A trust has long been the darling of every affluent South African family. A sign that you have accumulated sufficient wealth to preserve for the generations to follow. However, the prestige has waned over the last couple of decades for the following reasons:
For example, suppose the trust invested in shares listed on the JSE in March 2002. A R300 000 investment, split evenly across SA stalwarts Sasol, Nedbank and Shoprite would’ve grown to roughly R4 million today . In order to bank those profits and deploy capital elsewhere, the trust will cough up R1 332 238 in capital gains tax.The conduit principle allows for trust income and capital gains to flow through to the beneficiaries and be taxed in their individual capacity.