Trust Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Trust Registration and Classification

Am I required to register a trust with SARS ?

Yes. All trusts established in South Africa are required to register with the South African Revenue Service (SARS), regardless of whether they have any transactions or income. This includes family trusts, business trusts, and charitable trusts, Testamentary/Will trusts, Special trusts (a) and (b), etc.

In addition, non-resident or foreign trusts must register with SARS if they meet any of the following criteria:

They have carried on a trade through a permanent establishment within the Republic.
They have derived income from a source located within the Republic.
They have realised a capital gain or loss from the disposal of an asset in terms of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act, No. 58 of 1962.

Registration ensures the trust has its own tax reference number and complies with tax obligations.

How to register a trust?

Trust registration with SARS can be done in two main ways:

Online via the SARS Online Query System:
- Submit the IT77TR form (Application for registration of a trust).

- Upload all required supporting documents.

In-person at a SARS branch:

- Book an appointment.
- Bring all required documents for submission.

Once registered, the trust must submit annual income tax returns (ITR12T) and comply with other tax obligations depending on its activities.

What are the documents required for trust registration at SARS?

Copy of the Letters of Authority (“LoA”) (issued by the Master of the High Court).
Copy of the trust deed and any deed(s) of Amendment.
Identity document of the trustee acting as the Representative Taxpayer (e.g., SA ID, Driver’s License).
Trustees’ resolution confirming the appointment of the Representative Taxpayer.
Proof of business address of the trust.
Proof of residential address of the Representative Taxpayer.
IT77TR form – Application for registration of a trust.
If a Tax Practitioner is involved:
- Power of Attorney or Letter of Appointment.
- Identity document of the Tax Practitioner.
- Proof of residential address of the Tax Practitioner.

This list is not comprehensive; for additional information, please refer to Trust supporting documents.

