Once-off setup costs
Setting up the trust itself is the cheap part. The core once-off costs are the attorney’s fee for drafting the trust deed, the Master of the High Court lodgement when the trust is registered and letters of authority are issued, and any notarisation of signatures or supporting documents. There is no setup tax simply for forming a trust — the taxes below only arise when you start putting value into it. For the full step-by-step, see how to register a trust.
Because the deed-and-Master leg is predictable, we register trusts on a fixed fee — so you know the setup cost before you start, with no hourly surprises. See our fixed-fee trust registration in Pretoria.
Costs if you move assets into the trust
The expensive once-off items are not the trust itself — they are the taxes on transferring assets in. If property moves into the structure you face conveyancing fees and transfer duty; if you fund the trust by donating assets or cash you face donations tax. Donations tax is charged on the value of anything given away for nothing, and it is the donor who pays.
Subject to the provisions of section 56, there shall be paid … a tax (in this Act referred to as donations tax) on the value of any property disposed of (whether directly or indirectly and whether in trust or not) under any donation by any resident …
The rate is 20%, rising to 25% on cumulative donations above R30 million:
The rate of the donations tax chargeable under section 54 in respect of the value of any property disposed of under a donation shall be— (a)(i) 20 per cent of that value if the aggregate of that value and the value of any other property disposed of under a donation until the date of that donation … does not exceed R30 million; and (ii) 25 per cent of that value to the extent that that value is not taxed under subparagraph (i); …
Note — The aggregation start date ([on or after 1 March 2018]) sits in the dating of the provision, not in the chargeable-rate chapeau — so it is noted here rather than quoted into the rate words.
Natural persons have an annual exemption. The Act and the SARS rates guide still record the old figures, but the current numbers are higher — watch the date:
Natural persons: Amount exempt — 01/03/2007 – 28/02/2026 : 100 000
Persons other than natural persons (casual gifts): 01/03/2002 – 28/02/2026 : 10 000
Note — The R100,000 / R10,000 figures applied up to 28 February 2026. In the 2026 Budget the annual exemption was increased to R150,000 (natural persons) and R20,000 (casual gifts by a non-natural person) for years of assessment beginning on 1 March 2026, and the spouse exemption was limited to a [resident] spouse — both announced in the 2026 Budget and subject to Parliament’s legislative process. Use R150,000 for current planning and confirm against the 2026 Rates and Monetary Amounts Act.
This is why most founders lend value to the trust rather than donating it: a loan attracts no donations tax when it is made. The catch is that a low-interest or interest-free loan then carries its own annual cost under section 7C — covered below.
Ongoing annual costs
A trust is an ongoing entity, and running it properly costs money every year. The recurring items are:
- Independent trustee fees — a well-run trust appoints at least one genuinely independent trustee, who charges for the role. That fee is not optional padding: the independence is what keeps the trust from being treated as the founder’s alter ego.
- Annual accounting — preparing the trust’s financial statements and loan account reconciliations.
- SARS returns — every resident trust files an income tax return (the ITR12T) and a third-party reporting return (the IT3(t)) recording each amount it vested in a beneficiary. See SARS trust reporting.
- Legal costs for amendments — varying the deed, changing trustees or updating beneficial-ownership records.
- Bank charges on the separate trust bank account.
The independent-trustee fee buys something the law actually requires. Trustees must act to a statutory standard of care that cannot be contracted away:
A trustee shall in the performance of his duties and the exercise of his powers act with the care, diligence and skill which can reasonably be expected of a person who manages the affairs of another.
The two SARS filings are the reason annual accounting is not optional: SARS matches the IT3(t) data a trust submits against what its beneficiaries report, so the trust’s records have to be properly kept to reconcile. The trust return guide ties the tax treatment to the rights each beneficiary holds:
Under a vesting trust the income or capital gain or assets of the trust are vested in the beneficiaries and the beneficiaries are said to have vested rights … Under a discretionary trust, the trustees usually have the discretion as to whether and how much of the income or capital of the trust to distribute to the beneficiaries[; the beneficiaries] merely have contingent/discretionary rights (hope or spes) …
The ongoing section 7C cost on a low-interest loan
If you fund the trust with an interest-free or low-interest loan to dodge up-front donations tax, section 7C charges you a recurring cost instead: the interest you gave up is treated as a fresh donation every year, measured against the official rate of interest.
