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Johannesburg - There was still no clarity from the SA Revenue Service (Sars) or
the Master's Office on alternatives to replace the use of revenue
stamps, the Fiduciary Institute of SA (Fisa) said on Tuesday.
Fisa said in a statement it had hoped that clarity would have
been provided in the Government Gazette on Friday last week.
This, however, was not the case.
"The Stamp Duties Act was initially abolished with effect from
March 31 2009, but this date was extended to October 31 2009, to
allow time for government departments using revenue stamps to
introduce alternative measures," said Aaron Roup, Fisa secretary.
"To date the Master's Office of the High Court and Sars have
failed to propose how documents such as trust deeds can be lodged,
and the registration fee, as stipulated in the regulations to the
Trust Property Control Act, can be paid," he said.
Roup said that without the relevant legal authority to transact,
members of the public and fiduciary practitioners, acting as
nominees for corporate trustees of trusts awaiting registration,
would be prevented from transacting in the name of the trust.
Jeopardising transactions
This could cause delays and jeopardise possible transactions
involving the trust.
"This could in turn lead to financial losses being incurred by
the trust, based on the delay in issuing the legal documents to
effectively administer the trust," Roup said.
The abolition of stamp duty was likely to have a major impact on
the Master's Office, "which is already in administrative chaos", he
said.
According to Fisa, the situation was "untenable".
"At issue is how to transact with the Master's Office in order
to register a trust deed," Roup said.
He said the Stamp Duties Act no longer existed and the
regulations to the Trust Property Control Act stated that the only
way to register a trust was to affix revenue stamps of R100 for the
deed and R4.50 for a certified copy.
However from October 31, such stamps could no longer be used and
franking machines would have been decommissioned by law.
"What needs to have happened was an amendment of the relevant
clauses in the regulations attached to the Trust Property Control
Act, which could have been effected by a simple proclamation in the
Government Gazette," Roup said.
- Sapa