Singapore legislation
Section 38
Section 38
Appointment of agent, etc., for recovery of tax
(1)
The Comptroller may by written notice, if the Comptroller thinks it necessary, declare any person to be the agent of any other person, and the person so declared the agent is the agent of such other person for the purposes of this Act.
(2)
The agent so declared (X) may be required to pay any tax due from any moneys (including pensions, salary, wages or any other remuneration) —
which, at the date of receipt of such notice, may be held by X for, or due by X to, or about to be paid by X to, the person whose agent X has been declared to be; or
which, at any time within a period of 90 days from the receipt of such notice, come into X’s hands, or become due from X to, or about to be paid by X to, the person whose agent X has been declared to be,and in default of such payment the tax is recoverable from the agent in the manner provided in section 38A.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (2) and section 38A, “tax due” includes any arrears of tax or interest imposed under this Act.
(4)
For the purposes of this section, the Comptroller may require any person to give the Comptroller information as to any moneys, funds or other assets which may be held by the person for, or due by the person to, any other person.
(5)
Where any person declared by the Comptroller to be the agent of any other person under subsection (1) is aggrieved by such declaration, the person may, by written notice to the Comptroller within 14 days or within such further time as the Comptroller may allow, object to the declaration.
(6)
The Comptroller must examine the objection and may cancel, vary or confirm the declaration, and notify the objector accordingly.
(7)
Where the objector is aggrieved by the decision of the Comptroller under subsection (6), the objector may appeal against such decision to the Board within 21 days of the Comptroller notifying the objector of the decision under subsection (6) and the provisions of Part 4 apply with the necessary modifications.
(8)
For the purposes of payment of any tax due from any moneys referred to in subsection (2) in a joint account at any bank or from the proceeds of sale of any immovable property owned by 2 or more persons as joint owners, the following provisions apply:
the person declared by the Comptroller under subsection (1) to be the agent of any person who is an owner of such moneys must —
within 14 days of the receipt of the notice under subsection (1), send a notice by registered post addressed to every owner of such moneys at the address last known to the agent informing the owner of such declaration; and
retain such amount of the moneys as is presumed under paragraph (b) to be owned by the person from whom tax is due and, subject to paragraph (e) within 42 days of the receipt of the notice under subsection (1), pay over the tax due from such amount to the Comptroller;
it is presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the holders of a joint account at any bank have equal share of the moneys in the account as at the date of receipt of the notice under subsection (1) and that the joint owners of any immovable property share the proceeds of sale of the property equally;
any owner of such moneys who objects to the share presumed under paragraph (b) must give written notice of the owner’s objection to the person declared to be the agent under subsection (1) within 28 days of the receipt of the notice of the agent under paragraph (a)(i), or within such further period as the Comptroller may allow, and furnish proof as to the owner’s share of the moneys;
where an objection under paragraph (c) has been received, the person declared to be the agent must —
retain the amount of such moneys referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) until such time as the Comptroller, by notice under paragraph (e), informs the agent of the Comptroller’s decision on the objection; and
inform the Comptroller of the objection within 7 days of the receipt of the objection;
the Comptroller must consider the objection and must, by written notice, inform the person declared to be the agent of the Comptroller’s decision and the agent must, despite any appeal under paragraph (f), pay over any tax due from the share of moneys decided by the Comptroller as the amount, not exceeding the amount presumed under paragraph (b) to be the share of the person by whom the tax is payable, held by the agent for or due by the agent to the person; and
any owner of such moneys aggrieved by the decision of the Comptroller under paragraph (e) may appeal against the decision to the Board within 21 days of such decision and the provisions of Part 4 apply, with the necessary modifications, to the appeal.
(9)
In subsection (8), “joint account” means any account in the names of 2 or more persons but excludes any partnership account, trust account and any account where a minor is one of the joint account holders.
(10)
Where an agent makes any payment of moneys to the Comptroller under this section —
the agent is deemed to have been acting under the authority of the person by whom the tax is payable (called in this section the defaulting taxpayer);
the agent is indemnified in respect of the payment to the Comptroller;
the amount of the tax due from the defaulting taxpayer is reduced by the amount paid by the agent to the Comptroller; and
the amount of the reduction is, to the extent of that amount, deemed to have been paid to the defaulting taxpayer in accordance with any law, contract or scheme governing the payment of moneys held by the agent for or due from the agent to the defaulting taxpayer.
(11)
Where —
an amount of tax is due from any person under this Act otherwise than as an agent under this section;
except for this subsection, an amount is or would, at any time during the period of 90 days after the date of receipt of the notice in paragraph (c), be payable by the Government to the defaulting taxpayer by or under any written law, contract or scheme; and
before payment of the amount referred to in paragraph (b) is made to the defaulting taxpayer, the Comptroller serves notice on any public officer (including an employee appointed under section 9(3) of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Act 1992) by whom the payment is to be made that the tax is due from the defaulting taxpayer,then the public officer is, despite any other written law, contract or scheme, entitled to reduce the amount referred to in paragraph (b) by the amount of the whole or any part of the tax referred to in paragraph (a), and if the public officer makes such a reduction —
the amount of the tax referred to in paragraph (a) is reduced by the amount of the reduction; and
the amount of the reduction is, to the extent of such amount, deemed to have been paid to the defaulting taxpayer in accordance with any law, contract or scheme governing the payment of moneys referred to in paragraph (b) to the defaulting taxpayer.