The Commissioner of Taxation has forwarded the following memorandum for advice:

Will you be so good as to favour me with your advice as to whether minors are taxable under the provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1915.

So far as the Act itself is concerned the application of the word 'person' would appear to cover infants but it is possible that the matter is governed by another statute of which I am unaware.

There however seems to be little doubt that where minors have a vested interest they are taxable thereon; where they have a contingent interest solely, and are receiving income at the discretion of the trustees the position may be different.

As a general rule there appears to be nothing in the Acts to prevent the taxation of minors.

Provided that he has derived an income in any year exceeding £156, a minor is liable to taxation (see decision of Court of Appeal in Rex v. Newmarket Income Tax Commissioners; Ex parte Huxley 85 L.J.K.B. 925). In a trust estate, where a minor beneficiary has a present right to income and is paid his share of the income by the trustee, he is, if the income paid to him exceeds £156, in my opinion, liable to taxation on the amount received by him.

With regard to the case where the beneficiary has no present right to the receipt of income but is dependent on the trustee, so much depends upon the terms of each will and the particular facts of each case, that it is inadvisable to give any opinion on the question except where a specific case is referred to me.

[Vol. 15,p. 124]