Property Tax (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 35/1996

Read the first time on 2nd December 1996.

An Act to amend the Property Tax Act (Chapter 254 of the 1985 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Property Tax (Amendment) Act 1996 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

(2) The Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into operation of the different provisions of this Act.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Property Tax Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended by inserting, immediately after the word “taxes” in the seventh line of the definition of “annual value”, the words “(other than goods and services tax)”.

Amendment of section 7

3. Section 7 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (2) and substituting the following subsections:

“(2) Any owner of a building claiming under this section a refund of the tax which he has paid in respect of that building, for any period commencing from 1st November in any year to 31st October in the ensuing year, shall submit his claim in writing to the Comptroller not later than 15th November in the ensuing year or such other date as the Minister may by order prescribe.

(2A) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), the Comptroller may, in his discretion, make a refund under this section to the extent of the whole or any part thereof, where —

(a)	the person claiming the refund failed to submit his claim within the time specified in subsection (1) and the Comptroller is satisfied as to the reason for such failure;
(b)	part of the continuous period of 30 days falls before 1st November in any year and another part of that period falls on or after that date.”.

Amendment of section 10

4. Section 10 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (5), the following subsection:

“(6) The Valuation List may be prepared and kept in electronic form in a computer or on any magnetic, optical, chemical or other medium as may be determined by the Chief Assessor.”.

Amendment of section 15

5. Section 15 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “by signing his name thereon” in the seventh line of subsection (1) and substituting the words “in such manner as he thinks fit”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “by the signature of the Chief Assessor” in the second and third lines of subsection (4) and substituting the words “in such manner as the Chief Assessor thinks fit”.

Amendment of section 16

6. Section 16 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting “$500” in subsection (2) and substituting “$1,000”; and
(b)	by deleting “$1,000” in the fourth line of subsection (3) and substituting “$2,000”.

Amendment of section 17

7. Section 17 of the principal Act is amended by deleting “$500” at the end thereof and substituting “$1,000”.

Amendment of section 20

8. Section 20 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (3), the following subsection:

“(3A) Notwithstanding any objection referred to in subsection (3), there shall be payable to account of tax in respect of that property a sum calculated at the prescribed rate of tax on the basis of the annual value proposed under subsection (2), or the annual value in the Valuation List as the Comptroller may, in his discretion, decide; and such sum shall be payable and recoverable in the same manner in which taxes are payable and recoverable under this Act.”;

(b)

by deleting the words “by the signature of the Chief Assessor” in subsection (7) and substituting the words “in such manner as the Chief Assessor thinks fit”; and

(c)

by inserting, immediately after the word “property” in subsection (9)(a)(i), the words “previously vacant or”.

Amendment of section 21

9. Section 21 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the word “ceases” in the first line of subsection (5), the words “to be vacant or”;
(b)	by deleting “$500” in subsection (7) and substituting “$1,000”; and
(c)	by deleting “$1,000” in the fourth line of subsection (8) and substituting “$2,000”.

Amendment of section 22

10. Section 22 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (3), the following subsection:

“(3A) Notwithstanding any objection referred to in subsection (2), there shall be payable to account of tax in respect of that property a sum of money calculated at the prescribed rate of tax on the basis of the proposed annual value under section 20(2); and such sum shall be payable and recoverable in the same manner in which taxes are payable and recoverable under this Act.”.

Amendment of section 23

11. Section 23 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the words “section 22” in the fourth line of subsection (1), the words “or 38A”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “a period of 3 years from the date of their respective appointments” in subsection (3) and substituting the words “such period as may be determined by the Minister”.

Amendment of section 33

12. Section 33 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (2) and substituting the following subsections:

“(2) The costs of an appeal to the Board under this Act shall be in the discretion of the Board and shall either be fixed by the Board or, on the order of the Board, be taxed by the Registrar, Deputy Registrar or an Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court or the Subordinate Courts in accordance with the regulations made under section 68(1).

(2A) Where the Board awards costs against an appellant, such costs shall be added to any tax payable by the appellant and be recoverable as if it were part of the tax payable in respect of the property.”.

