XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks
Country Restriction: South Africa only
Risk Type: Tax Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
The “Payment to a Cancelled Supplier” XBert flags money you have paid to a supplier whose business registration has been cancelled or deregistered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) in South Africa. Paying a deregistered business can create problems with VAT claims and SARS compliance, so XBert highlights it early so you can check the supplier before more payments go out.
What it does
XBert looks at the suppliers you pay and matches their Enterprise number against the official CIPC company register. It then reviews authorised supplier payments and authorised spend-money bank transactions to see whether any of them went to a supplier whose registration has been cancelled or deregistered.
How it works
XBert raises this alert when all of the following are true:
The supplier's Enterprise number matches a record on the CIPC register that is no longer active (for example cancelled, deregistered or in the process of being removed).
The payment was made on or after the supplier's date of cessation — the date their registration ended. Payments made while the supplier was still active are ignored.
The transaction is an authorised supplier payment on a bill, or an authorised spend-money bank transaction.
XBert uses the Enterprise number recorded against the supplier in your accounting software. Where no number has been entered, it falls back to the most recent Enterprise number it has seen on that supplier's bills. To avoid false alarms, XBert does not raise this alert when the CIPC register has no data for the supplier, when the supplier is still shown as active, or before its supplier matching has finished running. When matching transactions are found, XBert groups them by supplier and shows the total amount paid.
Example / Use Case
Thandi runs a small catering business in Cape Town. She pays a regular packaging supplier R6,000 for boxes and trays. What Thandi does not realise is that the supplier was deregistered with CIPC three months earlier and is no longer a valid VAT vendor. XBert matches the supplier's Enterprise number to the cancelled CIPC record and flags the R6,000 payment because it was made after the deregistration date. Thandi checks the supplier on the CIPC website, confirms the deregistration, and pauses further payments until the supplier sorts out their registration — protecting her VAT input claim and avoiding questions from SARS at audit time.
Accounting software
Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks.
Which countries it supports
South Africa only.
Processes
This alert is part of the Purchases & Payables (AP) process and helps keep your supplier records accurate and your payments compliant. To resolve it:
Verify the supplier's Enterprise number on the CIPC website to confirm whether the business is genuinely cancelled or deregistered.
If the supplier should still be active, contact them to request their current registration and VAT details.
Correct the supplier's details in your accounting software — update the Enterprise number if it was wrong, or fix the contact record if it was matched to the wrong business.
Review the related bills and payments and check that the VAT treatment is still valid. If the supplier is no longer a registered VAT vendor, you may need to adjust the VAT on those transactions.
Hold further payments to the supplier until their registration status is confirmed, unless there is a clear business reason and you understand the tax implications.
Once the supplier's details are corrected and the transactions reviewed, mark the XBert as resolved.
Acting on these alerts promptly reduces the risk of disallowed VAT claims and SARS penalties, and keeps your bookkeeping records clean and reliable.