If a trust or company incurs— (a) no interest in respect of a loan, advance or credit referred to in subsection (1) …; or (b) interest at a rate lower than the official rate of interest, an amount equal to the difference between the amount incurred … as interest … and the amount that would have been incurred … at the official rate of interest must, for purposes of[the donations tax Part], be treated as a donation made to that trust or company by the[lender] on the last day of that year of assessment …
The official rate is the Reserve Bank repo rate plus one percentage point. With the repo rate at 7%, the official rate is 8% from 1 June 2026 — so a R6 million interest-free loan generates R480,000 of deemed donation a year.
When a trust earns its keep
Setup is largely fixed and the annual overhead is roughly fixed too — an independent trustee, accounting, two SARS returns and any section 7C cost do not scale down for a small estate. That makes the cost-benefit a question of asset value: the same overhead is trivial against a R20 million property portfolio and disproportionate against a R500,000 holding.
The rates that drive this calculation — the ones you are weighing against the running cost — are summarised here:
| Tax | Applies to | Rate (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax — trust | Income retained in an ordinary trust | 45% (flat) |
| Income tax — company | Newco's rental / trading profit | 27% |
| Income tax — individual | Income vested in a resident beneficiary | Up to 45% (sliding scale) |
| CGT — trust | Gain retained in an ordinary trust (80% inclusion) | 36% effective |
| CGT — company | Gain in a company (80% inclusion) | 21.6% effective |
| CGT — individual / special trust | Gain in a person / special trust (40% inclusion) | 18% effective |
| Dividends tax | Company pays a dividend upward | 20% |
| Donations tax | Gifts / s 7C deemed donations (25% over R30m cumulative) | 20% |
| Estate duty | Dutiable estate on death (25% over R30m) | 20% |
| Securities transfer tax | Transfer of shares (e.g. Newco shares to the trust) | 0.25% |
| VAT | Standard-rated supplies (e.g. commercial property by a vendor) | 15% |
| Official rate of interest | s 7C deemed donation on low/no-interest loans (repo 7% + 1%) | 8% (from 1 Jun 2026) |
| Transfer duty | Acquiring property — sliding scale | 0% to R1.21m … 13% above R13.31m |
Last reviewed: 3 June 2026. Rates are South African and time-sensitive; 2026 Budget measures (donations-tax exemption increases, resident-spouse limitation) are subject to Parliament's legislative process. A special trust is taxed on the individual sliding scale (CGT 18%), not the flat 45% / 36% that applies to an ordinary trust. Confirm every figure against the current SARS material before acting.
Frequently asked questions
Once-off setup is mainly attorney drafting of the deed plus the Master of the High Court lodgement and any notarisation. Extra costs only arise if you move assets in: conveyancing and transfer duty on property, and donations tax (20%, with a R150,000 annual exemption for natural persons announced in the 2026 Budget) on donated assets. We register trusts on a fixed fee so the deed-and-Master cost is known up front.
Recurring costs are independent trustee fees, annual accounting and the SARS returns (the income tax return ITR12T plus the IT3(t) reporting return), legal fees for any deed amendments, and bank charges. If the trust was funded by a low- or no-interest loan there is also an annual section 7C cost while that loan is outstanding.
Not in absolute terms, but it carries real annual overhead — an independent trustee, accounting and two SARS filings every year, plus any section 7C cost on a funding loan. The cost is roughly fixed regardless of asset value, so it is light against a meaningful estate but disproportionate against a small one. A trust earns its keep only above a real asset threshold.
Donations tax is 20% of the value donated (25% on cumulative donations above R30m), paid by the donor. Natural persons get an annual exemption — R150,000 from 1 March 2026 (announced in the 2026 Budget, up from R100,000). Most founders avoid this up-front cost by lending rather than donating, but a low-interest loan then triggers an annual section 7C deemed donation.
It is worth it where the protected value is meaningful and growing — a let or business property, a portfolio, or assets you want pegged out of your estate for estate-duty and continuity reasons. The overhead is largely fixed, so it is easily justified on a substantial estate but rarely on a modest one. Model the estate-duty saving against the ongoing costs before you commit.