SARS has significantly increased its scrutiny of trust administration. What’s more, from the beginning of May 2026, automated administrative penalties apply to all non-compliant trusts – without exception.
Whether a trust is active or dormant, the trustees have a legal obligation to comply with SARS requirements, and the consequences of failing to do so are now immediate and ongoing.
All trusts must:
Trustees act as representative taxpayers of a trust in terms of the Income Tax Act and personally bear sole responsibility for ensuring full compliance.
This includes maintaining accurate trust information, ensuring that all legal and tax obligations are met, and initiating deregistration processes for trusts that meet the applicable criteria.
From 4 May 2026, SARS will issue a penalty assessment notice for all outstanding trust income tax returns for tax periods from 2024 onwards.
Designed to encourage compliance, these penalties are applied consistently, recurring monthly until non-compliance is corrected. Monthly administrative penalties may range from R250 to R16,000 per outstanding return, depending on the trust’s taxable income for the preceding year and will accumulate until the non-compliance is corrected, up to a maximum of 35 months.
It doesn’t stop there. SARS may in specific circumstances hold trustees personally liable for the trust’s tax debts, and trustees are individually and jointly liable for the trust’s tax compliance.
In addition, non-compliance with SARS obligations may be regarded as a criminal offence and will attract penalties and interest. Trustees who fail to act face penalties, interest, and potential criminal charges.
SARS requires all registered resident trusts, without exception (and certain qualifying non-resident trusts), to meet the range of ongoing obligations.
A trust’s tax compliance obligations only come to an end once it has been formally deregistered with SARS. Until this process is finalised, the trust remains active for tax purposes and is exposed to penalties for continued non-compliance.
Where a trust is no longer being used for its intended purpose, trustees are encouraged to formally terminate the trust. The first step is to regularise the trust’s tax affairs by submitting all outstanding returns, settling all tax liabilities, and updating all trust information.
Thereafter the trust can be formally terminated through the Office of the Master of the High Court. Once the Master has issued written confirmation of termination, trustees can ask SARS to deregister the trust for income tax purposes.
“Leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behaviour.” (Brené Brown, Dare to Lead)
Running a business is a human endeavour, and as such, every business leader will eventually find themselves faced with a skilled, reliable employee who starts showing signs that something is deeply wrong outside of work. Maybe their performance dips suddenly, or perhaps they’re distracted, tearful, or inexplicably short-tempered? Maybe they even come to you directly and share something deeply private? In that moment, you’re no longer just an employer managing output and payroll. You become, whether you’re ready for it or not, a human being navigating someone else’s pain. The way small business owners handle these moments has a profound effect not only on the individual concerned, but on team morale, workplace culture, and the long-term health of the business itself. Here’s what you need to do.
The first, and often hardest, step is simply opening the door. Many managers notice something is wrong but say nothing, hoping it will resolve itself. If you observe a genuine change in an employee’s behaviour or performance, it is important that you request a quiet, private meeting and approach it gently.
Avoid framing it as a performance issue at this stage. Instead, lead with concern, “I’ve noticed you haven’t seemed yourself lately. Is everything okay?” That single question can be transformative. It signals that you see the person, not just the output. During this conversation you should simply listen, acknowledge what you are hearing and resist the temptation to offer advice or opinions. In short, be a decent human rather than a boss.
Once you understand the situation, it’s important to consider both your legal responsibilities and your personal boundaries. Depending on the nature of the crisis, you may have obligations around statutory sick pay, flexible working requests, or reasonable adjustments. Reread your employment contracts and HR policies. If your business doesn’t yet have clear wellbeing policies, this is a timely moment to create them. We will be able to help you establish budgets for contingencies such as freelancer assistance or added sick leave.
Equally, be honest with yourself about what you can and cannot provide. You are not a counsellor, and it is neither fair nor appropriate to position yourself as one. Pointing the employee towards professional support, your Employee Assistance Programme if you have one, or external resources is neither cold nor unreasonable.
Once the initial conversation has taken place, work collaboratively with your employee to agree on a short-term plan. This might involve a temporary reduction in hours, a period of remote working, adjusted responsibilities, or a phased return following their absence. The key word here is collaboratively. Imposing a solution, however well-intentioned, can feel patronising and could risk legal issues. Asking what would help communicates respect and encourages autonomy at a moment when the person may feel they have very little control over their own life. Document whatever is agreed, not to create a paper trail, but to give both parties clarity and to prevent misunderstandings further down the line.