Trust Tax Return Submission and Errors

What is a trust return?	The Income Tax Return for trusts is called the ITR12T.
Am I required to submit the trust return?	Yes. The annual notice, issued by the Commissioner, requires all trusts to submit a trust tax return. This means every registered trust—whether active or passive (“dormant”)—must file an annual income tax return (ITR12T). This includes: Family trusts Testamentary trusts Special trusts (Type (a) and (b)) Business or trading trusts Vested and discretionary trusts Bewind trust Even if the trust has no financial activity, submission is still mandatory.
Which returns must a trust submit?	ITR12T—the annual income tax return. IT3(t)—a third-party return detailing all vestings, distributions, and demographic details of beneficiaries
If a Trust is regarded to be a provisional taxpayer, am I required to submit the ITR12T if I have already submitted the provisional tax return (IRP6)?	Yes. Submitting the IRP6 provisional tax return does not exempt a trust from submitting the ITR12T annual income tax return.
Where representative taxpayers of trusts have experienced problems in submitting the IT3(t), will SARS be penalising these trusts for late filing?	The imposition of Admin Penalties will be preceded by a consultative process with all relevant stakeholders. In this regard, SARS will communicate with and engage stakeholders on the imposition of Admin Penalties for the non-submission of the ITR12T as well as the IT3(t). Note, that for the 2024 year of assessment, no Admin penalties will be levied for late submission of the IT3(t). It is, however, requested that trusts do submit the IT3(t), even if this is done belatedly. This will give taxpayers the peace of mind that they are ready for the submission of the IT3(t) for the 2025 year of assessment onwards.
What are the channels to submit my ITR12T return?	You can submit your ITR12T return via one of the following channels: eFiling if you are registered as an eFiler. At the nearest SARS branch, by booking an appointment. Please note that you will have to provide the SARS agent all the required information prepared in advance on the draft template of the ITR12T available on the SARS website – the agent will not assist with the interpretation of financial statements. A trust that has more than 10 persons who transacted with the trust during the year of assessment in any of the transactions listed below will have to register for eFiling and cannot submit at a SARS branch: Taxable on income distributed to/vested in beneficiaries or taxable in terms of section 7 or paragraph 68 – 72 of the Eighth schedule to the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962. Received a distribution/vesting of non-taxable income from this trust. Received a distribution/vesting of capital or assets from this trust. Has outstanding loan(s) granted to this trust. Holds outstanding loan(s) from this trust. Made/Received donation(s)/contribution(s) to/from this trust. Received distributions from other trusts or foundations. Received refund(s) on contribution(s) made to this trust. Granted the right of use of asset(s) retained in this trust.
How is the income of a trust taxed?	A trust is currently taxed at a flat rate of 45% on every rand, with the exception of special trusts that are taxed on the sliding scale applicable to individual taxpayers. Special ‘Type (a) and (b) trust’ must ensure they are correctly classified, as this status allows them to qualify for specific Capital Gains Tax relief. It is important to note that the trust type is determined based on the registration status of the trust (which can only be amended by visiting a SARS branch with the relevant supporting documentation), not the trust type selected on the ITR12T.
Do I need to submit a return if my trust made no distributions during the year of assessment (YOA)? Further, if a NIL return will be required from 2025 – will the notice to submit third party returns incorporate this requirement?	R0 returns are required for the IT3(t) submissions for the 2025 year of assessment. The requirement to submit a R0 IT3(t) is outlined in the external Business Requirements Specification (BRS), which is available on the SARS website.
Where can I obtain the IT3(t) form in order to complete the return? I cannot locate it on eFiling or any other platform.	The appropriate channel for submitting IT3(t) returns will be determined by the volume of records and the frequency of submissions. -eFiling: This platform allows for the submission of up to 20 IT3 certificates. -Connect Direct: A digital platform designed for bulk data submissions to SARS. -Secure File Gateway (HTTPS): This channel supports submissions of up to 50,000 lines or 10MB of data. It is intended to reduce the administrative burden associated with large-volume data transfers, shorten data processing cycle times, and enable faster feedback. To utilise any of these channels, the submitting entity must be registered as an eFiler and must have the IT3 tax type activated. For more information on eFiling registration, activation, and enrolment, refer to the following guide: https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Ops/Guides/GEN-ENR-01-G10-Manage-Submission-of-Third-Party-Data-External-Guide.pdf For more information on eFiling Submission and declaration, refer to the following guide: GEN-ENR-01-G03 – Guide for the Submission and Declaration of IT3 Third-Party via eFiling
When must an income tax reference number be completed on the Income Tax Return for trusts (ITR12T) for a beneficiary?	For beneficiary taxpayers, whether individuals, companies, or trusts, the income tax reference number is mandatory if they are South African residents. If they are not South African residents, the income tax reference number is optional. In exceptional cases where an individual has a South African identity number but has not registered for tax (e.g., a minor who does not earn taxable income), the identity number must be captured, and the taxpayer reference number can be filled with zeros (‘0000000000’). For non-resident beneficiaries, a passport number must be entered, and the taxpayer reference number can also be filled with zeros.
I am getting an error message on submission of trust return, “The information provided does not seem to be correct. Please correct. HINT: There must be a corresponding income source code on the return”?	The income source codes selected in the ‘Trust Participant Schedules’ under section ‘Details of Taxable amounts distributed to/vested in beneficiaries or taxable in terms of section 7 or paragraph– 72 of the Eighth schedule to the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 must correspond to the income source codes reflected under local and/or foreign income where amounts were distributed to/vested in beneficiaries or taxable in terms of section 7. For instance, if local interest was completed with source code 4201 and an amount was completed as distributed to/vested in beneficiaries or taxable in terms of section 7, then in the trust participant schedule, the taxpayer should complete the corresponding amount under ‘Details of Taxable amounts distributed to/vested in beneficiaries or taxable in terms of section 7 or paragraph 68 – 72 of the Eighth schedule’ in the ‘Trust Participant Schedule’.
When selecting “No” to the first question: “Have the banking, contact and trustee details been confirmed and verified” on the Income Tax Return for trust (ITR12T), will I be able to continue completing the ITR12T?	The registered details of the trust must first be confirmed, in order to complete the ITR12T. To do this either: Select “Yes” to question. The Registration Amendments and Verification Form RAV01 will open. Confirm the details and continue filling in the ITR12T or Alternatively, close the ITR12T and click ‘Maintain legal entity details’ on Income Tax Workpage.
What supporting documents are required for the persons to whom donations/contributions/loans were made?	SARS will advise in the letter issued to the taxpayer which supporting documents are required for verification by SARS. As a guideline, SARS will request documents that prove the validity of these transactions, but there is no specific prescribed format for these supporting documents defined in the Income Tax Act.

