Checked 2026-08-21Next review 2027-02-21Every detail read from SARS’s own site
01
Quick Answer
In short
Start by asking what they will actually do. If it includes your tax, they must be registered twice: with a Recognised Controlling Body and with SARS as a tax practitioner. SARS publishes a lookup that confirms the SARS half. The word accountant, on its own, is not a registration at all.
- Regulator for tax workSARS
- Second registrationA controlling body
- Recognised bodies10
- SARS lookupConfirm registration
- What SARS issuesA PR number
- Cost to checkNone
The dual-registration requirement, the list of Recognised Controlling Bodies and the practitioner lookup read from sars.gov.za on 2026-08-21.
02
What You Need to Know
This is the guide where the honest answer is a little awkward. Accountant is not a protected registration in the way that attorney or electrician is. Someone can keep your books, prepare management accounts and call themselves an accountant without appearing on any statutory register, and that is not in itself irregular.
What is firmly regulated is tax work. SARS states that an individual must register with both a Recognised Controlling Body (RCB) and SARS as a Tax Practitioner
in order to provide tax related services to taxpayers. That gives you a clean, checkable line, and it is the line this guide follows: if the person is touching your tax, there is a register with their name on it.
The two registrations do different jobs. The controlling body sets entry requirements, a code of conduct and a disciplinary process. SARS issues the practitioner number, the PR number, that lets them act on your affairs. Both are required, and one without the other is not enough.
SARS recognises ten controlling bodies. It is worth glancing at the list before you accept a designation you have not heard of, and worth noticing that the Legal Practice Council is among them, which is how an attorney can also be a registered tax practitioner.
The ten Recognised Controlling Bodies, as listed by SARS:
- Confirm Tax Practitioner RegistrationSARS’s own lookup for the SARS halfsarsefiling.co.za
- What the practitioner number looks likeIssued by SARS on registrationA PR number
- Recognised Controlling BodiesThe other half of the requirement10
- Registering with only one of the twoSARS requires both, not eitherNot sufficient
- Bookkeeping without tax workA different thing, and not registrable in the same wayNot a registration
The dual-registration requirement, the list of ten Recognised Controlling Bodies and the Confirm Tax Practitioner Registration lookup read from sars.gov.za, checked 2026-08-21. SARS publishes the lookup as a link from its tax practitioner pages; this guide does not describe what a result does or does not show, because SARS does not describe that either.
03
Step-by-Step Guidance
The first step is the one that decides whether the rest of this applies.
- 1
Ask exactly what they will do
Bookkeeping and management accounts are one thing. Submitting your return, corresponding with SARS or acting on your tax affairs is another, and only the second brings the registration requirement with it.
- 2
Ask for the PR number and the controlling body, in writing
Both, together. A practitioner who is properly registered has both to hand and no reason to withhold either.
- 3
Run the SARS lookup
SARS links to a Confirm Tax Practitioner Registration facility from its own site. Use it for the SARS half of the requirement.
- 4
Check the controlling body separately
Each recognised body keeps its own membership records and its own disciplinary process. Confirm the membership with that body, not only with the person claiming it.
- 5
Never hand over your eFiling password
A registered practitioner requests access to your profile through SARS’s own process. Being asked for your login credentials instead is a reason to stop and ask why.
- 6
Agree who signs off, and keep the date
Know whose PR number goes on the submission, and note the date you checked. Registration status changes, so a check is only true as of the day you made it.
04
Costs, Timing and Common Mistakes
- Cost to check registrationBoth halves, using published facilitiesNone
- Number of recognised controlling bodiesAs listed by SARS10
- Cost of the work itselfSet by the practitioner; no central tariff existsNot published
Cost and timing are observations about the public facilities rather than figures published by SARS. Fees for tax and accounting work are not centrally set, so this page does not quote a figure.
Treating the title as the check
Accountant is not a registration. The registration attaches to tax work, and that is the thing to ask about.
Confirming one registration of the two
SARS requires both a Recognised Controlling Body and SARS registration. Either one alone does not meet the requirement.
Sharing eFiling login details
A practitioner requests access through SARS’s own process. A request for your password is a reason to pause.
Not knowing whose number is on the return
Work is often delegated within a practice. Ask whose PR number signs off before the submission, not after.
What this page does not tell you
This guide explains which registrations apply to tax work and where SARS publishes its lookup. It does not assess any practitioner or practice, and it is not tax, accounting or financial advice about your own affairs.
It also does not tell you whether you need a practitioner at all. Many people file their own returns; this page is about checking someone once you have decided to use them.
05
Related Gezina Services
Where to go next.
Accountant Gezina
Accounting and tax practices in the area, and what each one publishes about itself.
Services in Gezina
Trades and professional services, with the other verification guides alongside this one.
Explore Gezina emergency numbers
For anything happening now rather than anything to be checked.
Explore list my business Gezina
If you run an accounting or tax practice locally and want a listing, at no cost.