Singapore legislation
Section 78
Section 78
Recovery of tax and penalty
(1)
Tax due from any person is, despite any objection or appeal against any decision of the Comptroller, recoverable as a debt due to the Government and the Comptroller may, in the Comptroller’s own name, sue for such tax by way of a specially endorsed writ of summons.
(2)
Where an invoice shows a supply of goods or services as taking place with tax chargeable on it, an amount equal to that which is shown on the invoice as tax or, if the tax is not separately shown, to so much of the total amount shown as payable as is to be taken as representing tax on the supply, is recoverable from the person who issued the invoice.
(3)
Subsection (2) applies whether or not —
the invoice is a tax invoice issued under section 41;
the supply shown on the invoice actually takes or has taken place, or the amount shown as tax, or any amount of tax, is or was chargeable on the supply; or
the person issuing the invoice is a taxable person.
(3A)
Any sum recoverable from a person under subsection (2) is, if it is in any case tax, recoverable as such and is otherwise recoverable as a debt due to the Government.
(4)
In any proceedings referred to in subsection (1), the production of a certificate signed by the Comptroller that any tax and the amount thereof shown as due in any return or assessment made pursuant to this Act from a person named therein is sufficient evidence of that fact and the amount so due and is sufficient authority for the court to give judgment for that amount.
(5)
The Minister may by regulations make provision for —
authorising distress to be levied on the goods and chattels of any person refusing or neglecting to pay any tax due from the person or any amount recoverable as if it were tax due from the person;
the disposal of any goods or chattels on which distress is levied under the regulations; and
the imposition and recovery of costs, charges, expenses and fees in connection with anything done under the regulations.
(6)
Any penalty imposed under this Act is, for the purposes of this Act and the Limitation Act 1959, recoverable as if it were tax due and payable under this Act and accordingly section 6(4) of the Limitation Act 1959 does not apply to such penalty.
(7)
For the purposes of this section, tax includes any penalty or any other money which a person is liable to pay to the Comptroller under this Act.