Whatever an employee chooses to disclose, they are placing enormous trust in you. Do not share the details of their situation with colleagues or outsiders, even with the best intentions. If their absence or change in role requires some explanation to the wider team, keep it vague: “[Name] is dealing with a personal matter and we’re supporting them through it.” That is sufficient. Even well-meaning gossip can be devastating to someone already feeling vulnerable. And it also sends a powerful signal to every other member of your team about how their own confidences might be handled in the future.
Once a plan is in place, maintain regular, low-pressure contact. A brief message or a five-minute conversation every week or two shows continued care without adding pressure. There is a meaningful difference between checking in and checking up, which can feel like surveillance. As time passes, gently begin to reintegrate normal expectations, always communicating changes clearly and compassionately rather than simply shifting the goalposts.
Employees who are supported through personal crises often emerge more committed, more resilient, and more loyal than before. That outcome doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because someone in a position of authority chose to lead with humanity.
“Small business success in this economy isn’t about the ‘next big thing’ in tech; it’s about the ‘next small thing'” (Isabel Guzman)
It’s no secret that doing business has undergone significant overhauls over the last few years. The invention of AI, and the backlash to it, have led to an increase in automation, and, in turn, a recognition that customers are now more likely than ever to value the personal touch. It’s a grand shift that might leave many small business owners uncertain just where they should be putting their energy. So how do you not only navigate this environment but actually come out more profitable?
Taking a close look at successful small businesses, it’s easy to see that there are three pillars that are often responsible for allowing independent owners to thrive in these difficult market conditions.
A clear trend has emerged where successful small businesses have started treating administrative tasks as a direct tax on their time and profit. Instead of hiring a part-time assistant or spending hours manually answering the same five questions on social media, owners are implementing “Admin-Zero” frameworks. This involves using micro-automation for customer FAQs, booking confirmations, and initial intake processes so you can focus on more personal and impactful areas.
The barrier to entry for these tools has collapsed. Even a single-chair barbershop or a mom-and-pop consultancy can now use AI-driven frameworks as efficient alternatives to conventional manual procedures. This means that employee time is being saved in countless small ways daily. Spending that time on more productive behaviour like nurturing networks or driving sales has exponential benefits.
Volatility is one of the primary enemies of small businesses. To combat this, many business owners are adopting “Service Club” memberships, a model that functions as “cash flow insurance.” Customers are being encouraged to pay a modest monthly fee to receive priority bookings, a small monthly perk, or an annual benefit or service.
This model shifts the customer relationship from transactional to relational. It ensures the business remains top-of-mind for the consumer while providing the owner with a financial safety net. In 2026, many of the businesses that thrive are those that have successfully converted a portion of their expected monthly income into a “subscriber base,” effectively insuring themselves against the quiet weeks that traditionally break a small business’ back.
Working out what incentives you can offer clients in return for long-term support should be a priority for all small business owners. Your accountant can help you to both determine what incentives you would be able to offer over the long-term, as well as assist in determining the subscription prices for these services. Remember, cash flow and the ability to maintain these offerings are essential to the scheme’s success.
Marketing has also changed. Much of today’s most effective marketing isn’t happening on the algorithm, it’s happening on the sidewalk. “Neighbourhood stacking” is the practice of collaborative loyalty loops between physical neighbours. A local cafe, a boutique, and a bookstore create a closed-loop ecosystem where a purchase at one grants a specific, meaningful benefit at the others. This leverages what many call the “golden dome” of local trust.
This hyper-local synergy keeps consumer spending within the immediate community. Now, this trend is also expanding into service businesses, and through the freelancing community. For instance, a copywriter, designer and project manager may agree to offer a 15% discount on each other’s services in exchange for the initial hire of one of them.
By “stacking” their influence, small businesses create a combined value proposition that rivals the convenience and economies of scale of much larger companies. Most customers prefer to buy local – provided the price is right.
If you’re worried about the drain discounting will have on your bottom line, remember that these losses are more than mitigated by the fact that you’ve been able to reduce the cost of customer acquisition to near zero.
“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” (Dave Ramsey)
The unprecedented volatility of 2026 has brought about geopolitical disruption, volatile markets, rand weakness and rising input costs. This places real pressure on South African businesses of every size.
