2020 Delaware Code
Title 12 - Decedents' Estates and Fiduciary Relations
Chapter 33. Administrative Provisions
§ 3344 Income tax reimbursement or payment.

(a) Unless the terms of the governing instrument expressly provide otherwise, if the trustor of a trust is treated under 26 U.S.C. § 671 et seq. as the owner of all or part of the trust, the trustee (other than a trustee who is the trustor or a person who is a “related or subordinate party” with respect to the trustor within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 672(c)) may, in the trustee's sole discretion, or at the direction or with the consent of an adviser (who is not the trustor or a person who is a “related or subordinate party” with respect to the trustor within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 672(c)), reimburse the trustor for any amount of the trustor's personal federal or state income tax liability that is attributable to the inclusion of the trust's income, capital gains, deductions, and credits in the calculation of the trustor's taxable income. The trustee may pay such amount to the trustor directly or may pay such amount to an appropriate taxing authority on the trustor's behalf, as the trustee determines in the trustee's sole discretion. No policy of insurance on the trustor's life held in the trust nor the cash value of any such policy nor the proceeds of any loan secured by an interest in the policy may be used to reimburse the trustor or to pay an appropriate taxing authority on the trustor's behalf. Neither the trustee's power to make payments to, or for the benefit of, the trustor under this section, nor the trustee's decision to exercise such power in favor of the trustor, shall cause the trustor to be treated as a beneficiary of the trust for purposes of § 3536(c) of this title or for other purposes of Delaware law.

(b) If the application of this section to a trust would reduce a charitable deduction otherwise available to any person for state or federal income, gift, or estate tax purposes, the provisions of this section shall not apply to the trust.