PART VI COLLECTION AND RECOVERY
60 Issue of demand notes and receipts.
(1)
Every collector shall, when the tax becomes due and payable, make demand of the respective sums given to him in charge to collect, from the persons charged therewith, or at the places of their last abode, or on the premises in respect of which the tax is charged, as the case may require.
(2)
On payment of the tax, the collector shall if so requested give a receipt.
Distraint and poinding
61 Distraint by collectors.
(1)
If a person neglects or refuses to pay the sum charged, upon demand made by the collector, F1the collector may distrain upon the goods and chattels of the person charged (in this section referred to as “the person in default”.
(2)
For the purpose of levying any such distress, F2a justice of the peace, on being satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable ground for believing that a person is neglecting or refusing to pay a sum charged, may issue a warrant in writing authorising a collector to break open, in the daytime, any house or premises, calling to his assistance any constable.
Every such constable shall, when so required, aid and assist the collector in the execution of the warrant and in levying the distress in the house or premises.
(3)
A levy or warrant to break open shall be executed by, or under the direction of, and in the presence of, the collector.
(4)
A distress levied by the collector shall be kept for five days, at the costs and charges of a person F3in default.
(5)
If the person F4in default does not pay the sum due, together with the costs and charges F5. . . , the distress shall be appraised by F6one or more independent persons appointed by the collector, and shall be sold by public auction by the collector for payment of the sum due and all costs and charges.
F7. . . Any overplus coming by the distress, after the deduction of the costs and charges and of the sum due, shall be restored to the owner of the goods distrained.
F8(6)
The Treasury may by regulations make provision with respect to—
(a)
the fees chargeable on or in connection with the levying of distress, and
(b)
the costs and charges recoverable where distress has been levied;
and any such regulations shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.
F9(7)
This section extends only to Northern Ireland.
62 Priority of claim for tax.
(1)
F10If at any time at which any goods or chattels belonging to any person (in this section referred to as “the person in default”) are liable to be taken by virtue of any execution or other process, warrant, or authority whatever, or by virtue of any assignment, on any account or pretence whatever, except at the suit of the landlord for rent, F10the person in default is in arrears in respect of any such claims as are referred to in subsection (1A) below, the goods or chattels may not be so taken unless on demand made by the collector the person at whose suit the execution or seizure is made, or to whom the assignment was made, pays or causes to be paid to the collector, before the sale or removal of the goods or chattels, all F10such sums as have fallen due at or before the date of seizure.
F11(1A)
The sums referred to in subsection (1) above are—
(a)
sums due from the person in default on account of deductions of income tax from F12taxable earnings (as defined by section 10 of ITEPA 2003) paid during the period of twelve months next before the date of seizure, being deductions which the person in default was liable to make under F13PAYE regulations less the amount of the repayments of income tax which he was liable to make during that period; and
(b)
sums due from the person in default in respect of deductions required to be made by him for that period under F14section 61 of the Finance Act 2004 (sub-contractors in the construction industry).
(2)
F15If the sums referred to in subsection (1) above are not paid within ten days of the date of the demand referred to in that subsection, the collector may distrain the goods and chattels notwithstanding the seizure or assignment, and F15may proceed to the sale thereof, as prescribed by this Act, for the purpose of obtaining payment of the whole of F15those sums, and the reasonable costs and charges attending such distress and sale, and every collector so doing shall be indemnified by virtue of this Act.
F16(3)
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F17(4)
This section does not extend to England and Wales.
F1863Recovery of tax in Scotland
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F1963A Sheriff officer’s fees and outlays.
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64Priority of claim for tax in Scotland.
(1)
F20If at any time at which any movable goods and effects belonging to any person (in this section referred to as “the person in default”) are liable to be taken by virtue of any F21... diligence whatever, or by any assignation, F22the person in default is in arrears in respect of any such sums as are referred to in subsection (1A) below, the goods and effects may not be so taken unless on demand made by the collector the person proceeding to take the said goods and effects pays F22such sums as have fallen due at or before the date of poinding or, as the case may be, other diligence or assignation.
F23(1A)
The sums referred to in subsection (1) above are—
(a)
sums due from the person in default on account of deductions of income tax from F24taxable earnings (as defined by section 10 of ITEPA 2003) paid during the period of twelve months next before the date of poinding, being deductions which the person in default was liable to make under F25PAYE regulations less the amount of the repayments of income tax which he was liable to make during that period; and
(b)
sums due from the person in default in respect of deductions required to be made by him for that period under F26section 61 of the Finance Act 2004 (sub-contractors in the construction industry).
(2)
F27If the sums referred to in subsection (1) above are not paid within ten days of the date of the demand referred to in that subsection, the sums shall, notwithstanding any F27proceedings for the purpose of taking the said moveable goods and effects, be recoverable by poinding and selling the said moveable goods and effects under warrant obtained in conformity with the provisions contained in section 63 above.
F28(3)
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Court proceedings
65 Magistrates’ courts.
(1)
F29Any amount due and payable by way of income tax, capital gains tax or corporation tax which does not exceed £2,000 shall, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recoverable summarily as a civil debt by proceedings commenced in the name of a collector.
(2)
All or any of the sums due in respect of tax from any one person and payable to any one collector (being sums which are by law recoverable summarily) may, whether or not they are due under one assessment, be included in the same complaint, summons, order, warrant or other document required by law to be laid before justices or to be issued by justices, and every such document as aforesaid shall, as respects each such sum, be construed as a separate document and its invalidity as respects any one such sum shall not affect its validity as respects any other such sum.
