16/08/2026
🚨 SARS IS INCREASING ITS FOCUS ON TRUSTS — IS YOUR TRUST COMPLIANT?
A recent Daily Investor article, “South Africans with trusts are next on the SARS chopping block”, highlights the growing compliance risk facing trusts in South Africa. SARS wants trusts to be fully compliant, and even trusts that are inactive, have no taxable income, or have already been closed with the Master may still create problems if their SARS affairs have not been properly finalised.
The article specifically warns that a trust deregistered with the Master of the High Court is not automatically deregistered with SARS. If SARS still reflects the trust as active, outstanding returns and administrative penalties may follow.
At Tax Shop Outeniqua, we specialise in helping trustees make sure their trusts are properly structured and compliant.
âś… Is the trust correctly registered with SARS?
âś… Are all ITR12T trust income tax returns up to date?
âś… Are SARS records and registered details correct?
âś… Is beneficial ownership information properly maintained?
âś… Have distributions or amounts relating to beneficiaries been correctly dealt with for tax purposes?
âś… If the trust has been closed, do you have proof that it was also properly deregistered with SARS?
âś… Are there any outstanding penalties, returns or compliance issues that need to be corrected?
The message from the article is simple: don’t assume that someone else has taken care of it. Trustees and people involved with trusts should confirm the position before SARS identifies the problem first.
📌 Tax Shop Outeniqua can conduct a Trust Compliance Review and help you identify and correct outstanding issues.
📞 083 703 5705
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