(a) "collector" means a person authorized or required by or pursuant to a revenue Act or by agreement to collect a tax;

(b)  "Commissioner" means the Provincial Tax Commissioner provided for by this Act and includes any officer of the Department of the Finance, Energy and Municipal Affairs authorized to perform any function on behalf of the Commissioner;

(c) "inspector" means

(d) "Minister" means the Minister of Finance, Energy and Municipal Affairs;

(e) "person" includes a corporation, a municipal corporation, regional school board and any other board, commission, committee or authority established for public or local purposes;

(f) "revenue Act" means

(v)    the Environment Tax Act R.S.P.E.I. 1988, Cap. E-8.3;

(g) "tax" means a tax or license fees imposed pursuant to a revenue Act, whether before or after the coming into force of this Act, and includes all penalties and interest that are, may be or may have been added to a tax pursuant to this Act or a revenue Act, and all deposits made or required to be made on account of tax liability under a revenue Act;

ADMINISTRATION

2.(1)    The Minister is charged with the administration of this Act and the revenue Acts.

(2)  There shall be a Provincial Tax Commissioner and one or more inspectors for the purposes of this Act and the revenue Acts.

(3)  The Commissioner shall act under the instructions of the Minister and have general supervision over all matters relating to the administration of this Act and the revenue Acts.

LIABILITY AND ASSESSMENT

3.(1)    Subject to to the regulations, a taxpayer is liable for a tax until it has been paid.

(2)  The Commissioner may from time to time and at such intervals as he may consider reasonable, determine and assess and reassess any tax payable under a revenue Act by any taxpayer and thereupon the tax so assessed or reassessed becomes due and payable by the taxpayer.

(3)  Where a taxpayer fails to

(b) substantiate his payment by his records, 

the Commissioner may estimate the unpaid tax and such estimated amount shall thereupon be deemed to be the amount of the tax due and payable by the taxpayer.

(4)  The Commissioner shall serve personally or send by registered mail to the taxpayer at his latest known address a notice of assessment setting out the amount assessed under subsection (2) or estimated under subsection (3), and in the case of a taxpayer having more than one address, one of which is within the province, the notice of assessment may be sent to the address in the province.

(5)  Liability to assessment is not affected by an incorrect or incomplete assessment or by the fact that no assessment has been made.

(6)  Any assessment made is, subject to being varied or vacated on reconsideration, objection or appeal, and subject to a reassessment, valid and binding notwithstanding any error, defect, or omission therein or any proceeding under this Act or a revenue Act relating thereto.

(7)  An affidavit or statutory declaration by a person serving or mailing a notice pursuant to subsection (4) stating that he has mailed or served the notice is proof that the amount stated in the notice is due and owing and the onus of proving otherwise rests on the taxpayer.

COLLECTION

4.(1)    Every collector who collects any tax is deemed to hold the same in trust for the payment over of the same in the manner and at the time provided under this Act, and the amount, until paid, forms a lien and charge on his entire estate or on the entire assets of his estate in the hands of any trustee, and such lien or charge has priority over all other claims of any person.

5.(1)    All taxes collected by and deposits made with a collector under a revenue Act shall be remitted to the Minister at such time and such manner as may be prescribed by the regulations.

7.(1)    Every collector shall make such returns to the Commissioner and shall keep such records in such form and containing such information as may be prescribed by the regulations.

8.(1)    When a collector fails to make a return or remittance under this Act, or collect tax under a revenue Act, or if his returns are substantiated by his records, the Commissioner may make an estimate of the amount of the tax collected by, or the tax that should have been collected by, and the deposits made with such collector which he has not remitted, and the estimated amount shall thereupon be deemed to be the amount of the tax collected by and the deposits made with the collector that he has not remitted.

(2)  The Commissioner shall serve personally or send by registered mail a notice in writing to the collector, his heirs, executors or assigns or to the custodian or trustee in bankruptcy of the assets of his estate, setting out the amount estimated pursuant to subsection (1) and requiring that the estimated amount be paid over to the Minister within seven days of the day on which the notice was served or sent by mail.

OBJECTION AND APPEAL

9.(1)    Where a person considers that he is not liable to taxation under a revenue Act or disputes liability for the amount assessed against him, he may, within sixty days of the date of service or mailing of the notice of assessment serve on the Commissioner a notice of objection setting out the reasons for the objection and all relevant facts.

(2)  A notice of objection is sufficiently served if delivered to the office of the Commissioner or sent by registered mail addressed to the Commissioner.

10.(1)    If the taxpayer or collector is dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner under subsection 9(3), he may, within thirty days from the date of mailing of the decision, appeal to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission hereafter referred to as the "Commission".

    (2)  Any appeal shall be commenced by serving upon the Commission a notice of appeal in writing setting out the grounds of the appeal and stating briefly the facts relative thereto.

    (3)  A notice of appeal is sufficiently served if delivered to the office of the Commission or sent by registered mail addressed to the Commission.

    (4)  On the hearing of the appeal both the appellant and the Commissioner are entitled to appear and be heard and to submit further evidence.

    (5)  The Commission may, in writing, designate a person to act on its behalf and hear an appeal under this section and any reference in this section to the Commission includes a person so designated.

   (5.1)    No grounds of appeal shall be considered by the Commission other than the grounds of appeal set out in the notice of appeal. 2001,c.40,s.1. 

