COIDA · Compensation Fund
Enter your Compensation Fund certificate number and see whether your letter is still valid, when it expires, and what to do if it is not. Free, and you do not need an account.
Check
We read the Compensation Fund record for your certificate number. Nothing is filed and nothing is submitted — this only tells you what the Fund currently shows.
Your result
Enter your certificate number and we will show whether the Fund currently holds a valid letter against it, when it was issued, and when it expires.
This is a read of the Compensation Fund record at the moment you ask. It is not a letter, and it is not a substitute for one.
Plain answer
A Letter of Good Standing, a COIDA certificate and a good standing certificate are the same thing: written proof from the Compensation Fund that you are registered as an employer and that your assessments are paid up. It is valid for one year. Most tenders, most main contractors and most municipalities will not let you on site without a current one.
The Fund issues it. We are not the Fund, and nobody can issue one on its behalf. What a practitioner can do is get your paperwork into the state the Fund needs before asking.
What it costs
If you are registered, your Return of Earnings is submitted and your assessment is paid, the Compensation Fund issues your letter at no charge. If any of that is not true, the letter is withheld until it is — and that is the work.
What the practitioner needs
Your Compensation Fund registration number
The number the Fund gave you when you registered as an employer. It is on any previous letter or assessment notice.
Your payroll, as a PDF
Earnings for every employee for the assessment year — the same figures the Return of Earnings is built from.
A signed employer confirmation, as a PDF
A short signed statement confirming the employer details and that the payroll figures are correct.
Letter of Good Standing
R1 500
One price whether or not your paperwork is ready. If you are missing any of the three, the practitioner compiles it first — at no extra cost. We ask which you have just before you pay.
The price includes the practitioner’s fee and ours, and nothing is added later. Not registered with the Compensation Fund at all? That is a different job — registration and letter together is R2 750.
Why yours may be refused
Return of Earnings not submitted
No ROE for the assessment year means no letter, however much you have paid. This is the most common single cause.
Assessment unpaid
An outstanding balance blocks the letter. Where the balance is disputed or simply unaffordable, an instalment arrangement can restore standing.
Payments not allocated
Money paid but posted to the wrong account or year still reads as arrears. The fix is an allocation, not another payment.
Wrong nature of business
An outdated classification puts you on the wrong tariff, which can inflate the assessment that is now blocking your letter.
An open audit
While the Fund has a query open on your account, standing is withheld until it is closed out.
Details out of date
A changed address, contact or company name can leave the Fund unable to match you to your own record.
Each of these is a separate job with its own price. Tell us which one you are stuck on and you will get the figure for that job, not a quote for everything.
Doing it yourself
1
Get access, in the right order
Two systems, and people routinely confuse them. Register for Departmental Access at cfonline.labour.gov.za first, then work in CompEasy at compeasy.labour.gov.za.
2
Submit the Return of Earnings
Actual earnings for the year just ended and an estimate for the year ahead. The assessment is raised from this.
3
Pay the assessment, then request the letter
The letter issues once the return is filed and the assessment is paid — or formally under an arrangement. If it still will not issue, something in the list above is open.
Most people who pay for help are not paying for the request — they are paying because step two or three will not clear, and they have a tender deadline.
Questions
How long is a Letter of Good Standing valid?
One year from issue. Many tenders additionally want one issued within the last three or six months, so check the tender document rather than assuming.
Can I get one the same day?
Sometimes, if you are already registered, your ROE is in and your account is settled. If any of those is outstanding, the timing depends on the Compensation Fund, not on us, and we will not promise a date we do not control.
Is a COIDA certificate the same as a Letter of Good Standing?
Yes. People also call it a good standing certificate. One document, three names.
My company is dormant. Do I still need one?
If you have no employees you may not need to be registered at all — but you must tell the Fund, or it keeps raising estimated assessments against you. Deregistration is its own process.
Do you issue the letter?
No. The Compensation Fund issues it. A registered labour practitioner prepares and submits what the Fund requires; the letter comes from the Fund.
ClearComply is a private commercial software provider and is not affiliated with, authorized by, or an official agency of CIPC or any government entity. We are not the Compensation Fund or the Department of Employment and Labour. Letters of Good Standing are issued by the Compensation Fund, not by us.