Tax treatment of Multiple Trusts registered from one Will/Testament
12 October 2022
SARS has introduced a workaround to ensure that Trusts formed through a single Will that had been issued the same number by the Master of High Court (MOHC) are uniquely identified as a taxpayer. Below is a summary of the process that SARS follows in such an instance:
For a Trust, where a duplicate (or more) Trust Registration Number from the MOHC is identified:
- Add a suffix “A” for the duplicate MOHC Trust Registration Number, followed by an increasing numerical value starting with “01”.
- For example – Trust number (MT14695/2017 by MOHC) allocated to different Trusts
- Allocate the numbers as follows for entity registration purposes:
- 1st Trust – MT146952017A01
- 2nd Trust – MT146952017A02
- Do no merge the two trusts for income purposes, they are two separate tax entities irrespective of the “Trustee Details”
- Capture the Trust name as reflected on the Letter of Authority and ensure that the correct trust type is captured
- Note: A Trust can have more than one beneficiary in a Trust. However, a Trust is a one legal entity and only one trust must be registered irrespective of the number of beneficiaries.
Refer to the Trusts webpage for more information here.