(3)
Proceedings under this section F30... may be brought in England and Wales at any time within one year from the time when the matter complained of arose.
(4)
It is hereby declared that in subsection (1) above the expression “recoverable summarily as a civil debt” in respect of proceedings in Northern Ireland means recoverable F31in proceedings under Article 62 of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981.
F32(5)
The Treasury may by order made by statutory instrument increase the F33sum specified in sub-section (1) above; and any such statutory instrument shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.
66 County courts.
(1)
F34Tax due and payable F35... may, in England and Wales, and in Northern Ireland where the amount does not exceed the limit specified in Article 10(1) of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980, without prejudice to any other remedy, be sued for and recovered from the person charged therewith as a debt due to the Crown by proceedings F36in England and Wales in the county court or in Northern Ireland in a county court F37... .
F38(2)
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F39(2A)
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F40(3)
In this section as it applies in Northern Ireland the expression “county court” shall mean a county court held for a division under the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980.
(4)
Sections 21 and 42(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply as if any reference in those provisions to any enactment included a reference to this section, and Part III of the County Courts F41(Northern Ireland) Order 1980 (general civil jurisdiction) shall apply for the purposes of this section in Northern Ireland.
67 Inferior courts in Scotland.
(1)
F45(1A)
An officer of the Board who is authorised by the Board to do so may address the court in any proceedings under this section.
(2)
Sections 65 and 66 above shall not apply in Scotland.
68 High Court, etc.
(1)
Any tax may be sued for and recovered from the person charged therewith in the High Court as a debt due to the Crown, or by any other means whereby any debt of record or otherwise due to the Crown can, or may at any time, be sued for and recovered, as well as by the other means specially provided by this Act for levying the tax.
(2)
All matters within the jurisdiction of the High Court under this section shall be assigned in Scotland to the Court of Session sitting as the Court of Exchequer .
Supplemental
F4769 Recovery of penalty F46... or interest
(1)
This section applies to—
(a)
penalties imposed under Part 2, 5A or 10 of this Act or Schedule 18 to the Finance Act 1998;
F48(aa)
penalties imposed under Schedule 26 to the Finance Act 2021;
F49(b)
F50penalties imposed under any paragraph of Schedule 56 to the Finance Act 2009 in respect of an amount falling within any of the following items of the Table in paragraph 1 of that Schedule—
(i)
item 1, 12, 18 or 19, or
(ii)
insofar as the tax falls within item 1, item 17, 23 or 24;
(c)
interest charged under any provision of this Act (or recoverable as if it were interest so charged)F51; and
(d)
interest charged under section 101 of the Finance Act 2009.
(2)
An amount by way of penalty F52... or interest to which this section applies shall be treated for the purposes of the following provisions as if it were an amount of tax.
(3)
Those provisions are—
(a)
sections 61, 63 and 65 to 68 of this Act;
(b)
section 35(2)(g)(i) of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (rules of court: restriction of set-off or counterclaim where proceedings, or set-off or counterclaim, relate to tax) and any rules of court imposing any such restriction;
(c)
section 35(2)(b) of that Act as set out in section 50 of that Act (which imposes corresponding restrictions in Scotland).
70 Evidence.
F53(1)
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F54(2)
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F55(3)
F56A certificate of the inspector or any other officer of the Board that it has been determined that tax carries interest under section 88 of this Act, together with a certificate of the collector that payment of the interest has not been made to him, or, to the best of his knowledge and belief, to any other collector, or to any person acting on his behalf or on behalf of another collector, shall be sufficient evidence—
(a)
that interest is chargeable on the tax from the date when for the purposes of section 88 of this Act the tax ought to have been paid, and
(b)
that the sum mentioned in the certificate is unpaid and is due to the Crown;
and any document purporting to be such a certificate as is mentioned in this subsection shall be deemed to be such a certificate unless the contrary is proved.
(4)
A written statement as to the wages, salaries, fees, and other F57earnings or amounts treated as earnings paid for any period to the person against whom proceedings are brought under section 65, 66 or 67 of this Act, purporting to be signed by his employer for that period or by any responsible person in the employment of the employer, shall in such proceedings be prima facie evidence that the wages, salaries, fees and other F57earnings or amounts treated as earnings therein stated to have been paid to the person charged have in fact been so paid.
F58(5)
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F59(5)
In subsection (4) “earnings or amounts treated as earnings” means earnings or amounts treated as earnings which constitute employment income (see section 7(2)(a) or (b) of ITEPA 2003).
F6070APayments by cheque.
(1)
For the purposes of this Act and the provisions mentioned in subsection (2) below, where—
(a)
any payment to an officer of the Board or the Board is made by cheque, and
(b)
the cheque is paid on its first presentation to the banker on whom it is drawn,
the payment shall be treated as made on the day on which the cheque was received by the officer or the Board.
(2)
The provisions are—
(a)
sections 824 to 826 of the principal Act (repayment supplements and interest on tax overpaid); F61...
(b)
section 283 of the 1992 Act (repayment supplements)F62; and
(c)
section 102 of the Finance Act 2009 (repayment interest).
F63(3)
This section is subject to regulations under section 95(1) of the Finance Act 2007 (payment by cheque).