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[F.A.Q.]
Kiribati Consolidated Legislation |
LAW
OF THE GILBERT
ISLANDS
REVISED
EDITION 1977
CHAPTER 49
LANDOWNERS TAXATION
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1.
Short title
2.
Interpretation
3. Imposition of
tax
4. Review and
appeal
5. Payment of
tax
6. Non-payment of
tax
7.
Exemption
8. Saving
------------------------------------
An Ordinance to provide for the taxation of landowners
13 of 1957
6 of 1958
6 of
1961
8 of 1971
3 of 1972
18 of 1972
(Cap 53 of 1973)
26 of
1977
Commencement: 1st August 1957
Short
title
1.
This Ordinance may be cited as the Landowners Taxation
Ordinance.
Interpretation
2.
In this Ordinance unless the context otherwise requires –
"council" means a local government council established under section 3 of the Local Government Ordinance;
"council fund" means a fund established under Part VII of the Local Government Ordinance;
"court" means a magistrates' court;
"executive officer" means a person appointed as such under the Local Government Ordinance;
"landowner" means –
(a) in relation to land of which the fee simple is for the time being vested in a non-native, the person entitled to the rack rent thereof or who would be so entitled if the same were let to a tenant at a rack rent;
(b) in relation to land other than that referred to in paragraph (a), the person who is registered in the register of native lands as being the owner;
"land tax payer" means the landowner, unless –
(a) the land is leased on terms to the effect that the usufruct of the land shall be taken by the tenant, then such tenant shall be the taxpayer;
(b) the landowner is dead, a minor, of unsound mind, or absent from the island where the land is situated and such land is not leased, then the person who is deemed by the magistrates' court to have caretakership or be in occupation of the land shall be the taxpayer;
"register of native lands" means the register of that name maintained under the provisions of the Native Lands Ordinance.
Imposition
of
tax
3.
(1) There shall be charged, levied and collected in respect of the year 1958 and
each succeeding year a tax on land in the Gilbert
t Islands in the manner
hereinafter provided.
(2) Unless
otherwise exempt each plot of land registered in the register of native lands,
and each plot of land held in fee simple
by a non-native shall be assessed for
payment of tax by the council with whose area of authority the land is situated
and the council
shall determine the method of assessment as between plots of
land on the island and the amount of the tax to be
paid:
Provided that the method of
assessment adopted by the council and the amount of tax imposed shall be
approved by the Minister.
(3) In
determining the amount of tax to be imposed the council shall take into
consideration the amount of revenue required to be
raised from this source for
the council fund and also any directions by the Minister regarding a
contribution to the Consolidated
Fund from the proceeds of this
tax.
(4) The amount of tax due in
the ensuing year shall be assessed by the council and published in the form of a
notice, stating the
method of assessment and the amount of tax payable,
displayed outside the council office before 31st December, or such other date
as
may be authorised by the Minister either generally or specifically; and notice
of the imposition of this tax having been published
the executive officer shall
assess the amount due in respect of each plot of land of each landowner, and
enter this assessment in
a land tax
register.
Review
and
appeal
4.
(1) The imposition of the tax having been published as required d by section 3
(4), individual land tax payers may ascertain from
the executive officer details
of the amount of the tax payable in respect of their lands and if a land tax
payer is not satisfied
with the assessment of any plot of land as entered in the
land tax register against the landowner he may either personally, or by
a person
acting on his behalf, request the council to review the
assessment.
(2) Requests for
review shall be lodged with the executive officer within 30 days of the
publication of the tax.
(3) When
any land tax payer has lodged a request for review of assessment of a plot
within the period prescribed by the last sub-section,
the council, or a
committee appointed by the council either generally or specifically for this
purpose, shall then review the application
of the approved method of assessment
in respect of the plot, the details of plots of land on which the land tax payer
is liable for
tax and his resultant liability and may then either confirm or
vary the assessment.
(4) If the
council, or a committee thereof, while confirming an assessment, considers that
the request for review was frivolous it
may impose by way of costs an additional
tax of an amount not exceeding one quarter of the amount the subject of the
review.
(5) If following such a
review the land tax payer is still not satisfied with the assessment he may
appeal to the administrative officer
in charge of the district who may, after
hearing the appellant, the executive officer and such other evidence as he may
require,
either confirm or vary the assessment or any imposition by way of costs
of additional tax and his decision shall be
final.
(6) A land tax payer who
wishes to appeal shall, either personally or by a person acting on his behalf,
notify the executive officer
within 30 days of the decision of the council, or
its committee, on review under subsection (1) that he wishes to
appeal.
(7) The assessment of any
plot the assessment of which has not been the subject of a request for review or
appeal in the manner and
within the time prescribed above shall not thereafter
be able to be contested.
(8) An
alteration of an assessment made by the council, or its committee, on review, or
by the administrative officer in charge of
the district on an appeal, under this
section shall not affect the validity of an assessment on any other
plot.
Payment
of
tax
5.
