WHY DO YOU HAVE TO REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS WITH PACRO?

Firstly, it is a legal requirement that you register your company or business name. Section 3 of the Registration of Business Act, Cap 389 of the Laws of Zambia requires that anyone carrying on business in a name other than their personal names should register

ARE THERE ANY POST REGISTRATION OBLIGATIONS?

Section 8 of the Registration of Business Names Act requires that if any changes(s) occur regarding any particulars registered in respect of a firm or an individual, such firm or individual is required to furnish the Registrar within 14 days a statement in the prescribed form (Business Name Form IV) signed by all partners stating the nature and date of change

Regulation 10 of the Registration of Business Names Regulations 1998 (Statutory Instrument No. 100 of 1998) requires every Business registered under the Act to submit to this Office its annual return not later than three months after the end of its financial year.

Annual Return Forms are available at this office at a fee

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUSINESS/FIRM AND A COMPANY?

YES there are. These are that:

A partnership Business Name has no legal personality while a Limited company is a body corporate so to say, an artificial person; 

In a partnership, liability is unlimited whereas under a Company, liability is limited to the amount on the shares so guaranteed still unpaid;  

In a partnership, transfer requires the consent of all who are registered as partners in the concern whereas in a limited liability company, shares are freely transferable; and  

A partnership is not permanent and death usually dissolves it whereas a company has perpetual succession

WHAT DO I DO IF MY BUSINESS NAME CEASES TO OPERATE?

If any firm or individual who has been registered ceases to carry on business, it is the duty of the persons who are partners at the time it ceases to carry on business to file within three months after cessation of business a notice in a prescribed form (Business Form VII) that the firm or individual has ceased to carry on business