§ Mr. GERALD HURSTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what provisions, if any, of the Income Tax Acts do the Commissioners of Inland Revenue claim to be entitled to refuse repayment of Income Tax on the income of a fund held in trust, for an infant contingently on his attaining the age of 21 years where the total income produced by the fund is less than £135 a year; and, if there are no such provisions, whether he will give instructions that claims to such repayment shall be promptly attended to?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLIncome from a trust fund which is directed to be accumulated for a minor contingently on his attaining the age of 21 years is not regarded as his income for Income Tax purposes until he takes a vested interest in the fund on attaining that age, except to the extent to which the income may be expended on his maintenance and education during minority. In this connection, I would invite my hon. Friend's attention to the provisions of Section 25 of the Income Tax Act, 1918, under which, on the contingency arising, the minor becomes entitled to treat retrospectively the income accumulated in each year as though it were his own income for Income Tax purposes, and to make an Income Tax claim or to revise any claims which may have been made during the period of accumulation, including in his statement of total income the income which has accumulated for him year by year. Such a claim may be made within six years after the end of the year in which the contingency happens and may cover the whole period of accumulation, whatever its length.