Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

38.   Tax ranks as a first privileged claim

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   (1)   All taxes together with the interest accrued thereon and costs shall rank by privilege without registration upon the proceeds of the movables which according to the provisions of this Act may be taken in execution for the same, as well as upon the proceeds of the movable or immovable property in respect of which the said taxes are due, prior to all claims except law costs and debts due to the Crown.

However, only the rates or taxes payable for the year of sale if payable at the time of sale and their accessories and the rates or taxes payable for the year preceding the year of sale and their accessories shall be entitled to such priority.

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   (2)   After February in any year the taxes for the preceding year shall be deemed to be judgment debts due by the persons assessed, as defendants, in favour of the Comptroller, as plaintiff, and shall be payable to the Comptroller together with a further sum by way of interest, equal to 2% of the amount of taxes due, for every period of 3 months or part thereof computed from the 1 March until paid, with costs; and execution for the recovery of the same may be issued on the written application of the Comptroller as hereinafter provided. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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   (3)   A certificate under the hand of the Comptroller stating the amount of any unpaid tax and the date it became due, may be registered like a judgment in the Registry of Deeds and Mortgages and with like effect and after the satisfaction of this judgment a certificate of payment thereof under the hand of the Comptroller may be registered in the Registry of Deeds and Mortgages and shall have the effect of discharging this; such certificate shall be registered free of charge. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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   (4)   The Comptroller shall, on or before 15 February, notify in the Gazette, and in a local newspaper, if any, that after February movables may be taken in execution and sold for taxes unpaid after the last day of February. On or before 17 February or so soon thereafter as practicable the Comptroller shall cause a copy of such notification to be affixed to an outer door of each Church (subject to the permission of the Incumbent or Curé), district court, police station and sub-collector's office in the towns and villages. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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   (5)   The Comptroller shall on or before 15 March notify in the Gazette that after March buildings which are movables, land, and land with immovable buildings thereon, may be taken in execution and sold for any taxes unpaid after 31 March. On or before 17 March, or so soon thereafter as practicable, the Comptroller shall cause a copy of such notification to be affixed as directed in the last preceding subsection. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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   (6)   The failure to publish or affix or serve any of the foregoing notices shall not affect the exigibility of any unpaid tax.

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   (7)   

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      (a)     Execution on movables may be made at any time after February for any unpaid rate under a writ of execution issued by the Comptroller to the clerk of the district court in the district in which the assessment was made, on the movables of the defendant or on the movables which may be found upon the property in respect of which the rate or tax is due. But execution on buildings which are movables shall only be made after 31 March. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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      (b)     The writ may be issued against one or more defendants, or one or more movable buildings, and shall be sufficient authority for any bailiff of a district court or any police constable, or other person directed by the clerk of the Court to collect any sum thereunder payable or to proceed to seizure and sale by way of execution.

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      (c)     In respect to any property seized, any such writ is deemed to be returnable in the district court to which it was issued, at any time within 6 weeks of the seizure of such property.

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   (8)   In all cases where default has been made by several persons it is sufficient for the purposes of seizure and sale for the Comptroller to attach to any writ a list signed by him or her setting out the names of such defaulters, or indicating the movable buildings and the amount of taxes and fines and other sums due by or in respect of such persons or buildings respectively. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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   (9)   Any unpaid surplus of the proceeds of the sale of movables, remaining after deduction of the whole amount exigible under the writ of execution in the district court, shall be paid to the person in whose possession the movables were when the seizure was made. If there is a claim to such surplus which is admitted by the person against whom the seizure was made, it shall be paid to the claimant; but if the claim is contested the surplus shall be retained subject to the decision of the district court in which the writ of execution was issued.

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   (10)   

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      (a)     Execution on land only or on land together with immovable buildings thereon may be made at any time after March for any unpaid rate or tax under a writ of execution issued by the Comptroller to the Sheriff, and the proceeds of sale shall after deduction by the Sheriff of the rates and taxes due, with interest, costs and expenses, be returned in the Supreme Court for distribution among the persons, and their creditors, who according to the record and the claims filed setting out and proving ownership, are judicially held to be entitled to the same. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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      (b)     Any such writ may be issued against one or more defendants or immovables and shall be sufficient authority for any bailiff of the High Court or sheriff's officer, or any police constable or other person directed by the Sheriff to collect the sums payable.

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      (c)     Before issuing any such writ the Comptroller shall cause to be served on each person assessed whose rates or taxes are unpaid after 31 March and on the owner (if known), of the land or the land with immovable buildings in respect of which rates or taxes are unpaid after the 31 March a notice, of his or her intention to issue such writ at any time after 7 days after the service of such notice. (Amended by Act 4 of 2011)

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      (d)     If, from any cause, the notice cannot conveniently be served on any person as aforesaid, it shall be sufficient to affix the same in some conspicuous manner to any part of the immovable intended to be sold.

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      (e)     In respect of any immovable mentioned therein such writ is deemed to be returnable in the High Court at any time within 4 months from the first publication of the advertisement of sale of such immovable in the Gazette.

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   (11)   The Comptroller and assistant tax officers shall give information and assistance for the purpose of identifying and describing the movable buildings, lands or lands with immovable buildings to be taken in execution, and shall give assistance generally to the Comptroller in carrying out the provisions of this Act. (Amended by Act 30 of 2001 and 4 of 2011)

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   (12)   If from any cause a sale cannot or does not take place, or is incomplete, on the day appointed for the sale, it may be postponed or continued until it is effected or completed. However, in the case of executions in the High Court a further notice stating the time and place of the adjourned sale shall be published once at least in the Gazette and, if the Sheriff deems it necessary, in a local newspaper, if any; and if a sale in the High Court or the district court does not take place before the writ of execution is returnable into Court, the delay for returning the said writ shall be ipso facto extended and it may be returned within 7 days of the sale.

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   (13)   Execution or sale under the provisions of this Act shall not be invalid for any error, omission, irregularity or informality, but if the existence of any such is lawfully urged and is proved and an actual injustice results from it, the Court, judge or magistrate shall maintain the proceedings previous thereto, and if a re-sale is necessary, it shall take place in accordance with the conditions prescribed in the judgment or order of the Court, judge or magistrate.

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   (14)   Subject to the provisions of this Act any execution and sale under this Act, whether against movable or immovable property, shall be made on the same terms and conditions and have the like effect as in the case of corresponding executions and sales in ordinary civil cases, under the law and procedure in force governing any such execution and sale.

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   (15)   The costs and expenses of collecting and recovering taxes which have become judgment debts for being in arrear and unpaid after February shall be as set out in the Schedule to this Act; and when recovered, all such costs shall be paid into the Treasury for the use of Saint Lucia, and all such expenses, to the parties entitled thereto.

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   (16)   For the purpose of recovering taxes by the sale of any immovable no seizure of such immovable shall be necessary, but it shall be sufficient to describe such immovable and to advertise it as in ordinary civil cases.

Miscellaneous