Declaration/Reporting

What is the difference between a contribution/donation/distribution for the purpose of the trust return?

Guidelines in respect of declaring contributions/donations/distributions in the trust return:

A contribution to a trust is normally made by the donor/founder/settlor of the trust (may be thought of as akin to a capital contribution to a company by a shareholder). A contribution can take the form of a donation, but not all donations are contributions. Where a donation is made by the founder/settlor/donor of the trust it should be treated as a contribution. In the context of a trading trust an amount contributed to the trust in exchange for the right to future benefits from the trust must also be treated as a contribution.

A donation and/or a loan to a trust refers to amounts paid to the trust by a person (other than the donor/founder/settlor of the trust) in a manner that is gratuitous or with disinterested benevolence (i.e. not in exchange for a right to future benefits). This person is also known as the “funder” of the trust.
A distribution by a trust refers to amounts vested in the trust beneficiaries. However, vesting is an indispensable prerequisite for a distribution to follow. For example, vesting and distribution could occur simultaneously or within the same Year of Assessment (YoA), but may also occur years apart. Vesting of an income benefit could occur in year 1, but the actual distribution of the vested benefit could occur in year 3. The taxing event will be in year 1 since it will be the date when the benefit accrued as opposed to the date when the benefit was received (distributed

Can I vest (distribute) capital losses in a trust as an aggregate capital loss to beneficiaries?

Capital losses may never be attributed to a beneficiary. Both para 80(1) (vesting of asset in resident beneficiary) and para 80(2) (vesting of capital gain in resident beneficiary) of the Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act, 1962, permit only capital gains to be attributed to a beneficiary. As regards para 80(2), if gains and losses in the trust have arisen from transactions with third parties or with the same connected person, it would be possible to retain gains in the trust to cover the trust losses and to vest the balance of any remaining capital gain in a resident beneficiary. See the LAPD-CGT-G01 – Comprehensive Guide to Capital Gains Tax paragraph 14.11.6.2.

What “maturity date” and “repayment periods” do taxpayers enter for loans repayable on demand?

The maturity date can be left empty (it is an optional field) for a loan repayable on demand and the taxpayer can enter a zero for the repayment periods (indicating that the repayment period is not applicable).

