A trust is a "person" for tax purposes and is therefore a taxpayer in its own right. The ITR12T must be completed and submitted by the trustees of the trust, or the tax practitioner appointed by the trustee(s).

The following special trust types are recognized for tax purposes:

• "Special Trust" – Type A: the trust is created solely for the benefit of one or more person who is a relative of the founder and has a disability as defined in section 6B (1) and such disability incapacitates such person from earning sufficient income for their maintenance, or from managing their own financial affairs. In order to be classified as a Special trust – Type A approval must be obtained from SARS.
• "Special Trust" - Type B: the trust is created in terms of the will of a deceased person solely for the benefit of beneficiaries who are his/her relatives, who are alive at the time of death, and of which the youngest is under the age of 18 at the end of the year of assessment.
• Collective Investment Schemes - A scheme, in whatever form, including an open-ended investment company where members of the public are invited to invest money or other assets in a portfolio, and in terms of which two or more investors contribute money and hold a participatory interest in a portfolio of the scheme through shares, units or any other form of participatory interest. The investors share the risk and the benefit of investment in proportion to their

Participatory interest in a portfolio of a scheme or on any other basis determined in the deed.

Source: SARS