After South Africa’s greylisting in February by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the introduction of more stringent measures for trusts by the South African Revenue Service (Sars), the extent of the lack of South African trust compliance became apparent.
Trustees, trust service providers, accountants, and tax practitioners are struggling to meet all the new requirements, and often they have to catch up with historical non-compliance first. Although some believe that the government’s perceived lack of action to get us off the greylist by the targeted January 2025, with only one (of two) years to go, means they will not enforce the new measures (with their punitive consequences for non-compliance) and that trustees and
