Tax on Trusts

The South African Revenue Service has outlined plans to acquire thirdparty data for trusts. Joon Chong, partner at Webber Wentzel, says that, in line with its Vision 2024 to streamline tax collection, SARS will implement new systems for reporting trust distributions. “Vision 2024 anticipates third-party data being provided on a real-time monthly basis. Although there is still work to be done, Vision 2024 will improve efficiency in tax compliance, since assessments can be prepopulated with as much third-party information as possible,” Chong says. Currently, trust distributions are not reported by third parties to SARS. In a recent meeting with tax practitioners and stakeholders, SARS outlined how it intends over time to pre-populate the entire beneficiary section of the tax return for trusts with data from third parties.