Public Benefit Organisations and Special trust Activities

In what format must the Public Benefit Organisation reference number be submitted on the ITR12T?	The format of the Public Benefit Organisation reference number must be alphanumeric only, i.e. any forward slashes (“/”) or other special characters must be excluded.
Should a trust be a non-profit organisation (and duly registered as such) that provides consumer financial education (or similar activity) in terms of the object of their trust instrument, will the trust be required to submit an IT3(t)?	The trust will not be required to report on their core business, where it is the provisioning of consumer financial education (or similar activity), on an IT3(t). An IT3(t) is required for amounts distributed to specified beneficiaries. When compiling their financial statements, the expenditure related to the core business will be reflected in the income statement and there will be no monetary value distributed to specified beneficiaries. Should the trust, however, decide to vest specific amounts to specified beneficiaries (should be in accordance with the trust instrument) the trust will be required to submit an IT3(t).
Is there a recommended treatment for trusts whose distribution to a beneficiary constitutes charitable activities where the beneficiary/ies cannot be identified e.g. charitable activity extending to disaster relief and the purchase of emergency supplies?	And where: The recipient of the emergency supplies is not able to supply an ID number and/or address when they receive the emergency supplies OR At the point of distribution to record demographic details before handing out the emergency supplies would be an inhumane course of action OR Contacting the beneficiary/ies after they received the emergency supplies is problematic as they may become homeless, have lost their cell/telephone or are unable to access their email address. Answer: The expenditure of the trust is reflected in the income statement and not as a vesting to its beneficiaries. Therefore, similar to the question on consumer financial education, the trust will not be required to submit an IT3(t) unless it has made specific vestings to beneficiaries.
Has SARS considered exempting PBOs from the IT3(t) data submission event?	In considering this request, the Inter Departmental Committee on Beneficial Ownership and Transparency (IDC-BOT) indicated that all trusts that are formed in terms of the requirements of the Trust Property Control Act, and thus meets the criteria (definition) of a trust, will be subject to the Beneficial Ownership (BO) requirements in this Act. Although SARS is a tier two collector of BO information, the mandate of the IDC-BOT to SARS is to collect the BO information as per the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. It is thus not within SARS’ discretion to elect the entities that should submit the BO information but rather to execute the mandate issued by the Cabinet, through the IDC-BOT to ensure South Africa’s removal from the FATF grey list.

Disputes and Objections

Can a trust submit an objection through eFiling?

Yes. An automated process for trust taxpayers was introduced on eFiling during April 2024 to electronically submit documentation to lodge a dispute via a fully guided process. This applies to the following transactions:

Submission of Request for Reasons,
Request for Remission (RFR),
Notice of Objection and Notice of Appeal.
Suspension of Payment

Note: Trusts that submitted any of the processes mentioned above before 20 April 2024 should still conclude their dispute through the manual process.

Can a trust submit an appeal using the Notice of Appeal (NOA) ADR2 form?

Yes, but only if a trust objected against an assessment and used the manual Notice of Objection process (ADR1 form) before 20 April 2024. The trust will have to appeal using the ADR2 process by visiting a SARS branch or uploading the completed ADR2 form on SOQS. (No email option is available).
For any disputes lodged against an assessment from 20 April 2024 the only available options are to lodge a Notice of Appeal through eFiling or to visit a branch to assist you. Remember to book an appointment.

Beneficial Ownership Requirements

How must the beneficial owner details be completed on the trust return when the same person is, say, a founder, trustee and beneficiary?

The beneficial owner details must be captured separately for each capacity.

Where the Beneficial Ownership section of the trust tax return (ITR12T) requires Employee Share Incentive Schemes to participate, is it possible to consider exempting these trusts in a similar way to that in which the Collective Investment Schemes(CIS)were excluded?

In considering this request, the Interdepartmental Committee on Beneficial Ownership and Transparency (IDC-BOT) indicated that all trusts that are formed in terms of the requirements of the trust Property Control Act, and thus meets the criteria (definition) of a trust, will be subject to the Beneficial Ownership (BO) requirements in this Act. Although SARS is a tier two collector of BO information, the mandate of the IDC-BOT to SARS is to collect the BO information as per the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. It is thus not within SARS’ discretion to elect the entities that should submit the BO information but rather to execute the mandate issued by the Cabinet, through the IDC-BOT to ensure South Africa’s removal from the FATF grey list.

Deregistration and Exemptions

Due to delays experienced by trusts who are deregistering at the Masters office, deregistration at SARS is prevented. Further distributions of income will not be possible at this point. Can these trusts be excluded from the IT3(t) SARS submission event?

SARS is aware of the delays being experienced at certain offices of the Master of the High Court (MOHC). For the 2024 year of assessment, SARS will not issue penalties for the late- or non-submission of an IT3(t) return. These trusts will thus not be prejudiced during the final deregistration process at SARS, provided that the trust is deregistered for tax purposes before the 2025 year of assessment filing date. Also note that SARS will be engaging the MOHC in an effort to find a solution for the ongoing delays in their processes.