Following recent engagements with the Durban Master’s Office and the Office of the Chief Master, members are advised of the correct process for lodging the Beneficial Ownership (BO) Register when registering or amending trust matters.
1. Trusts Registered via the DOJ Online Portal (currently only Pretoria and Johannesburg Master’s Offices)
When a trust is registered through the DOJ Online Trust Registration System, in terms of Chief Master’s Directive 2 of 2025, a full BO Register is automatically generated. This is because the online capturing process requires all beneficiary details to be completed upfront. In these cases, the practitioner does not need to upload a BO Register, but the trustee(s) will be prompted by a system-generated message to access the automatically generated information on the BOR and confirm its correctness.
2. Trusts Registered Manually at a Master’s Office
Where trust matters are registered directly at a Master’s Office (i.e., not via the online portal), the system generates only a partial BO Register. Practitioners must upload an amended and complete BO Register to ensure compliance. In this respect, please refer to Chief Master’s Directive 8 of 2023.
3. Access to Trust Matters
Access to the trust profile on the DOJ BOR system is granted to:
- The Main Contact listed on the J401 form, and
- All appointed trustees.
The system makes use of the provided e-mail addresses of the mentioned parties and as captured on the Master’s ICMS system. If a trustee is removed from the trust, their access is automatically revoked.
Where the Main Contact is also a trustee and is subsequently removed, the Main Contact details must be updated with the relevant Master’s Office to reflect the new authorised contact person.
Note that, even though access to these parties is automatically granted, they still need to first register a profile on the BOR system before they will be able to access the information or grant permission for access to anyone else requesting access. The e-mail address used to create this profile must match that provided to and captured by the Master.
4. Challenges with the BO Register
The Office of the Chief Master provided the following Teams link which is available daily on weekdays from 09:00 to 15:00, where practitioners will be assisted with any challenge they may have in respect of the BO Register.