ALLOCATION OF DISBURSEMENTS DURING ADMINISTRATION OF TRUST

Iowa Code tit. XV, ch. 637, subch. V

in effect

Iowa Code § 637.501 Disbursements from income.

637.501. Disbursements from income. A trustee shall make disbursements from income, to the extent that they are not disbursements to which section 637.201, subsection 2, paragraph “b” or “c”, applies, according to the following: 1. One-half of the regular compensation of the trustee and of any person providing investment advisory or custodial services to the trustee. 2. One-half of all expenses for accountings, judicial proceedings, or other matters that involve both the income and remainder interests. 3. All of the other ordinary expenses incurred in connection with the administration, management, or preservation of trust property and the distribution of income, including interest, ordinary repairs, regularly recurring taxes assessed against principal, and expenses of a proceeding or other matter that concerns primarily the income interest. 4. Recurring premiums on insurance covering the loss of a principal asset or the loss of income from or use of the asset. 99 Acts, ch 124, §24

Iowa Code § 637.502 Disbursements from principal.

637.502. Disbursements from principal. 1. A trustee shall make disbursements from principal according to the following: a. The remaining one-half of the disbursements described in section 637.501, subsections 1 and 2. b. All of the trustee’s compensation calculated on principal as an acceptance, distribution, or termination fee, and disbursements made to prepare property for sale. c. Payments on the principal of a trust debt. d. Expenses of a proceeding that concerns primarily principal, including a proceeding to construe the trust or to protect the trust or its property. e. Insurance premiums paid on a policy not described in section 637.501, subsection 4, of which the trust is the owner and beneficiary. f. Estate, inheritance, and other transfer taxes, including penalties, apportioned to the trust. g. Disbursements related to environmental matters, including reclamation, assessing environmental conditions, remedying and removing environmental contamination, monitoring remedial activities and the release of substances, preventing future releases of substances, collecting amounts from persons liable or potentially liable for the costs of those activities, penalties imposed under environmental laws or regulations and other payments made to comply with those laws or regulations, statutory or common law claims by third parties, and defending claims based on environmental matters. 2. If a trust owns a policy of insurance on the life of an individual and the trust is not the beneficiary of the policy, premiums paid on the policy are a distribution from principal to the policy beneficiary. 3. If a principal asset is encumbered with an obligation that requires income from that asset to be paid directly to the creditor, the trustee shall transfer from principal to income an amount equal to the income paid to the creditor in reduction of the obligation’s principal balance. 99 Acts, ch 124, §25

Iowa Code § 637.503 Transfers from income to principal for depreciation.

637.503. Transfers from income to principal for depreciation. 1. For purposes of this section, “depreciation” means a reduction in value of a fixed asset having a useful life of more than one year due to wear, tear, decay, corrosion, or gradual obsolescence. 2. A trustee may transfer to principal a reasonable amount of the net cash receipts from a principal asset that is subject to depreciation, but a transfer shall not be made for depreciation under any of the following circumstances: a. When the depreciation involves the portion of real property used or available for use by a beneficiary as a residence, or tangible personal property held or made available for the personal use or enjoyment of a beneficiary. b. When the depreciation occurs during the administration of a decedent’s estate. c. If the trustee is accounting under section 637.403 for the business or activity in which the asset is used. 3. An amount transferred to principal need not be held as a separate fund. 99 Acts, ch 124, §26

Iowa Code § 637.504 Transfers from income to reimburse principal.

637.504. Transfers from income to reimburse principal. 1. If a trustee makes or expects to make a principal disbursement described in this section, the trustee may transfer an appropriate amount from income to principal in one or more accounting periods to reimburse principal or to provide a reserve for future principal disbursements. 2. Principal disbursements to which subsection 1 applies include all of the following, but only to the extent that the trustee has not been and does not expect to be reimbursed by a third party: a. An amount chargeable to income but paid from principal because it is unusually large, including extraordinary repairs. b. A capital improvement to a principal asset, whether in the form of changes to an existing asset or the construction of a new asset, including special assessments. c. Disbursements made to prepare property for rental, including leasehold improvements and broker’s commissions. d. Periodic payments on an obligation secured by a principal asset to the extent that the amount transferred from income to principal for depreciation is less than the periodic payments. e. Disbursements described in section 637.502, subsection 1, paragraph “g”. 3. If the asset whose ownership gives rise to the disbursements becomes subject to a successive income interest after an income interest ends, a trustee may continue to transfer amounts from income to principal as provided in subsection 1. 99 Acts, ch 124, §27

Iowa Code § 637.505 Income taxes.

637.505. Income taxes. 1. A tax required to be paid by a trustee based on receipts allocated to income must be paid from income. 2. A tax required to be paid by a trustee based on receipts allocated to principal must be paid from principal, even if the tax is called an income tax by the taxing authority. 3. A tax required to be paid by a trustee on the trust’s share of an entity’s taxable income must be paid according to all of the following principles: a. From income, to the extent that receipts from the entity are allocated only to income. b. From principal, to the extent that receipts from the entity are allocated only to principal. c. Proportionately from principal and income to the extent that receipts from the entity are allocated to both income and principal. d. From principal to the extent that the tax exceeds the total receipts from the entity. 4. After applying subsections 1 through 3, the trustee shall adjust income or principal receipts to the extent that the taxes of the trust are reduced because the trust receives a deduction for payments made to a beneficiary. 99 Acts, ch 124, §28; 2009 Acts, ch 52, §13, 14

Iowa Code § 637.506 Adjustments between principal and income because of taxes.

637.506. Adjustments between principal and income because of taxes. 1. A fiduciary may make adjustments between principal and income to offset the shifting of economic interests or tax benefits between income beneficiaries and remainder beneficiaries which arise from any of the following: a. Elections and decisions, other than those described in subsection 2, that the fiduciary makes from time to time regarding tax matters. b. An income tax or any other tax that is imposed upon the fiduciary or a beneficiary as a result of a transaction involving or a distribution from the estate or trust. c. The ownership by an estate or trust of an interest in an entity whose taxable income, whether or not distributed, is includable in the taxable income of the estate, trust, or a beneficiary. 2. If the amount of an estate tax marital deduction or charitable contributions deduction is reduced because a fiduciary deducts an amount that is paid from principal for income tax purposes instead of deducting it for estate tax purposes, and as a result estate taxes paid from principal are increased and income taxes paid by an estate, trust, or beneficiary are decreased, each estate, trust, or beneficiary that benefits from the decrease in income tax shall reimburse the principal from which the increase in estate tax is paid. The total reimbursement must equal the increase in the estate tax to the extent that the principal used to pay the increase would have qualified for a marital deduction or charitable contributions deduction but for the payment. The proportionate share of the reimbursement for each estate, trust, or beneficiary whose income taxes are reduced must be the same as its proportionate share of the total decrease in income tax. An estate or trust shall reimburse principal from income. 99 Acts, ch 124, §29

Source: Iowa Legislature (legis.iowa.gov)URL: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/law/iowaCode/sections?codeChapter=637&year=2026Fetched: 10/20/2026