Excise Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-14)

Marginal note:Articles in respect of which no return made

• 99 (1) Every article or commodity in respect of which

  • (a) any fraudulent, false, incorrect or imperfect information, entry, return, inventory, account or statement has been made or given,

  • (b) any information, entry, return, inventory, account or statement has been in whole or in part neglected or refused to be made or given, or

  • (c) any information, entry, return, inventory, account or statement has been in whole or in part erased, defaced, removed or destroyed

  shall be forfeited to the Crown and shall be seized by any officer and dealt with accordingly.

• Marginal note:False or fraudulent return

  (2) All goods or materials, machinery, utensils, tools, apparatus or commodities in respect of which

  • (a) any fraudulent, false, incorrect or imperfect information, entry, return, inventory, account or statement has been made or given,

  • (b) any information, entry, return, inventory, account or statement has been, in whole or in part, neglected, or omitted, or refused to be made or given, or

  • (c) any information, entry, return, inventory, account or statement has been, in whole or in part, erased, defaced, removed or destroyed

  shall be forfeited to the Crown and shall be seized by any officer and dealt with accordingly.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) Any goods or materials, machinery, utensils, tools, apparatus or commodities that are found in any premises subject to excise at the time when it is discovered that anything described in paragraph (2)(a), (b) or (c) has been done in respect thereof shall be forfeited to the Crown and shall be seized by any officer and dealt with accordingly.

• Marginal note:Penalty

  (4) Every person who is required by this Act to make a return and fails to make the return within the time required by section 37 shall pay forthwith a penalty of two hundred and fifty dollars.

Marginal note:Using weights and measures not inspected and approved

100 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, every person who uses, or causes or permits the using of, any beams, scales, weights or measures in or about any premises subject to excise, other than those that have been tested, inspected and approved by the proper officer as provided in this Act, shall, for every offence, incur a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars and a further fine not exceeding fifty dollars for each subsequent day on which the use is continued, and the beams, scales, weights and measures shall be forfeited to the Crown and shall be seized by any officer and dealt with accordingly.

Marginal note:Breaking the Crown’s lock or seal, etc.

101 Every person is guilty of an indictable offence who

• (a) opens or breaks any lock or seal or other contrivance attached to any apparatus, vessel, pipe, trough, safe, closed spirit-receiver, meter, pump, cock, room, warehouse or other apartment used for the security of the revenue under this Act;

• (b) unlawfully abstracts any goods from any place where they or any of them are retained under the supervision of any officer;

• (c) counterfeits any label, stamp or seal provided for under this Act; or

• (d) without the knowledge and consent of the collector, in any way perforates any vessel or closed spirit-receiver used for containing any spirits on which the duties have not been paid.

Marginal note:Removing bonded goods without entry

• 102 (1) Where any goods subject to excise are removed or in any way abstracted from any bonding warehouse, without due entries having been made and the duties paid as required by law, whether the removal or abstraction is effected with or without the knowledge or consent of the person holding the licence for the warehouse or of the owner of the goods abstracted, the person to whom the licence for the warehouse was granted and the owner of the goods shall, in addition to the duties of excise to which the goods abstracted were liable, incur a penalty equal in amount to the duties.

• Marginal note:Remaining goods liable

  (2) All goods, articles or things remaining in a bonding warehouse, when it is ascertained that any goods have been unlawfully abstracted, are liable for the duties to which the abstracted goods were subject and for the penalty described in subsection (1), and may be forthwith sold by order of the collector or other officer whose duty it then is to collect the duties of excise.

• Marginal note:Proceeds

  (3) The proceeds of a sale held pursuant to subsection (2) shall be applied

  • (a) to the liquidation of the duties of excise to which the goods then in warehouse are subject;

  • (b) to the payment of the duties of excise to which the abstracted goods are subject; and

  • (c) to the payment of the penalty imposed by this section.

• Marginal note:Remission to innocent owners

  (4) Where the persons who become liable to the penalty imposed by this section show, to the satisfaction of the Minister, that they were in no way privy to the unlawful abstraction of the goods, or that the goods were stolen by some person or persons unknown to them, and that they have used all possible means for the detection and arrest of the criminal, the Minister may remit the penalty on payment of the duties to which the goods would otherwise have been liable.

