Taxation Administration Act 1999

This section applies if—

a mortgagee of a parcel of land has been notified about a tax debt under section 56M (3); and

the tax debt has been in arrears for at least 1 year.

The commissioner must, in writing, notify the debtor—

that the tax debt is in arrears; and

if the tax debt is not paid within 90 days after the date of the notice, the tax debt will be recovered from the mortgagee of the parcel.

If the tax debt is not paid within the 90-day period, the commissioner may, by written notice, require the mortgagee to pay the tax debt for the debtor.

However, before recovering the tax debt from the mortgagee, the commissioner must be satisfied that the recovery is reasonable in the circumstances including, from the information available, whether the recovery is likely to cause substantial hardship to the debtor, any joint owner or other people.

If the commissioner notifies the mortgagee under subsection (3), the commissioner must give a copy of the notice to the debtor and any joint owner.

The tax debt must be paid to the commissioner, on the later of the following:

receipt of the notice;

the date stated in the notice.

If the mortgagee pays the tax debt for the debtor—

the mortgagee may recover the tax debt from the debtor as a debt; and

the tax debt is taken to be secured by the mortgage in addition to any other amount secured by it.

To remove any doubt, a tax debt that a mortgagee of a parcel of land is required to pay for a debtor under this section is tax that is payable under section 48.

Under s 48, tax that is payable is payable to the commissioner, who may recover any amount unpaid in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt to the commissioner.

In this section: