A trust of property or income may be described as a fiduciary obligation imposed on a person to hold property or income for a particular purpose or purposes, or for the benefit of other persons or classes of persons who may or may not include the trustee. The fiduciary obligation may be imposed on the trustee either by the person establishing the trust, by another person, by court order or declaration, or by the operation of law. Although the trustee may hold legal title to property, the trustees compelled iniquity to deal with it in accordance with the express or implied terms of the trust. The executor or administrator of the deceased person’s state is not strictly the trustee of the state in two executor or real or administrative functions are completed, by an expanded definition of trustee. A company formed by the trustee of a wheel in accordance with its terms to carry out some or all of the trust’s purposes is not a trustee for tax purposes.
The official receiver in bankruptcy of insolvent deceased estate is a trustee, as is the receiver and manager of the assets of the company appointed by the debenture holders and a mortgage in possession. The trust will income tax purposes is property, or an interest in property, but is vested in and under the control of a person who is a trustee, and that produces income. The deceased estate is a trust pending completion of its administration and thereafter until the assets have been distributed to the beneficiaries. A person who has only limited powers to deal with property as intermediary for the legal owner is not a trustee of the trust. An agent who receives money for a principle is not a trustee. There are a number of examples of where courts have held a particular relationship to be a trust relationship.
Monies held under court order by solicitors acting as trustees pending the outcome of proceedings to determine who is entitled to the money is a trust. Compensation paid into an accident compensation fund the benefit of dependence of deceased workers is trust. Money paid in to a joint bank account on trust pending the determination of the parties respective entitlements contingent upon the occurrence of future events is a trust. Money stolen by an employee from his employer is held on constructive trust. These are all examples of the way the tax law treats particular types of trust is. It is very important to understand from a tax perspective whether or not a particular entity is a trust or some other entity, because different tax rates apply to different entities.