Marginal note:Penalty for removal from bonding warehouse for certain exports

102.1 Every person who removes from a bonding warehouse and exports in bond manufactured tobacco (as defined in subsection 58.1(1)) otherwise than in accordance with subparagraph 58.1(3)(a)(i) and paragraph 58.1(3)(b) is liable to pay, in addition to any duties or taxes that are payable under this or any other Act in respect of the tobacco, a penalty equal to the total of those duties and taxes, and that penalty becomes payable at the time the tobacco is exported.

Marginal note:Goods removed before duty paid

103 Any goods removed from any premises subject to excise before the duty thereon has been paid or secured by bond in the manner required by law shall be seized and detained by any officer having a knowledge of the fact, and shall be forfeited to the Crown.

Marginal note:Unlawful removal

104 Goods subject to excise that have been removed from licensed premises contrary to this Act shall be forfeited to the Crown and may be seized and detained by any officer and dealt with accordingly.

Marginal note:Not disposing of goods in accordance with entry

105 If any goods subject to excise entered to be warehoused are not duly carried into and deposited in the warehouse, or having been so deposited are afterwards taken out of the warehouse without lawful permit, or having been entered and cleared for export in bond are not duly carried and shipped or otherwise conveyed out of Canada, or are afterwards re-landed, sold or used in or brought into Canada without the permission of the proper officer of the Crown, those goods shall be forfeited to the Crown and may be seized by any officer and dealt with accordingly.

Marginal note:Unlawfully using apparatus

106 Every person licensed under this Act who commences any operation, or uses any apparatus for which a notice is required to be given, before the time mentioned in the notice as that of the commencement or use shall, for every offence, incur a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

Marginal note:Taking away goods seized or detained

107 Every person who, whether pretending to be the owner or not, either secretly or openly, and whether with or without force or violence, takes or carries away any goods, vessel, vehicle or other thing that has been seized or detained on suspicion, as forfeited under this Act, before the same has been declared by competent authority to have been seized, without due cause and without the permission of the officer or person who seized the same or of a competent authority, shall be deemed to have stolen the goods, vessel, vehicle or other thing, being the property of Her Majesty, and is guilty of theft and liable to a term of imprisonment of not more than three years and not less than three months.

Marginal note:Refusing to give evidence

108 Every person who refuses or neglects to appear before any court, judge or any justice of the peace to give evidence, when summoned, concerning any alleged offence against this Act, or who refuses or neglects to give evidence when required, before any officer authorized by this Act to examine that person, shall, for that refusal or neglect, incur a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

Marginal note:Contravention of Act in other respects

109 Every person who commits any offence against any of the provisions of this Act or of any regulation that is not declared by this Act to be an indictable offence, or who neglects to perform any duty imposed on him by this Act or by any regulation, for which commission or neglect no punishment is specially provided, is liable to a fine of not more than two hundred dollars and not less than twenty-five dollars, and in default of payment of the fine shall be imprisoned for a term of not more than three months and not less than one month.

Marginal note:Imprisonment in lieu of or in addition to fine

110 Whenever any person is convicted of any offence against this Act for which a fine only is provided, the court may, if it thinks fit, in addition to or in lieu of any of the punishments authorized by this Act, sentence the offender to be imprisoned for a term of not more than two years and not less than one month.

Recovery of Duties and Penalties

Marginal note:Penalty and interest

• 110.1 (1) Subject to subsection (2), on default in payment of any duty or penalty payable under this Act within the time prescribed by this Act or the regulations, the person liable to pay that duty or penalty shall pay without delay, in addition to the amount in default,

  • (a) a penalty of one-half of one per cent, in respect of each month or fraction of a month between the expiration of that time and the day on which the total duty, penalty and interest outstanding is paid, calculated on the total duty, penalty and interest outstanding at the beginning of that month; and

  • (b) interest at such rates per annum prescribed under the Income Tax Act for amounts payable by the Minister under that Act as refunds of overpayments of tax to a person that is not a corporation, as are in effect from time to time, in respect of each day between the expiration of that time and the day on which the total duty, penalty and interest outstanding is paid, calculated on the total duty, penalty and interest outstanding on that day.