In addition, for businesses with international invoices, rand volatility can turn a profitable deal into a loss overnight if the rand weakens between order and payment, or the cost of goods skyrockets.
In this unpredictable economic climate, meaningful and closely monitored budgets are still the foundation on which sound business decisions are made.
Is my business achieving its targets? Where is my team underperforming? What if supplier costs increase by 10%? What happens if income drops by 5%? How to pivot?
Fundamentally important questions like these can all be answered by effective budgeting.
While their primary purpose is tracking and measuring income, expenditure and cashflow, effective budgets also deliver many other benefits. Having a budget to refer to makes scenario planning easier, helps you to optimise resources, and shows whether your resources and business goals are aligned. The bottom line? Budgeting encourages informed business decision-making and faster responses to market changes.
In volatile markets, budgeting is much more important than usual. Here are some tips for not only surviving the storm, but hopefully coming out of it in stronger shape.
A well-structured and regularly reviewed budget gives your business the clarity and agility to navigate disruption, manage shortfalls, and seize opportunity. It aligns your resources with your strategy, strengthens decision-making, and builds the financial resilience your business needs to weather ongoing uncertainty and emerge stronger.
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” (Peter Drucker, Author of “The Effective Executive”, 1966)
“Invisible work” is the non-value-added tasks that act as a hidden tax on your profit and growth. It is the friction within your business that consumes overheads, mental energy, and time, yet remains entirely imperceptible to your clients. This work is dangerous because at times it can feel like accomplishment, despite being the exact opposite for your bottom line.
While you might feel a sense of control after colour-coding a spreadsheet or reorganising a filing system, these activities often provide a false sense of security. They allow you to avoid the harder, more vulnerable work of selling and innovating. To scale effectively, you must ruthlessly audit where your hours go. If a customer wouldn’t pay an extra rand for the specific task you’re performing, it’s likely a drain on your business rather than a pillar of it.
Administrative overhead is a silent killer of momentum. Small business owners often get lost in a maze of excessive record-keeping and non-essential paperwork. While a certain level of documentation is necessary for legal compliance and basic order, many entrepreneurs often confuse being busy with being productive.
For example, these days it’s possible to create complex tracking systems for data that is never actually analysed and file reports that no one reads. This administrative labyrinth creates a drag on the business. Every hour you spend navigating self-imposed red tape is an hour lost to high-level strategy or direct customer acquisition. Make sure you review your administrative systems periodically with an eye to eliminating unnecessary tasks and driving simplification. Rather focus on the metrics that actually deliver growth.
There is a pervasive myth that “going the extra mile” is always beneficial. However, in the world of profitability, over-servicing is an illusion of quality that often leads to margin erosion. Wasting time on extras that customers don’t actually value, care about or pay for is pretty pointless.
As Michael E. Gerber points out, “The product is what your customer feels as he walks out of your business.” If the customer does not feel or acknowledge the value of your extra effort, you are effectively paying to work. Trust is built on delivering what was promised consistently, not on adding unrequested flourishes that increase your workload without increasing your price point.
If you are struggling to isolate these points in your service, your accountant can help by drawing up a document indicating the costs aligned to each service you offer and give you advice as to which areas may not be delivering on their effort.
Internal communication has become invisible work’s most socially accepted disguise. Endless Slack threads debating terminology, reply-all email chains seeking “alignment”, and recurring status meetings that produce no decisions may all feel collaborative but rarely generate customer-facing results.
Research consistently shows that knowledge workers spend a disproportionate share of the workday on internal coordination rather than value creation. For small business owners, this cost is amplified: every hour spent managing internal noise is an hour stolen from selling, building, or serving. It’s vital that you ruthlessly audit your communication habits. If a meeting or message thread doesn’t move a deliverable forward, get rid of it.
To break free from the trap of invisible work, you must pivot your focus toward high-value tasks: sales, strategy, and direct customer engagement. This requires the courage to stop doing the low-value tasks that have become your comfort zone.
As the father of modern management, Peter Drucker, emphasized, the focus must first be on doing the right things, and then on doing them well. Reclaiming your time means learning to say no.
“A small business is an amazing way to serve and leave an impact on the world you live in.” (Nicole Snow)
Small business owners looking to sell their business or interest in a business as part of their retirement planning will be glad to know that meaningful tax relief has been provided for them in the 2026 National Budget.