New sections 38A and 38B

13. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 38, the following sections:

“Appointment of agent for recovery of tax

38A.—(1) The Comptroller may by notice in writing, if he thinks it necessary, declare any person to be the agent of any other person, and the person so declared the agent shall be the agent of such other person for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The agent so declared may be required to pay any tax due from any moneys (including pensions, salary, wages or any other remuneration) —

(a)	which, at the date of receipt of such notice, may be held by him for or due by him to or about to be paid by him to the person whose agent he has been declared to be; or
(b)	which, at any time within a period of 90 days from the receipt of such notice, come into his hands or become due from him to or about to be paid by him to the person whose agent he has been declared to be,

and in default of such payment the tax shall be recoverable from him in the manner provided in section 38B.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), “tax due” includes any arrears of tax or interest imposed under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the Comptroller may require any person to give him information as to any moneys, funds or other assets which may be held by him for, or due by him 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, he may, by notice in writing to the Comptroller within 14 days or within such further time as the Comptroller may allow, object to the declaration.

(6) The Comptroller shall examine the objection and may cancel, vary or confirm the declaration.

(7) Where the objector is aggrieved by the Comptroller’s decision under subsection (6), the objector may appeal against such decision to the Valuation Review Board and the provisions of Part IV shall 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 shall apply:

(a)

the person declared by the Comptroller under subsection (1) to be the agent of any person who is an owner of such moneys shall —

(i)	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
(ii)	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;

(b)

it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the holders of a joint account at any bank shall 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 shall share the proceeds of sale of the property equally;

(c)

any owner of such moneys who objects to the share presumed under paragraph (b) shall give notice of his objection in writing 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 in his discretion allow, and furnish proof as to his share of the moneys;

(d)

where an objection under paragraph (c) has been received, the person declared to be the agent shall —

(i)	retain the amount of such moneys referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) until such time as the Comptroller, by notice under paragraph (e), informs him of his decision on the objection; and
(ii)	inform the Comptroller of the objection within 7 days of the receipt of the objection;

(e)

the Comptroller shall consider the objection and shall, by notice in writing, inform the person declared to be the agent of his decision and the agent shall, notwithstanding 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 him for or due by him to the person;

(f)

any owner of such moneys aggrieved by the decision of the Comptroller under paragraph (e) may appeal against the decision to the Valuation Review Board and the provisions of Part IV shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to the appeal; and

(g)

in this subsection, “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.

(9) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law, contract or agreement, any person who has complied with the provisions of this section and made any payment shall be deemed to have acted under the authority of the person by whom the tax was payable and is hereby indemnified in respect of payment against all civil proceedings.

Recovery of tax

38B.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law, any tax due may be sued for by way of a specially indorsed writ of summons.

(2) The Comptroller may, in his own name, sue for any such tax or penalty, and shall be entitled to all costs allowed by law against the person liable thereto.

(3) The Comptroller may appear personally or by counsel in any suit instituted under this section.

(4) In any suit under subsection (1) or (2), the production of a certificate signed by the Comptroller giving the name and address of the defendant and the amount of tax due from him shall be sufficient evidence of the amount so due and sufficient authority for the court to give judgment for that amount.

(5) For the purposes of this section, “tax due” includes any arrears of tax or interest imposed under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder.”.

Amendment of heading of Part VI

14. Part VI of the principal Act is amended by deleting the heading “STREET NAMES AND HOUSE NUMBERS” and substituting the heading “NAMES AND NUMBERS”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 49

15. Section 49 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Names of buildings, estates or streets

49.—(1) The Minister may determine the name by which any building, estate or street shall be known, and may alter the name of any building, estate or street.

(2) The Comptroller may cause the name of any building, estate or street to be painted, or otherwise marked, in a conspicuous position on any house, building or erection in or near that building, estate or street, and from time to time alter or renew the name.”.

Amendment of section 50

16. Section 50 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting subsections (3), (4) and (5); and
(b)	by deleting the word “houses” in the marginal note and substituting the word “properties”.

New section 50A

17. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 50, the following section:

“Penalty for numbering or naming property, estate or street without authority of Comptroller

50A.—(1) The allotting or fixing of a number or the giving or fixing of a name to or on any building which has been erected in contravention of any written law shall not prevent the person who has contravened such law from being prosecuted thereunder and from being liable to the penalty under that law, or the unauthorised building from being demolished under that law.

(2) Any person who, without the authority of the Comptroller —

(a)	allots a number to any property or fixes or causes to be fixed a number on or near any property or at the entrance of the enclosure thereof; or
(b)	gives a name to any building, estate or street or fixes or causes to be fixed a name on any building, structure or post in or near that building, estate or street,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000, and the Comptroller may, whether or not any proceedings have been instituted against any person for contravention of this subsection, without notice authorise any person to enter upon any property to remove or destroy such number or name.

