31.—(1) Where under the terms of any settlement and during the life of the settlor any income, or assets representing it, will or may become payable or applicable to or for the benefit of any relative of the settlor and at the commencement of the year of assessment such relative is unmarried and has not attained 21 years of age, such income or assets are deemed to be income of the settlor and not income of any other person.
(2) If and so long as the terms of any settlement are such that —
(a)
any person has or may have power, whether immediately or in the future, and whether with or without the consent of any other person, to revoke or otherwise determine the settlement or any provision thereof; and
(b)
in the event of the exercise of the power, the settlor or the wife or husband of the settlor will or may become beneficially entitled to the whole or any part of the property then comprised in the settlement, or of the income arising from the whole or any part of the property so comprised,
all income arising under the settlement from the property comprised in the settlement is deemed to be income of the settlor and not income of any other person.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply by reason only that the settlor or the wife or husband of the settlor will or may become beneficially entitled to any income or property relating to the interest of any beneficiary under the settlement in the event that the beneficiary should die before him or her.
(4) Where in any year of assessment the settlor or any relative of the settlor or any person under the direct or indirect control of the settlor or of any of the settlor’s relatives, whether by borrowing or otherwise, makes use of any income arising or of any accumulated income which has arisen under a settlement to which he or she is not entitled thereunder, then the amount of such income or accumulated income so made use of is deemed to be income of the settlor for that year of assessment and not income of any other person.
(5) Where under the terms of any settlement to which this section applies, any tax is charged on and paid by the person by whom the settlement is made, that person is entitled to recover from any trustee or other person to whom income is paid under the settlement the amount of the tax so paid, and for that purpose to require the Comptroller to furnish a certificate specifying the amount of tax so paid; and any certificate so furnished is conclusive evidence of the facts appearing therein.
(6) If any question arises as to the amount of any payment of income or as to any apportionment of income under this section that question must be decided by the Comptroller whose decision is final.
(7) This section applies to every settlement wheresoever it was made or entered into and whether it was made or entered into before or after 1 January 1960 and (where there is more than one settlor or more than one person who made the settlement) has effect in relation to each settlor as if he or she were the only settlor.
(8) In this section —
“child” includes a stepchild, a child who has been de facto adopted by the settlor or by the husband or by the wife of the settlor, whether or not such adoption has been registered in accordance with the provisions of any written law, and a child of whom the settlor has the custody or whom the settlor maintains wholly or partly at his or her own expense;
“relative” means any person who is a wife, grandchild, child, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin of the settlor;
“settlement” includes any disposition, trust, covenant, agreement, whether reciprocal or collateral, arrangement or transfer of assets or income, but does not include —
(a)
a settlement which in the Comptroller’s opinion is made for valuable and adequate consideration;
(b)
a settlement resulting from an order of a court; or
(c)
any agreement made by an employer to pay to an employee or to the widow or any relative or dependant of such employee after the employee’s death such remuneration or pension or lump sum as in the Comptroller’s opinion is fair and reasonable;
“settlor”, in relation to a settlement, includes any person by whom the settlement was made or entered into, directly or indirectly, and any person who has provided or undertaken to provide funds or credit, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of the settlement, or has made with any other person a reciprocal arrangement for that other person to make or enter into the settlement.