Company secretaries are used to companies choosing their own financial year-end, but a trust year-end works differently. A trust does not have that freedom. For income tax purposes a trust’s year of assessment is fixed to the last day of February, and, unlike a company, a trust cannot simply adopt a different year-end to suit its administration or to line up with a company it invests in. Understanding why matters when a trust sits on a company’s share register or forms part of a client’s structure.
This article sets out the rule, the narrow exception to it, and what it means in practice for the company work that trusts touch.
A trust year-end is fixed: the tax year ends in February
For income tax, a trust is a “person” as defined in the Income Tax Act, 1962, which means SARS treats it as a separate taxpayer that files its own return. Since 2003, SARS has required trusts to use a February tax year-end, so a trust’s year of assessment ends on the last day of February each year, in line with individuals rather than companies.
This is a deliberate design choice. Aligning all trusts to a common February year-end removes the ability to shift income between periods by picking a convenient closing date, which is one of the reasons SARS is generally unwilling to grant trusts the year-end flexibility that companies enjoy.
Can a trust ever use a different date?
There is one narrow accommodation, and it is easy to misread. Section 66(13A) of the Income Tax Act allows the Commissioner, in defined circumstances, to accept accounts drawn to a date other than the last day of February, typically where the trust itself carries on a business, trade, farming operation or profession and it is impractical to draw accounts to end-February.
Two points are essential. First, this is a discretionary permission the trust must apply for; it is not a free election. Second, even where it is granted, the trust’s year of assessment does not change — it still ends on the last day of February. What the accommodation does is allow accounts prepared to the agreed date to be used in calculating taxable income; it does not give the trust a company-style alternative financial year-end.
For most trusts, and especially passive trusts that simply hold assets such as shares, the practical position is straightforward: the year-end is end-February, and it is advisable to keep the accounting and tax year-end on the same day to avoid unnecessary complexity.
Why this matters when a trust holds shares in your company
If a trust is a shareholder in a company you administer, the two entities will often be running to different year-ends — the trust to end-February, the company to whatever year-end its Memorandum of Incorporation or board has set. That mismatch is normal, but it has knock-on effects worth planning for.
The timing of dividends and distributions is the clearest example. A distribution a company declares in its own financial year may fall into the trust’s February year of assessment for tax and reporting purposes, so the trust’s records and the company’s records need to be reconciled across two different calendars rather than one. Trustees also have their own SARS obligations tied to that February cycle, including the trust’s annual income tax return and third-party reporting on distributions to beneficiaries, and those deadlines do not move to suit the company.
A practical trap to avoid is assuming a trust can simply adopt the company’s year-end to make administration tidier. It cannot, absent the limited section 66(13A) route, and even then only for the accounts, not the tax year. Where a client raises the idea, the company secretary is well placed to flag that the trust’s February year-end is effectively fixed.
Looking ahead: year-ends and the proposed trust reforms
Year-end discipline is likely to become more prominent rather than less. The Regulation of Trusts Bill, 2026, published for public comment in August 2026, proposes annual financial statements and an annual return for trusts, with reporting reportedly pegged to the trust’s anniversary date. If enacted, that would add a formal trust reporting cycle alongside the existing February tax year-end, making it even more important that trustees keep clean, timeous accounts. We look at those proposals in detail in our guide to what the Regulation of Trusts Bill could mean for trust reporting.
The bottom line
A trust’s tax year-end is not a matter of choice: it is fixed to the last day of February, because a trust is a person for income tax and SARS requires the February year of assessment. The only accommodation is the discretionary section 66(13A) permission for certain business income, and even that does not move the year of assessment. When a trust holds shares in a company, expect two different year-ends, plan distribution timing and record-keeping around them, and don’t assume the trust can align to the company.
For related reading, see our guides on whether a trust can hold shares in a private company and what the proposed Regulation of Trusts Bill could mean.
Intersect helps accountants and company secretaries keep company and trust-linked records — share registers, beneficial ownership and CIPC filings — accurate and on time, whichever year-ends are in play.
This article is general information for company secretaries and compliance professionals and reflects the position as at August 2026. It is not legal or tax advice. Confirm current requirements with SARS or a tax adviser before acting.
