Section 91
1(1)Where tax is due and payable, a collector may make demand of the sum charged from the person liable to pay it.
(2)On payment of the tax, the collector shall if so requested give a receipt.
2(1)In England and Wales or Northern Ireland, if a person neglects or refuses to pay the sum charged, upon demand made by the collector, the collector may distrain upon the goods and chattels of the person charged (“the person in default”).
(2)For the purposes of levying such distress a 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, assist the collector in the execution of the warrant and in levying such distress in the house or premises.
(3)A levy or warrant to break open must 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 the person in default.
(5)If the person in default does not pay the sum due, together with the costs and charges, the distress shall be appraised by one 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.
Any surplus resulting from 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.
(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.
3(1)In Scotland, where any tax is due and has not been paid, the sheriff, on an application by the collector accompanied by a certificate by the collector—
(a)stating that none of the persons specified in the application has paid the tax to him,
(b)stating that the collector has demanded payment under paragraph 1 from each such person of the amount due by him,
(c)stating that 14 days have elapsed since the date of such demand without payment of that amount, and
(d)specifying the amount due and unpaid by each such person,
shall grant a summary warrant in a form prescribed by Act of Sederunt authorising the recovery, by any of the diligences mentioned in sub-paragraph (2), of the amount remaining due and unpaid.
(2)The diligences referred to in sub-paragraph (1) are—
(a)an attachment;
(b)an earnings arrestment;
(c)an arrestment and action of furthcoming or sale.
(3)Subject to sub-paragraph (4), the sheriff officer’s fees, together with the outlays necessarily incurred by him, in connection with the execution of a summary warrant are chargeable against the debtor.
(4)No fee is chargeable by the sheriff officer against the debtor for collecting, and accounting to the collector for, sums paid to him by the debtor in respect of the amount owing.
4(1)An amount not exceeding £2,000 due and payable by way of tax is in England and Wales or Northern Ireland recoverable summarily as a civil debt in proceedings brought in the name of the collector.
(2)All or any of the sums recoverable under this paragraph that are—
(a)due from any one person, and
(b)payable to any one collector,
may be included in the same complaint, summons or other document required to be laid before or issued by justices.
Each such document shall, as respects each such sum, be construed as a separate document and its invalidity as respects any one such sum does not affect its validity as respects any other such sum.
(3)Proceedings under this paragraph in England and Wales may be brought at any time within one year from the time when the matter complained of arose.
(4)In sub-paragraph (1) the expression “recoverable summarily as a civil debt” in relation to proceedings in Northern Ireland means recoverable by proceedings under Article 62 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (S.I. 1981/1675 (N.I. 26)).
(5)The Treasury may by order increase the sum specified in sub-paragraph (1).
5(1)Tax due and payable may be sued for and recovered from the person charged as a debt due to the Crown by proceedings brought in the name of a collector—
(a)in a county court, or
(b)in a sheriff court.
(2)An officer of the Board who is authorised by the Board to do so may address the court in any proceedings under this paragraph in England and Wales or Scotland.
(3)In Northern Ireland—
(a)the reference in sub-paragraph (1) to a county court is to a county court held for a division under the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 (S.I. 1980/397 (N.I. 3));
(b)proceedings may not be brought under this paragraph if the amount exceeds the limit specified in Article 10(1) of that Order;
(c)Part III of that Order (general civil jurisdiction) applies for the purposes of this paragraph; and
(d)sections 21 and 42(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (c. 33 (N.I.)) apply as if any reference in those provisions to an enactment included this paragraph.
6Tax may be sued for and recovered from the person charged—
(a)as a debt due to the Crown, or
(b)by any other means by which a debt of record or otherwise due to the Crown may be sued for and recovered,
by proceedings in the High Court or, in Scotland, in the Court of Session sitting as the Court of Exchequer.
7(1)A certificate of an officer of the Board—
(a)that tax is due and payable, and
(b)that to the best of his knowledge and belief payment of the tax has not been made,
is sufficient evidence that the sum mentioned in the certificate is unpaid and is due to the Crown.
(2)A document purporting to be such a certificate shall be deemed to be such a certificate unless the contrary is proved.