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Customs and Excise Act 2018

Entry and exit of goods, persons, and craft - Interest and penalties for late or incorrect payments of duty, incorrect refunds of duty, and drawback incorrectly allowed - Final provisions

174: Interest and penalties are debt due to Crown, etc

You could also call this:

"If you owe extra money for not following the rules, you must pay it to the government."

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

If you owe interest or a penalty under this law, you have to pay it to the Crown. You have to pay it immediately and the chief executive can take you to court to get the money. The chief executive can decide how to use any payment you make to pay off what you owe.

When you owe interest or a penalty, it is because of something you did or did not do with your duties. For example, if you did not pay your duty on time, you might owe interest on that duty. You can check section 154 or section 159 to see how this works.

If you get a refund of duty, you might owe interest on that refund. You can check section 161 to see how this works. The person who gets the refund owes the interest, and so do any other people who had to pay the duty.

If you are waiting for an administrative review, appeal, or legal proceedings, you still have to pay any interest or penalty you owe. The chief executive can decide how to use any payment you make, and they might use it to pay off your interest or penalty before they use it to pay off any duty you owe.

The law also says that some levies, like the ones imposed by section 24 of the Energy (Fuels, Levies, and References) Act 1989, are treated the same way as excise duty. But it does not apply to levies imposed by section 213(2)(c) of the Accident Compensation Act 2001, you should check section 250 of that Act instead.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7245178.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
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Part 3Entry and exit of goods, persons, and craft
Interest and penalties for late or incorrect payments of duty, incorrect refunds of duty, and drawback incorrectly allowed: Final provisions

174Interest and penalties are debt due to Crown, etc

  1. Any interest or penalty payable under this subpart is a debt that is—

  2. due to the Crown; and
    1. owed by the person or persons referred to in subsection (2) and, if owed by more than 1 person, jointly and severally; and
      1. payable immediately; and
        1. recoverable by the chief executive (on behalf of the Crown) in any court of competent jurisdiction.

          1. Any interest or penalty payable under this subpart is owed by the following persons:

          2. in the case of any interest or penalty payable under section 154 or 159 in respect of any duty, the person or persons by whom the duty is payable:
            1. in the case of any interest payable under section 161 in respect of any refund of duty,—
              1. the recipient of the refund; and
                1. any other person or persons by whom the duty was payable:
                2. in the case of any interest payable under section 161 in respect of any drawback of duty,—
                  1. the recipient of the drawback in a case covered by section 163(1):
                    1. the owner of the goods in a case covered by section 163(3).

                    2. The recovery by the chief executive of any interest payable under section 161 in respect of any refund or drawback recoverable by the chief executive under section 150 is subject to section 150(2)(a) and (b) as well.

                    3. Any payment to Customs by a person who owes any amount under this subpart may be applied by the chief executive towards the payment of that amount before it is applied towards the payment of—

                    4. any duty payable by that person; or
                      1. any other amount payable by that person under this Act apart from this subpart.

                        1. A person’s obligation to pay any interest or penalty under this subpart is not suspended by any administrative review, appeal, or legal proceedings.

                        2. Regulations may do any of the following:

                        3. prescribe an amount of interest or penalty below which interest or penalties under this subpart need not be collected:
                          1. prescribe an amount of duty, refund, or drawback and provide that interest or penalties under this subpart need not be collected in respect of any duty, refund, or drawback that is below the prescribed amount:
                            1. provide that any provision made for the purposes of paragraph (a) or (b)—
                              1. applies only in prescribed circumstances:
                                1. does not apply in prescribed circumstances.

                                2. To avoid doubt, sections 154 and 159 apply to any duty even if the duty results from an assessment, or an amendment of an assessment, that is made after the payment date (as that term is defined in section 154(5) or 159(5)).

                                3. This subpart applies to levies imposed by section 24 of the Energy (Fuels, Levies, and References) Act 1989 as it applies to excise duty levied under clause 1(1) or (3) of Schedule 3 (as the case requires) to the extent that those levies apply to goods manufactured in New Zealand.

                                4. This subpart does not apply to levies imposed by section 213(2)(c) of the Accident Compensation Act 2001 (see section 250 of that Act instead).