11.    Repealed by 1994,c.50,s.6.

RECOVERY OF TAX

13.(1)    Where

(a) default

(b) the Commissioner has sent a registered letter to the collector demanding payment of the amount due and payable; and

(3)  Upon its production to and filing with the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the certificate shall be entered and recorded in the court, and when so entered and recorded it has the same force and effect, and all proceedings may be taken thereunder, as if it were a judgment obtained in the court by the Government against the person named in said certificate.

14.(1)    The amount of any tax that has been assessed against a taxpayer and is due and payable under this Act or a revenue Act, and the amount of any tax collected or deposit received or deemed to have been collected or received by a collector under this Act or a revenue Act, constitute a debt due to the Government and may be recovered by action in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(2)  The court may make an order as to the costs of such action in favour of or against the Government.

Priority

15.1    Where the Commissioner has obtained a garnishee order under the Garnishee Act R.S.P.E.I. 1988, Cap. G-2, the garnishee order has, from the date it is issued, priority over

INTEREST

16.(1)    Any amount due under this Act, or a revenue Act, shall bear interest at the prescribed rate, not exceeding two per cent per month, from the day on which that amount should have been remitted to the Minister.

17.(1)    The Commissioner may make or cause to be made an audit of the books of account, records, documents and papers of any collector.

AUDIT AND INSPECTION

18.(1)    The Commissioner, an inspector or any person authorized by the Minister may, without warrant, during normal business hours or at any other reasonable time, enter upon any premises or place where any business is carried on, operated, conducted or managed, or where any property is kept or any other thing is done in connection with which tax may be collected or payable, or where records are kept with respect to transactions that may give rise to tax that is payable or to the collection of tax

    (2)    If during the course of an audit or inspection pursuant to subsection (1) it appears to the person conducting the audit or inspection that there has been a contravention of this Act or a revenue Act or the regulations, he may seize and take away any of the books of account, records and other documents and retain them until they are produced in any court proceeding and may make a copy thereof.

19.(1)    Where a person 

    (b) has paid an amount as tax that is in excess of the amount payable as tax,  

(2)  Notwithstanding subsection (1), where an amount is paid as tax and it is subsequently determined that the amount was paid under a mistake in law, no action shall be maintainable against the Government for return of the amount so paid.

(3)  For the purposes of subsection (2), a mistake in law includes an incorrect interpretation or application of any of the provisions of this Act or a revenue Act, or the regulations. 

(5)  Notwithstanding subsection (1), where

 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION 

20.(1)    Except for purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act or a revenue Act, and subject to subsection (3), all information, and all statements and documents, obtained under this Act or a revenue Act by the Minister, the Commissioner, an inspector, or any person employed by or authorized to act on behalf of any of them for any purposes of this Act, are confidential.

(2)   Except for purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act or a revenue Act, and subject to subsection (3), no person employed by the province shall communicate or allow to be communicated to any person any information obtained under this Act or a revenue Act, or allow any person to inspect or have access to any written statement furnished under this Act or a revenue Act.

(3)  The Minister may

(b) allow inspection of or access to any written statement furnished under this Act or a revenue Act by,

any person employed by the Government of Canada or any province or territory of Canada, where the information and written statements obtained by such Government for the purpose of any Act that imposes a tax are communicated or furnished on a reciprocal basis to the Minister, and if the information and written statements will not be used for any purpose other than administration or enforcement of a federal, provincial or territorial law that provides for the imposition or collection of a tax.

(4)  The Minister may

OFFENCES AND PENALTIES

21.(1)    Every person who

(c)    violates any provision of this Act or a revenue Act or any regulation thereunder for which no penalty is otherwise specifically provided,

 is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $5,000.

    (2)    Every collector who fails to file a return as and when required by this Act or a revenue Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and on summary conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $100 in respect of each unfiled return included in the conviction.

22.   Every collector who fails to make a return or to remit the tax collectable or payable as and when required by this Act or a revenue Act, shall pay the following penalty to the Minister upon demand by the Commissioner:

(b) $250 if the amount of the tax collectable and of the tax that was payable by him for the period covered by the return, was $5,000 or more, 

22.2(1)    Where a corporation has failed to collect tax or has collected tax and failed to remit the tax or has failed to pay any interest or penalty relating thereto, the directors of the corporation at the time the corporation was required to collect or remit the taxes or to pay the interest or penalty relating thereto, are jointly and severally liable, together with the corporation to pay such amounts.

(2)   A director of corporation is not liable for a failure described under subsection (1) if the director exercised the degree of care, diligence and skill to prevent the failure that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in comparable circumstances.

(3)   The Minister may assess any person for any amount payable by the person under this section and, where the Commissioner sends a notice of assessment, the sections of this Act respecting assessments, objections and appeals apply with such modifications as the circumstances require.

24.(1)    In any prosecution or other proceeding under this Act, a certificate signed by the Minister or the Commissioner or purporting to be signed by the Minister or the Commissioner stating that

(g) a person at a specified time refused to permit the Commissioner, an inspector, a peace officer, or a person designated by the Commissioner to conduct an investigation or an audit under this Act or obstructed or interfered with an investigation or audit conducted by the Commissioner, an inspector, a peace officer, or a person designated by the Commissioner under this Act, 

may be adduced in evidence without proof of the appointment, signature or authority of the Minister or the Commissioner and, when so adduced, is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of the facts stated therein and, where the person named in the certificate has the same name as the accused, that the person named in the certificate is the accused.

27.(1)    The Minister, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, may enter into an agreement with any person respecting the collection of a tax and such other matters as the Minister may determine whereby each such person is constituted an agent of the province for the collection of the tax.

28.  The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations