Private ruling: Child maintenance trust - excepted trust income
Date of advice: 16 August 2016
Published: September 2016
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 2017 to Year ended 30 June 2025
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2016

Ruling: Q1: Will the child maintenance trust (CMT) satisfy the conditions set out in subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936)? | A1: Yes. | Q2: Will income from the CMT distributed to the children be excepted trust income under subsection 102AG(2) of the ITAA 1936? | A2: Yes, provided that neither subsection 102AG(3) or 102AG(4) of the ITAA 1936 apply to any transactions, agreements or arrangements entered into during the period this ruling applies to.

Relevant facts and circumstances: The parents were married and are now divorced. The parents do not expect to live together again on a genuine domestic basis. The parents have children (the children). Consent orders were made by the Family Court which, obligate Parent A to pay child support for the children. Parent A proposes the creation of a CMT for the benefit of the children. A copy of the proposed trust deed for the CMT was provided with your private ruling application. The terms of the trust set out in this draft deed form part of the relevant facts upon which this ruling is made. Parent A proposes to transfer cash into the CMT which will be invested by the trustee for the benefit of the children.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Division 6AA | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AC(1) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AC(2) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Section 102AG | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AG(2) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AG(2A) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AG(3) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AG(4) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 102AG(5)

Reasons for decision: Summary: Division 6AA of the ITAA 1936 ensures that special rates of tax and a lower tax free threshold apply in working out the basic income tax liability on taxable income, other than excepted income, derived by a prescribed person. A prescribed person is defined in subsection 102AC(1) of the ITAA 1936 to include any person, other than an excepted person (as defined in subsection 102AC(2)), who is under 18 years of age on the last day of the income year. Where the beneficiary of a trust is a prescribed person, Division 6AA of the ITAA 1936 will apply to so much of the beneficiary's share of the net income of the trust that is not excepted trust income (subsection 102AG(1)). Subsection 102AG(2) of the ITAA 1936 lists the various types of income of a trust estate which are excepted trust income in relation to the beneficiary of a trust estate. Relevantly for this ruling, an amount included in the assessable income of a trust estate is excepted trust income in relation to a beneficiary of the trust estate to the extent to which the amount is derived by the trustee of the trust estate from the investment of any property transferred to the trustee for the benefit of the beneficiary as the result of a family breakdown (subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii)). The Commissioner has set out his view of the requirements for a child maintenance trust to be productive of excepted trust income in Taxation Ruling 98/4 Income tax: child maintenance trust arrangements . Subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii) of the ITAA 1936 does not apply to except income from the investment of property transferred to a trustee for the benefit of a beneficiary unless the beneficiary of the trust concerned will, under the terms of the trust, acquire the trust property (other than as a trustee) when the trust ends (subsection 102AG(2A)) Alternatively, the property should pass to the beneficiary's estate should the beneficiary die before the end of the trust. Where any parties to an act or transaction directly or indirectly connected to the derivation of the excepted trust income are not dealing with each other at arm's length, subsection 102AG(3) of the ITAA 1936 will apply. This subsection will reduce the excepted trust income of the CMT to so much (if any) of that income as would have been derived had the parties been dealing on an arm's length basis. Subsection 102AG(4) of the ITAA 1936 provides that assessable income derived by a trustee is not excepted income if it results, directly or indirectly, under or as a result of an agreement that was entered into or carried out for the purpose, or for purposes that included the purpose, of securing that that assessable income would be excepted trust income. However, if the purpose of deriving excepted trust income is no more than merely incidental to setting up legitimate arrangements to satisfy an obligation to provide for the maintenance of a child, then the purpose is disregarded and the income may still be excepted (subsection 102AG(5)). | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances - Question 1: The CMT will satisfy the conditions set out in subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii) and subsection 102AG(2A) of the ITAA 1936 for the following reasons: • the children are prescribed persons, and • under the proposed deed: • the purpose of the CMT is to provide for the maintenance, support and benefit of the children as a result of family breakdown (clause 2.3) • the children are the only specified beneficiaries of the CMT (clause 3.1 and item 7 of the Schedule) • the power to appoint additional beneficiaries is limited such that any appointment will not cause the requirements of subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii) of the ITAA 1936 and subsection 102AG(2A) of the ITAA 1936 to be failed (clause 3.4(c)) • the income of the trust can only be accumulated for, or distributed to or for, the benefit of the children (clauses 4.2 to 4.4), and • property transferred to the CMT for the benefit of each of the children as a result of the family breakdown will be held exclusively for each of the children and can be distributed to only that child during or at the end of the trust (clause 5). | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances - Question 2: As the CMT satisfies the conditions set out in subparagraph 102AG(2)(c)(viii) and subsection 102AG(2A) of the ITAA 1936, the income derived from the investment of the money transferred into the CMT for the benefit of each child due to the family breakdown will be excepted trust income unless the anti-avoidance provisions in subsections 102AG(3) or 102AG(4) apply. The proposed transactions or agreements have not yet taken place or been entered into, therefore the Commissioner is unable to rule unequivocally that all of the income derived by the CMT will be excepted trust income. Additionally, to do so would depend on assumptions being made about those proposed transactions or agreements.