• Marginal note:Extension of time for payment

  (2) The Minister may, before or after the expiration of the time prescribed by this Act or the regulations for the payment of any duty, extend in writing the time for paying that duty and, where the Minister so extends the time,

  • (a) the duty and interest thereon shall be paid within the time as so extended;

  • (b) interest accrues under subsection (1) in respect of the duty as if the time had not been so extended;

  • (c) no penalty accrues or shall be deemed to have accrued under subsection (1) in respect of the duty before the expiration of the time as so extended; and

  • (d) penalty and interest accrue under subsection (1) in respect of a default in payment of the duty or interest thereon, or any portion thereof, within the time as so extended as if the default were a default referred to in that subsection.

Marginal note:Definitions

• 111 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  action

  action means an action to collect a tax debt of a person and includes a proceeding in a court and anything done by the Minister under any provision of this Part. (action)

  legal representative

  legal representative of a person means a trustee in bankruptcy, an assignee, a liquidator, a curator, a receiver of any kind, a trustee, an heir, an administrator, an executor, a liquidator of a succession, a committee, or any other like person, administering, winding up, controlling or otherwise dealing in a representative or fiduciary capacity with any property, business, commercial activity or estate that belongs or belonged to, or that is or was held for the benefit of, the person or the person’s estate. (représentant légal)

  tax debt

  tax debt means any amount payable by a person under this Act. (dette fiscale)

• Marginal note:Although no account or return rendered

  (2) All duties of excise or licence fees payable under this Act are recoverable at any time after they ought to have been accounted for and paid, whether an account of quantity of the goods or commodities or a true return of the utensils, tools and apparatus on which the duties or licence fees are payable has or has not been made as required by this Act.

• Marginal note:Debts to Her Majesty

  (3) A tax debt is a debt due to Her Majesty and is recoverable as such with full costs of suit in the Federal Court or any other court of competent jurisdiction or in any other manner provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:No actions after limitation period

  (4) The Minister may not commence an action to collect a tax debt after the end of the limitation period for the collection of the tax debt.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (5) The limitation period for the collection of a tax debt of a person

  • (a) begins

    • (i) if the tax debt became payable after March 3, 2004, on the earliest day on which the Minister can commence an action to collect that tax debt, and

    • (ii) if subparagraph (i) does not apply and the tax debt was payable on March 4, 2004, or would have been payable on that date but for a limitation period that otherwise applied to the collection of the tax debt, on March 4, 2004; and

  • (b) ends, subject to subsection (9), on the day that is 10 years after the day on which it begins.

• Marginal note:Limitation period restarted

  (6) The limitation period described in subsection (5) for the collection of a tax debt of a person restarts (and ends, subject to subsection (9), on the day that is 10 years after the day on which it restarts) on any day, before it would otherwise end, on which

  • (a) the person acknowledges the tax debt in accordance with subsection (7); or

  • (b) the Minister commences an action to collect the tax debt.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgement of tax debts

  (7) A person acknowledges a tax debt if the person

  • (a) promises, in writing, to pay the tax debt;

  • (b) makes a written acknowledgement of the tax debt, whether or not a promise to pay can be inferred from the acknowledgement and whether or not it contains a refusal to pay; or

  • (c) makes a payment, including a purported payment by way of a negotiable instrument that is dishonoured, on account of the tax debt.

• Marginal note:Agent or legal representative

  (8) For the purposes of this section, an acknowledgement made by a person’s agent or legal representative has the same effect as if it were made by the person.

• Marginal note:Extension of limitation period

  (9) In computing the day on which a limitation period ends, there shall be added the number of days on which one or more of the following is the case:

  • (a) the Minister has accepted and holds security in lieu of payment of the tax debt;

  • (b) if the person was resident in Canada on the applicable date described in paragraph (5)(a) in respect of the tax debt, the person is non-resident; or

  • (c) an action that the Minister may otherwise take in respect of the tax debt is restricted or not permitted under any provision of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act or of the Farm Debt Mediation Act.

• Marginal note:Bar to claims

  (10) Despite any law of Canada or a province, Her Majesty is not liable for any claim that arises because the Minister collected a tax debt after the end of any limitation period that applied to the collection of the tax debt and before March 4, 2004.

• Marginal note:Orders after March 3, 2004 and before effect

  (11) Despite any order or judgment made after March 3, 2004 that declares a tax debt not to be payable by a person, or that orders the Minister to reimburse to a person a tax debt collected by the Minister, because a limitation period that applied to the collection of the tax debt ended before royal assent to any measure giving effect to this section, the tax debt is deemed to have become payable on March 4, 2004.