Among other measures to support businesses, National Treasury raised the capital gains tax exemption for the sale of a small business for older persons (55+) from R1.8 million to R2.7 million, a long-overdue adjustment for inflation and rising asset values.
The higher exemption also applies to more businesses than it did before. Where small businesses used to be defined as those valued at R10 million or less, the limit has been increased to R15 million.
First check if you meet the bare minimum requirements:
Given the complexity of this determination and SARS’ requirement that relief must be determined on an asset-by-asset basis, professional tax assistance is highly recommended.
Many small business owners rely on the eventual sale of their business as their primary retirement asset.
This tax relief can support succession planning, intergenerational transfers, and smart business exits, particularly for family-owned businesses. It encourages the sale of businesses, effectively unlocking capital and allowing for business continuity or reinvestment into the economy.
Of course, the additional tax-free capital gain will also meaningfully boost your retirement security after years of building a business.
If you’re considering retiring or selling soon, it’s worth reviewing your timing with a tax advisor. We can assist you in reviewing your business valuation, assessing your CGT exposure and structure and timing your exit correctly to make the most of this meaningful tax exemption.
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” (Idiom)
Most founders track revenue growth. Fewer track where that revenue comes from. Client concentration risk arises when a single customer, or a small cluster of customers, accounts for a disproportionate share of revenue. In some industries it can be natural to have larger customers, especially in business-to-business markets with long-term contracts. But as dependency grows, revenue becomes fragile in ways that aren’t obvious from top-line growth figures.
Having many of your eggs in one basket exposes you to sudden revenue shocks if a key client reduces orders, delays payment, or – horror of horrors – ends the relationship. The “40% Rule” is a practical red flag used by bankers, acquirers, and investors: if a small group of clients contribute 40% or more of total revenue, the business carries material concentration risk.
This article unpacks why 40% matters, how it influences due diligence, and what business owners can do to reduce exposure without destabilising current income.
The “40% Rule” is not an ironclad regulation, but a pragmatic benchmark widely used in finance, banking, and valuation circles. When one or two clients account for around 40% or more of revenue, credit committees, acquirers, and investors often treat it as a material concentration risk. Above this level, the loss of a single account can eliminate a large portion of expected cash flow, put pressure on fixed costs, and lead to breaches of debt covenants.
If you pass the 40% mark, lenders may become cautious or impose stricter terms on financing. This makes sense, as your ability to pay them back is contingent on a relationship they cannot control.
The financial impact of client concentration extends beyond headline revenue figures. Concentrated revenue makes cash flow volatile and forecasting uncertain. One delayed payment or unexpected order reduction from a large client can create immediate cash flow problems, especially where fixed costs such as payroll and rent are significant. Beyond the risk issues, a dominant client can also gain leverage in pricing and contract negotiations, which can erode margins quietly over time.
This risk can go beyond the pure financials. When one client drives a large share of revenue, internal and external decisions can begin to revolve around that relationship. Product development may align too closely with the needs of your largest client, diverting focus from broader market requirements. Marketing and sales efforts can end up prioritising retention of that client at the expense of diversifying the portfolio.
For owners considering a sale or seeking external capital, client concentration can have a significant effect on valuation. Buyers and investors seek predictable, diversified revenue streams. A company with a single client contributing a large share of its revenue is often seen as riskier.
The 40% threshold often becomes a pivot point in negotiations. Buyers may discount offers or tie price adjustments to post-acquisition retention of key clients. Similarly, lenders pricing credit facilities take concentration into account. Companies with high concentration may face higher interest rates, tighter covenants, or requirements for collateral. In extreme cases, banks may refuse financing until concentration metrics improve.
Addressing concentration risk starts with measurement. Your accountant can help you calculate the percentage of revenue each client contributes, as well as the combined share of the top five clients. Monitoring trends over multiple quarters helps identify whether concentration is rising as a natural business outcome or creeping up unnoticed.
Strategic actions to reduce concentration are most effective when pursued deliberately and gradually. This could involve targeted business development efforts to land new clients, segment diversification to broaden revenue sources, or pricing strategies that balance revenue concentration without sacrificing profitability. Diversification need not diminish the value of large clients. It’s about strengthening the overall revenue base so that losing any one account does not destabilise the organisation.
Client concentration risk is a silent strategic threat that often hides behind strong revenue figures. Reaching the 40% threshold can transform a seemingly healthy business into one that is vulnerable to external decisions and internal inertia.
