For years, the compliance rhythm for a trust looked nothing like the one company secretaries know from CIPC. Companies and close corporations file annual returns; trusts did not. That distinction is now under review. On 7 August 2026, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development published the Regulation of Trusts Bill, 2026 for public comment, and it proposes a set of obligations that will feel very familiar to anyone who administers companies, including an annual return for trusts. With the public comment window open until 11 September 2026, this is the moment for company secretaries to understand what is coming.
This article explains where the rules stand today, what the Bill proposes, and what practitioners should be doing while the draft is still open for input.
Do trusts file annual returns now?
The query we hear most often is a simple one: “Are we going to have to submit annual returns for trusts now, not just for CCs and Pty companies?” It usually comes from a company secretary who already administers a trust that sits on a company’s share register, or who acts for clients whose structures combine a trust and an operating company.
The short answer is that trusts do not currently file a CIPC-style annual return. The longer answer is that the direction of travel is clearly toward more formal, more regular trust reporting, and the Bill now on the table would introduce exactly the kind of annual return the question anticipates.
What a trust actually files today
It is worth being precise about current obligations, because trusts are already far from unregulated.
A trust files an annual income tax return with SARS (the ITR12T). Every registered resident trust must submit it, whether the trust is economically active or dormant, and SARS applies administrative penalties for outstanding returns. Trustees also carry third-party reporting obligations to SARS (the IT3(t) return), which reports distributions and vesting to beneficiaries.
Since the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act, 2022 amended the Trust Property Control Act, trustees must also establish and maintain a beneficial ownership register and lodge it with the Master of the High Court. The Master set a filing deadline of 15 November 2024, and trustees have a standing duty to update the register whenever the information changes.
What has been absent is a single, recurring “annual return to the regulator” of the sort companies lodge with CIPC. That is the gap the Bill sets out to close.
What the Regulation of Trusts Bill, 2026 proposes
The Bill is a comprehensive rewrite. The Trust Property Control Act dates from 1988 and, in the words of the Minister of Justice, has not been reviewed comprehensively in the 38 years since. The stated drivers are strengthening oversight by the Master’s Office, closing gaps that allow trustees to evade accountability, reducing the misuse of trust structures for money laundering, and aligning South Africa with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
For company secretaries, several of the proposed mechanisms stand out. Based on the Bill as published and early legal commentary on it, the draft would introduce:
- An annual return. Trustees would file a return each year containing prescribed information, reportedly within six months of the trust’s anniversary date. This is the headline change, and the one that most directly answers the forum question.
- Annual financial statements. Trustees would be required to prepare annual financial statements, though an audit would not be mandatory unless the trust deed requires one.
- A beneficial ownership register kept current. The existing register obligation would be carried forward, with updates required within a short window (reported as ten days) of any change.
- Electronic lodgement of trust deeds with the Master, with prescribed fees, and a rule that a trustee may not act on a deed amendment before it has been lodged.
- An independent trustee requirement for new trusts, alongside a codified prudent-investor standard for how trustees manage trust assets.
These specifics sit in a draft that is open for comment and may change before enactment, so they should be treated as the proposed direction rather than settled law. For existing trusts, the annual return obligation would reportedly begin within six months of the Bill being enacted, giving a transition runway rather than an immediate deadline.
Why this matters when a trust is on your share register
If a trust holds shares in a company you administer, these reforms reach into your work in three ways.
First, the trust’s own compliance calendar becomes busier and more formal, and the trustees who exercise the trust’s rights as a shareholder will be carrying more administrative load. Second, the emphasis on a current beneficial ownership register at the Master sits alongside the beneficial ownership a company must already disclose to CIPC where a trust is in the ownership chain, so the two regimes will need to tell a consistent story. Third, the independent-trustee and prudent-investor proposals may prompt clients to revisit how their trust-and-company structures are governed, which is exactly the kind of conversation a company secretary is well placed to lead.
What to do while the Bill is open
There is a genuine window to act rather than simply wait.
Review which of the trusts you touch, directly or through clients, would fall within the new obligations, and note where beneficial ownership information and financial records are not yet in a state that would support an annual return. Where you or your clients have a view on the proposals, the comment deadline of 11 September 2026 is the moment to make it heard through the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. And it is worth briefing clients now, before enactment, so that the eventual transition period is used for preparation rather than catch-up.
The bottom line
Trusts are not filing CIPC-style annual returns today, but the Regulation of Trusts Bill, 2026 would introduce an annual return, annual financial statements, and tighter oversight by the Master’s Office. The draft is open for public comment until 11 September 2026, and while its details may shift before it becomes law, the direction is unmistakable: trust administration is moving closer to the disciplined, recurring reporting cycle company secretaries already run for companies and close corporations.
For a fuller picture of how trusts intersect with company work, see our related guides on whether a trust can hold shares in a private company and how trust year-ends work, and our detailed guide to reflecting trust beneficiaries in beneficial ownership filings.
Intersect helps accountants and company secretaries keep CIPC and beneficial ownership filings accurate and on time from a single platform. As trust reporting becomes more formal, having company and beneficial ownership records in order is the best possible starting point, and we will keep tracking the Bill as it moves through the comment process.
This article is general information for company secretaries and compliance professionals and reflects the position as at August 2026. It is not legal advice, and the Regulation of Trusts Bill, 2026 remains in draft. Confirm current requirements before acting.
