State Debt Recovery Act 2018

This Act is the State Debt Recovery Act 2018.

This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.

In this Act—

authorised officer means a person employed in the Public Service to assist the Chief Commissioner in the exercise of functions under this Act who is authorised to exercise the function in relation to which the expression is used.

Chief Commissioner means the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue.

debt notice means—

in relation to a tax debt—a debt notice under the Taxation Administration Act 1996, or

in relation to a grant debt—a debt notice under the First Home Owner Grant and Shared Equity Act 2000 or the repealed Small Business Grants (Employment Incentive) Act 2015, or

in relation to a referable debt—a debt notice within the meaning of section 14.

debt recovery action—see section 51.

debt recovery agreement—see section 20.

debt recovery costs means the debt recovery costs payable under a debt recovery order, being—

the prescribed debt recovery costs, and

the Sheriff’s additional costs (if any).

Note.

See Part 9.

debt recovery guidelines—see section 12.

debt recovery order means an order under section 35.

debtor means a person who—

is liable to pay a tax debt, a grant debt or a referable debt under a debt notice, or

is or may be liable to pay a State debt.

garnishee order means an order under section 55.

grant debt—see section 9.

hardship review—see section 68.

Hardship Review Board means the Hardship Review Board constituted under Part 7.

identifying information—see section 104.

internal review means a review under Division 4 of Part 3.

pay a debt or amount means to pay the debt or amount in full by its due date and, if payment by instalments is permitted under this Act, includes to pay each instalment in full by its due date.

personal information means personal information under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 or personal information that is health information under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.

prescribed debt recovery costs means the debt recovery costs prescribed under section 88.

property seizure order means an order under section 54.

public authority—see section 4.

referable debt—see section 7.

referral date in relation to a referable debt means the date on which the referable debt is referred by the responsible authority to the Chief Commissioner for the making of a debt recovery order under this Act.

referring officer means—

in relation to a referable debt referred to in Schedule 1, the person specified in Column 2 of that Schedule opposite the referable debt concerned or a delegate of that person, or

in relation to any other referable debt, any person authorised under a debt recovery agreement relating to the referable debt to exercise the functions of a referring officer under this Act.

responsible authority for a referable debt means the public authority to which the referable debt is payable.

Sheriff’s additional costs means the costs payable in respect of the Sheriff under section 89.

State debt—see section 6.

statutory internal review means any review or other procedure that is declared by another Act to be a statutory internal review for the purposes of this Act.

tax debt—see section 8.

the State means the Crown within the meaning of the Crown Proceedings Act 1988 and includes the Chief Commissioner.

time to pay order means an order under section 60.

unpaid debt includes a debt that has not been paid in full.

vulnerable person means a person who has a mental illness, has an intellectual disability or cognitive impairment, is homeless, is experiencing acute economic hardship or has a serious addiction to drugs, alcohol or volatile substances.

Note.

The Interpretation Act 1987 contains definitions and other provisions that affect the interpretation and application of this Act.

Notes included in this Act do not form part of this Act.

In this Act, a public authority means any public or local authority constituted by or under an Act, a Public Service agency or a NSW Government agency.

A public authority includes—

a body constituted or established by or under an Act of New South Wales, whether or not it represents the Crown, and

a person exercising functions on behalf of a public authority, and

a wholly-owned subsidiary (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth) of one or more public authorities, and

any person or body declared by the regulations to be a public authority for the purposes of this Act.

A public authority does not include a State owned corporation, unless it is declared by the regulations to be a public authority for the purposes of this Act.

A public authority does not include any person or body excluded by the regulations.

(Repealed)

In this Act, a reference to a fee, charge or other amount payable to a public authority includes a reference to a fee, charge or other amount that—

is charged or administered by the public authority, and

is payable to the Consolidated Fund on recovery or payment.

To avoid doubt, a fee, charge or other amount may be payable for the purposes of this Act even if the fee, charge or other amount is not a judgment debt.

The Chief Commissioner may take debt recovery action as authorised by this Act for the purpose of recovering a State debt.

A State debt is any of the following—

a referable debt,

a tax debt,

a grant debt.

A referable debt means—

a fee, charge or other amount that is specified in Schedule 1, or

a fee, charge or other amount declared to be a referable debt by—

an order under subsection (2), or

another Act.

The Chief Commissioner may, by order published on the NSW legislation website, declare any specified kind of fee, charge or other amount payable to the State or a specified public authority to be a referable debt.

Sections 40 and 41 of the Interpretation Act 1987 apply in relation to an order under subsection (2) in the same way as they apply to a statutory rule.

A referable debt does not include—

a fine (within the meaning of the Fines Act 1996), or

an amount of a kind excluded by the regulations.

A tax debt means a tax debt under the Taxation Administration Act 1996.

A grant debt means—

a grant debt under the First Home Owner Grant and Shared Equity Act 2000, or

(Repealed)

a grant debt under the Small Business Grants (Employment Incentive) Act 2015.

Generally, the procedure for recovery of a referable debt is as follows—

the responsible authority for the referable debt may serve a debt notice for the referable debt on the debtor (see Part 3),

if the referable debt is not paid within 7 days of the due date specified in the debt notice, the responsible authority for the referable debt may refer the debt to the Chief Commissioner for the making of a debt recovery order under this Act,

the Chief Commissioner may then make a debt recovery order against the debtor (see Part 4),

if the referable debt is not paid within 7 days of the due date specified in the notice of debt recovery order, the Chief Commissioner is authorised to take debt recovery action in respect of the debt under Part 6,

the types of debt recovery action that can be taken are specified in Part 6.

Generally, the procedure for recovery of a tax debt or grant debt is as follows—

the Chief Commissioner may serve a debt notice for the tax debt or grant debt on the debtor under the legislation under which the debt is incurred,

if the debt is not paid within 7 days of the due date specified in the debt notice, the Chief Commissioner may then make a debt recovery order under this Act (see Part 4),

if the debt is not paid within 7 days of the due date specified in the notice of debt recovery order, the Chief Commissioner is authorised to take debt recovery action in respect of the debt under Part 6,

the types of debt recovery action that can be taken are specified in Part 6.

For referable debts, at various stages of the debt recovery process the debtor is given an opportunity—

to obtain an internal review of the decision to recover the debt (see Part 3), or

to elect to have the matter dealt with by a court (see Part 5), or

to apply for hardship relief (see Part 7).

For tax debts and grant debts, an objection or review procedure is available under the legislation under which those debts are incurred. Those Acts also make provision for hardship relief.

For all State debts, the debtor may apply for a time to pay order (see Part 7).

This section is a summary of debt recovery procedures and does not affect the provisions of this or any other Act that it summarises.

Despite any other provision of this Act, the taking of debt recovery action in respect of a State debt is not authorised if—

the debtor is a minor, or

the State debt was incurred when the debtor was a minor.

If the Chief Commissioner ascertains that a debtor in relation to a State debt is a minor, the Chief Commissioner must revoke any debt recovery order made in relation to that State debt.

This section does not prevent the taking of debt recovery action against a person who is jointly and severally liable with a minor for a State debt.

Note.

The Interpretation Act 1987 defines a minor as an individual who is under the age of 18 years.