A discretionary family trust with Father, Mother and a 15-year old Child as beneficiaries, holds a building with two premises – the first leased to an arm's length tenant; and the second, to a professional corporation of Father and Mother. Could the split income tax be avoided if the trust distributed only the income from the first premises to Child, and the income from the second premises to Mother? In concluding (per the summary) "Yes, when the trust indenture allows such attribution [sic, allocation and distribution]," CRA stated (TaxInterpretations translation):
In some instances, the deed of trust permits the allocation to two separate beneficiaries of the income derived from a building, so that one portion of the income, which complies with the conditions in clause (c)(ii)(C) of the "split income" definition in subsection 120.4(1), can be distributed to a specified individual even though the other portion of the income does not so comply. In such a situation, we are of the view that only the part of the income distributed to a specified individual that it is reasonable to consider as income described by clause (c)(ii)(C)of the definition of "split income" in subsection 120.4 would be considered as "split income" for the purposes of subsection 120.4(1).