BILL 27
An Act to Amend the
Gasoline and Motive Fuel Tax Act
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:
1 The
Gasoline and Motive Fuel Tax Act, chapter G-3 of the Revised Statutes,
1973, is amended by adding after section 7 the following:
LOSSES OF GASOLINE AND MOTIVE
FUEL
Penalty
for unverifiable losses of gasoline or motive fuel
7.01(1) Every collector shall justify and establish to the satisfaction
of the Minister any claim made by the collector for the loss of gasoline
or motive fuel.
7.01(2) Every collector who has excess unverifiable losses of gasoline
or motive fuel, calculated in accordance with the regulations, shall
pay a penalty, when assessed therefor by the Minister, equal to the
amount of the tax that would have been collectable by the collector
if the quantity of gasoline or motive fuel that exceeds the threshold
prescribed by regulation for an unverifiable loss had been sold to
a consumer liable to pay the tax under this Act.
7.01(3) The Minister is not bound by any return or information provided
by the collector to verify losses of gasoline or motive fuel and may,
despite any return or information delivered or if no return or information
has been delivered, assess the penalty payable under this section.
7.01(4) If an assessment or reassessment was done between January 1,
1997, and the date of the enactment of this section, inclusive, pertaining
to the tax payable on excess unverifiable losses of gasoline or motive
fuel, the tax so determined shall be deemed to be the penalty payable
under subsection (2) and, unless collected by the Province before
the date of the enactment of this section, is due and payable immediately
to the Province by the person subject to the assessment or reassessment
despite any judgment to the contrary, whether the judgment is obtained
before, on or after the enactment of this section.
7.01(5) If any amount of the tax referred to in subsection (4) was collected
by the Province, the amount shall by this section be conclusively
deemed to have been collected and retained by the Province, without
compensation, as payment for the penalty despite any judgment obtained
by any person for recovery of the amount, whether the judgment is
obtained before, on or after the enactment of this section.
7.01(6) The Taxpayer Protection Act does not apply to the penalty referred to in this section.
2 Section
45 of the Act is amended
(a) in subsection (2) by
adding after paragraph (d) the following:
(d.01) prescribing one or more methods
for calculating unverifiable losses and excess unverifiable losses
for the purposes of section 7.01 and prescribing one or more thresholds for the purposes of that
section;
(b) by adding after subsection
(2) the following:
45(2.1) Regulations made under paragraph (2)(d.01) may be made retroactive
to January 1, 1997, or to any date after January 1, 1997.
CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENT
Revenue Administration
Act
3 Section 1 of the Revenue Administration
Act, chapter R-10.22 of the Acts of New Brunswick, 1983, is amended
in the definition “tax” by adding “the penalty referred to in section
7.01 of the Gasoline and Motive Fuel
Tax Act” before “and
all deposits made”.
COMMENCEMENT
4 This Act shall be deemed to have come into
force on January 1, 1997.