(3) For the purposes of instituting proceedings under subsection (2), the act of —

(a)	allotting an unauthorised number to any property, or fixing or causing to be fixed such number on or near any property; or
(b)	giving an unauthorised name to any building, estate or street or fixing or causing to be fixed such name on any building, structure or post in or near that building, estate or street,

shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have been done —

(i)	by the person who erects or sells the property if the person who actually allots, gives or fixes the unauthorised number or name is not known or cannot be found in Singapore; and
(ii)	by the owner or occupier of the property if the person who erects or sells the property and the person who actually allots, gives or fixes the unauthorised number or name are not known or cannot be found in Singapore.

(4) The Comptroller may, whether or not any proceedings have been instituted against any person for contravention of subsection (2) in respect of any property, by order in writing require the owner or occupier to remove any unauthorised number or name fixed on or near the property.

(5) Any person who fails to comply with an order under subsection (4) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $50 for every day during which the offence continues after conviction.”.

Amendment of section 51

18. Section 51 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately before the word “street” in the second line of subsection (1), the words “building, an estate or a”;
(b)	by deleting the words “in any street” in the third line of subsection (1) and substituting the words “on any house, building, structure or post in or near that building, estate or street”;
(c)	by inserting, immediately before the word “street” in the fifth line of subsection (1), the words “building, estate or”;
(d)	by deleting “$500” in the sixth line of subsection (1) and substituting “$1,000”; and
(e)	by deleting “$500” in the seventh line of subsection (2) and substituting “$1,000”.

Amendment of section 55

19. Section 55 of the principal Act is amended by deleting “$1,000” in the seventh line and substituting “$2,000”.

New section 55A

20. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 55, the following section:

“Offence to furnish false information

55A. Any person who furnishes information which he knows or believes to be false in any application made under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 57, and new section 57A

21. Section 57 of the principal Act is repealed and the following sections substituted therefor:

“Service of notices

57.—(1) Every notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on any person may be served —

(a)	by delivering it to the person or to some adult member or employee of his family at his last known place of residence;
(b)	by leaving it at his usual or last known place of residence or business in an envelope addressed to him; or
(c)	by sending it by ordinary post addressed to the person at his usual or last known place of residence or business.

(2) Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises shall be deemed to be properly addressed if addressed by the description of the “owner” or “occupier” of the premises without further name or description.

(3) Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises may be served by delivering the same or a true copy thereof to some adult person on the premises or, if there is no such person on the premises to whom the same can with reasonable diligence be delivered, by affixing the notice, order or document to some conspicuous part of the premises.

(4) Where any premises is owned by more than one person, any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on the owner of such premises shall be deemed to be sufficiently served if it is served on any one of the owners, except that where any such owner has notified the Chief Assessor in the prescribed form, he shall be served a copy of such notice, order or document.

Service of summons

57A.—(1) Every summons issued by a court against any person in connection with any offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder, may be served on the person —

(a)

by delivering the summons to the person or to some adult member of his family at his last known place of residence;

(b)

by leaving the summons at his usual or last known place of residence or business in an envelope addressed to the person;

(c)

by sending the summons by registered post addressed to the person at his usual or last known place of residence or business;

(d)

where the person is a body of persons, corporate or unincorporate —

(i)	by delivering the summons to the secretary or other like officer of the body of persons at its registered office or principal place of business; or
(ii)	by sending the summons by registered post addressed to the body of persons at its registered office or principal place of business.

(2) Any summons sent by registered post in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to be duly served on the person to whom the letter is addressed at the time when the letter would in the ordinary course of post be delivered and in proving service of the summons, it shall be sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the summons was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.”.

Amendment of section 58

22. Section 58 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:

“(1) A District Court or a Magistrate’s Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all offences under this Act and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code [Cap. 68], shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of any offence under this Act.”.

Amendment of section 60

23. Section 60(2) of the principal Act is amended by deleting “$500” at the end thereof and substituting “$1,000”.

Amendment of section 68

24. Section 68(1) of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph (c), the following paragraphs:

“(ca)	prescribing the fees to be paid in respect of any appeal to the Board;
(cb)	providing for the procedure and manner in which costs in respect of appeals to the Board are to be taxed or determined;”.

Miscellaneous amendments

25. The principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “any regulations made thereunder” in the following provisions and substituting in each case the words “any subsidiary legislation made thereunder”:

Sections 48(1), 56(1), 57(1), (2) and (3), 58(1) and (2), 59(1), 60(1), 61, 62, 65 (lines 4 and 5) and 66(2); and

(b)

by deleting the words “any such regulations” in the sixth and in the ninth lines of section 65 and substituting in each case the words “any such subsidiary legislation”.

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