Dear Clients, Partners, and Friends,
The festive season is upon us – a time to pause, celebrate, and reflect on the year gone by. Before we all take a well-deserved break, we’d like to share some highlights from 2025 and extend our heartfelt thanks for your continued trust and support.
Celebrating Growth and Leadership
One of our proudest milestones this year was the expansion of our Board of Directors. With new members bringing fresh perspectives and deep expertise, we are strengthening our strategic direction and governance to ensure Sentinel International remains innovative and resilient in an ever-changing fiduciary, tax, and accounting landscape.
A More Seamless Client Experience
To serve you better, we’ve unified our Trust, Accounting, and Tax teams nationally. This means consistent service delivery across regions, enhanced collaboration among specialists, and greater efficiency for complex, multi-jurisdictional portfolios. This change reflects our commitment to delivering world-class fiduciary and advisory services with simplicity and precision.
Industry and Regulatory Updates
We also want to share important developments from recent submissions by professional bodies to National Treasury and SARS. These proposals aim to address technical tax issues affecting family wealth structures, trusts, and cross-border beneficiaries.
One key concern is the misalignment between Estate Duty and Capital Gains Tax (CGT). While Estate Duty allows deferral when assets pass to a surviving spouse, CGT rollover relief only applies to direct transfers to a spouse and not to a trust created for their benefit. This creates unnecessary financial strain for surviving spouses who rely on trusts for asset protection and management. There is a proposal to align these rules to ensure fair treatment and prevent immediate tax liabilities that could erode family wealth.
Another significant issue relates to distributions from South African inter-vivos trusts to non-resident beneficiaries. Since 1 March 2024, income vested in non-resident beneficiaries is taxed in the trust at 45%, with no foreign tax credit available to the beneficiary. This change introduces the risk of double taxation and compliance challenges for families with international ties. There has been a call to clarify obligations and consider relief measures to avoid inequitable outcomes.
SARS has recently issued a draft notice for public comment signalling a stronger stance on trust tax compliance. The proposed changes would allow SARS to impose administrative penalties on trusts that have outstanding income tax returns, particularly where required submissions remain overdue after formal reminders. While the notice is still in its consultation phase, it highlights SARS’s continued focus on improving accountability and ensuring that all trusts meet their reporting obligations timeously.
Reform of Marital Regimes – Government policy discussions and draft proposals have indicated possible updates to marital property laws. These include revisiting the accrual system where unintended inequities arise, potential reform of marriages out of community of property without accrual, particularly default marital consequences where no antenuptial contract exists, and modernisation of matrimonial property laws to address contemporary family structures, life partnerships, and blended families. While these reforms are not yet enacted, they could meaningfully affect estate planning, spouse entitlements, and the division of assets upon death.
Ongoing Challenges with Master’s Offices Nationwide – Despite efforts to improve service delivery, Master’s Offices across South Africa continue to face systemic challenges. These include severe backlogs in issuing Letters of Executorship and Letters of Authority, delays in approving Liquidation & Distribution Accounts, inconsistent communication and difficulty reaching case officers, prolonged turnaround times for trust-related approvals and amendments, system outages following partial digitalisation, and variability in service levels between regional offices. These delays can significantly impact estate administration timelines, and we continue to work proactively to mitigate these challenges on behalf of our clients.
What does this mean for you?
If you have a family trust, cross-border beneficiaries, or are considering estate planning, these developments highlight the importance of proactive planning and regular reviews. We will continue to monitor these changes and keep you informed. If you’d like to review your estate plan or discuss any updates in the new year, please reach out to us as we’d be delighted to assist.
Into the new year
The deadline for submission of 2025 tax returns for individuals and trusts is 19 January 2026.
A Heartfelt Thank You
As we wrap up 2025, we want to express our sincere appreciation for your continued support and interest. It’s a privilege to support you and your families through every stage of planning and compliance. From all of us at Sentinel International, we wish you a joyful festive season filled with peace, rest, and celebration. Here’s to a successful and rewarding 2026!
Warm regards,
The Sentinel International Team