“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
We all know there exists a genuine need for financial assistance in South Africa across so many spheres of our society and we are often reminded that without the help of the ordinary citizens of the country, many people have no hope – and without hope, there is nothing.
The Personal Trust Foundation is a single trust which was established some years ago to enable clients to make a meaningful contribution to society in a sustainable way. The intention was to be able to offer clients all the tax benefits of having their own small charitable trust without the costs involved in setting up and administering one.
Since its inception, the Foundation has been extremely active in providing charities and organizations with much needed financial support. The Foundation can accept donations made during a client’s lifetime as well as contributions in the form of lump sum bequests from clients in terms of their Will or regular monthly donations by stop or debit order.
The tax advantages of making donations via the charitable foundation include:
- No income tax on income earned by the trust
- No capital gains tax on gains made by the trust
- Any amount bequeathed to the trust on death is free of estate duty
- Donations to the trust are free of donations tax and deductible against other taxable income of the donor (up to certain limits)
Important Features of the Foundation
- Clients can either make provision for bequests in their Wills or can build up a fund during their lifetime through regular or ad-hoc contributions
- Funds invested through the Personal Trust Charitable Foundation will be administered under separate portfolios in accordance with the wishes of the individual donors
- The income generated from the individual portfolios will then be used to support charities, religious or educational bodies of the donor’s choice, both during their lifetime and after.
- Both income and capital can be used, depending on the donor’s wishes.
The Foundation is registered for Income Tax purposes as a Public Benefit Organisation and for Section 18(A) purposes. This means that not only are the donations and bequests free of donations tax and estate duty but any donation is also deductible for income tax (up to a maximum of 10% of taxable income). Whilst Personal Trust manage the underlying investments per sub-account, the umbrella Trust structure ensures that administration costs are well controlled.
The trustees of the Foundation are Philip Pinchin and Mosa le Roux, who will represent the interests of donors, and John le Roux and Lorraine White as nominees of Personal Trust (Pty) Limited.
Should you be interested in donating or bequeathing funds to the Foundation, please contact Gavin Ashwell on 021 689 8975.
Our grateful thanks to those clients that have utilized the Foundation for the long term benefit of others.
The Personal Trust Foundation (IT 3408/2008) (PBO # 930029135)
Financial Highlights of the Foundation for the year ending 28 February 2020
- Funds under management: R45.2m (2019: R25.6m)
- Total Income: R1 239 080 (2019: R1 106 524
- Net income after expenses available for distribution: R1 084 979 (2019: R943 954)
2020 Beneficiaries
The following organizations received contributions from the Charitable Foundation during the past financial year.
