2 — Pay the assessment in full using the correct reference
The Fund will issue a Notice of Assessment after each ROE is processed. Pay the full amount via EFT using your Compensation Fund reference number— not your company registration number, not your PAYE reference, not a description. The wrong reference is the single most common reason payments do not reach your account.
Step 3 — Wait for the payment to reflect
Compensation Fund payments typically take five to ten business daysto reflect on the system. Do not request the letter before the payment reflects — it will simply be refused and you will have to wait anyway.
Step 4 — Request the Letter of Good Standing
Once your account is fully paid and the status reflects as In Good Standing, download the letter from the online portal. There is no separate fee. The letter is issued electronically with a new twelve-month validity window.
If you have a tender closing this week
The honest answer is that the Fund's system cannot be overridden. But there are practical steps that buy you time with the procuring entity:
- Submit the ROE and pay the same day.The 5–10 day payment reflection window starts from the day payment clears, not the day you initiated it.
- Email proof of payment to the Fund. Attach the payment confirmation, your ROE receipt, and your Compensation Fund reference number. Ask them to match the payment manually and expedite the letter.
- Call the Fund's hotline on 0860 105 350 to confirm your case is being processed. Capture the reference number the call-centre agent gives you — some procuring entities will accept this as interim evidence.
- Submit a sworn affidavit to the procuring entity.In it, confirm that your ROE has been filed and paid, attach the proof, and request a short extension. This is accepted by some departments and rejected by others — it is at their discretion.
None of this is guaranteed. The only way to avoid this scramble on the next tender is to file the ROE in early March, not 31 March — before the window closes.
Common reasons a Letter of Good Standing is refused or delayed
Even after you pay, the letter can still be refused. These are the causes we see most often, in order of frequency.
Payment not yet reflected
Five to ten business days is normal. If you are within that window, wait. If you are past it and the payment still has not reflected, it is almost always a reference-number problem (below).
Wrong reference number on the EFT
If you paid COIDA but used your company registration number, PAYE reference, or a description instead of your Compensation Fund reference, the payment lands in the Fund's unallocated account and does not credit your record. Email proof of payment and your correct Compensation Fund reference and ask for manual allocation.
Incorrect ROE data
If the Return of Earnings contains errors — inflated staff numbers, wrong occupation classifications, or a figure the Fund believes is implausibly low — the assessment gets queried and the letter is withheld pending correction. Double-check the ROE against your actual payroll before submitting.
Outstanding penalty from a prior year
Late-submission penalties from previous years do not clear on their own. If you missed the ROE deadline two years ago, a 10% penalty was added to that year's assessment. Until that penalty is paid or formally disputed, no new letter will issue — even if the current year is fully paid.
Outdated contact details
The Fund sends assessment notices and penalty notices to the address and email on record. If you moved premises or changed the business email and did not update the Fund, you may have missed notices you were not aware of — leaving amounts unpaid and penalties accumulating silently. Update your details on the online portal first, then request a full account statement.
Handling a multi-year Return of Earnings backlog
If you have three, five, or even ten years of outstanding ROEs, the recovery is still possible — but it must be done in sequence, because each year's assessment depends on the prior year's record.
- Request a full account statement from the Compensation Fund showing all outstanding ROEs, assessments, and penalties. Email the Fund with your reference number and ask for a statement of account.
- File the oldest missing year first. Penalties and interest compound year on year, so delaying only increases the total owing.
- Pay each year's assessment before moving to the next. This avoids the Fund allocating a lump-sum payment across years in a way you did not intend.
- Dispute penalties where you have grounds.If a year's late-submission penalty was raised despite you having filed on time, submit a formal dispute with proof. The Fund does reverse penalties when the evidence is clear.
- Appoint a practitioner if the backlog is large. For three or more outstanding years, a COIDA practitioner will usually save more in reversed penalties and interest than their fee.
Keeping your Letter of Good Standing valid going forward
Once you have the letter back, the way to keep it is simple and unforgiving: submit the ROE in early March every year, pay the assessment within 30 days of the notice, and update your contact details immediately if anything changes. That is the entire protocol.
ClearComply tracks your COIDA ROE deadline alongside CIPC annual returns, SARS filings, UIF contributions, and the other obligations that compound the same way. If one slips, they all start affecting each other.
Don't let a lapsed letter cost you the next tender
Most employers only discover their Letter of Good Standing lapsed when a procurement officer tells them. ClearComply shows you every compliance deadline — COIDA, CIPC, SARS, UIF, B-BBEE — in one place, with reminders before anything lapses.
Frequently asked questions
My Letter of Good Standing expired last month and I have a tender closing this week. What can I do?
Submit the outstanding Return of Earnings today, make payment immediately with your exact Compensation Fund reference number on the EFT, and email proof of payment together with your ROE confirmation to the Fund requesting expedited processing. Some procuring entities will accept a sworn affidavit plus payment proof as a temporary placeholder — but that is at their discretion, not guaranteed.
Can an expired Letter of Good Standing just be renewed or extended?
No. The Compensation Fund does not renew a lapsed letter. Once it expires, you must complete the full cycle for the current assessment year — submit the ROE, receive the assessment notice, pay the assessed amount, wait for payment to reflect, and request a new letter.
I paid days ago but my letter is still refused. Why?
Compensation Fund payments typically take five to ten business days to reflect. If you used the wrong reference number on the EFT, the payment may not be allocated to your account at all — that is the single most common cause. Pull your proof of payment and your assessment notice and email both to the Fund to ask them to match the payment manually.
I have multiple years of outstanding Returns of Earnings. Where do I start?
Start with the oldest year and work forward — penalties and interest compound, so delaying only grows the total owing. For backlogs of three or more years, appointing a COIDA practitioner usually recovers their fee in reversed penalties on the first tender the letter unlocks.
My Letter of Good Standing was refused but I have been paying. What do I do?
Outstanding penalty amounts from a prior year are a common cause. The current year can be fully paid, but an uncleared late-submission penalty from two years ago will still block the letter. Request a full account statement from the Fund, identify the outstanding line item, pay or formally dispute it, then request the letter again.
Do I have to be CIPC compliant to get a Letter of Good Standing?
A company that CIPC has deregistered technically ceases to exist as a legal entity, and the Compensation Fund will not issue a Letter of Good Standing to a deregistered company. If your CIPC status is in Final Deregistration or you have outstanding annual returns, resolve those first.