(1) Land tax payers shall pay the amount of tax for which they are liable to the
executive officer of the council within whose area
of authority the land is
situated before the 31st March of the year for which the tax is imposed, or
within 3 months of the date
of publication of the tax as required by section 3
(4), or within 3 months of review or appeal under section 4, whichever date is
the later:
Provided that the time
within which payment of land tax is required to be made be extended in respect
of the area of authority of
a council –
(a) by notice by the council concerned to a date not later than the 31st day of December in the year for which the tax is imposed; or
(b) by the Minister, on the recommendation of the council concerned, to such date as the Minister considers appropriate.
(2)
Upon payment of the tax, the executive officer shall issue the payer with a
receipt showing the number of the plot or plots of
land, the amount of tax paid
and the names of the land taxpayer and the landowner, if these are not the same
person; and land tax
payers may pay their tax in instalments, provided always
that no payment, except the last, is of an amount less than the tax imposed
on
one plot of
land.
Non-payment
of tax
6.
(1) Any land taxpayer, who has not paid
the whole or part of the tax for which he is liable within the time prescribed
in section
5, shall be liable to a fine of $10 and in addition to any fine
imposed the court shall on conviction order the law taxpayer to pay
any of the
tax still due.
(2) If the land tax
payer for a plot of land cannot be readily ascertained, or if for good reason he
cannot be proceeded against for
non-payment of tax under subsection (1), or if
despite prosecution under subsection (1) he persistently refuses to pay the tax,
the
executive officer shall prepare a notice of individual assessment in a form
to be prescribed by the Minister and the notice shall
be served on the landowner
by registered post, if after reasonable enquiry his address can be found and he
is living there, and a
copy of the notice shall be served on the occupier of the
land or a relative of the landowner resident within the area of authority
of the
council concerned who may be reasonably expected to be able to represent the
landowner, if there be no such occupier or relative,
it shall be affixed upon
some conspicuous part of the
land.
(3) The notice of individual
assessment shall,
inter
alia, be addressed to the landowner,
state the description and registered number (if any) of the plot of land in
respect of which tax has
not been paid, and inform him that if the tax, together
with an additional quarter of the tax by way of penalty for late payment,
remains unpaid and tax is also not paid in the succeeding year the land shall be
liable to seizure and sale by the council as hereinafter
provided.
(4) If, after the issue
of a notice of individual assessment, as provided in subsection (2), the tax
remains unpaid and tax is also
not paid in the succeeding year, the council may
petition the lands court that title to the plot of land concerned may be
transferred
from the landowner to the council under the provisions of this
section, and, upon such transfer, that land shall vest in the council
and shall
be held by the council upon trust with a power to sell the land after the expiry
of 1 year from the date upon which it
was transferred to the council, if the
land has not within that period been reconvened to the landowner, under the
provisions of
subsection (6).
(5)
The petition referred to in the last subsection shall be heard so far as may be
in accordance with the procedure laid down in
the Magistrates' Courts Ordinance
in respect of the hearing of land causes and matters, and if the executive
officer on behalf of
the council shall prove to the satisfaction of the
magistrates' court that -
(i) the whole or part of the total tax due from the landowner in respect of plots of land in issue in respect of 2 consecutive years remains unpaid; and that
(ii) the notice of individual assessment was served or affixed on the land as required by subsection (2):
it
may order the transfer to be
effected:
Provided that the
proceedings at any stage may be stayed if the landowner, or a person on his
behalf, pays all arrears of tax in respect
of plots of land in issue, together
with an additional quarter of such arrears by way of penalty and the amount of
any costs incurred
by the council as a result of this
action.
(6) Any landowner, whose
land is forfeited under the provisions of subsection (4) due to failure on the
part of the land tax payer,
not being himself, to pay the tax, may upon payment
to the council as in the proviso to subsection (5) within 1 year of the transfer
have his land transferred back to his ownership, and shall have a civil claim
for damages against the defaulting tax payer, and he
shall have no claim against
the council in respect of the council's use of the land during the period it was
in the council's ownership.
(7)
Where land is transferred to the council upon trust under the provisions of
subsection (4) and is not reconveyed to the landowner
within 1 year under the
provisions of subsection (5) the council shall exercise the power of sale and
shall sell the land either
by public auction or by private treaty, either a in
lots, at a price which the council considers to be a fair price shall deduct
from the proceeds of such sale the amount of tax due from the tax payer in
respect of such land, the co proceedings, and the expenses
incurred in the
seizure and management of the land and in effecting the sale thereof and shall
pay any balance remaining to the former
owner of the
land.
Exemption
7.
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Ordinance it shall be lawful for
the Minister to exempt from liability to pay tax under
this Ordinance for such
period specified in the instrument of exemption –
(a) any individual landowners; or
(b) any class of landowner.
Saving
8.
No assessment of tax in respect of any landowner shall be invalid by reason of
the fact that any other landowner has been omitted
from assessment or has been
erroneously or invalidly assessed.
_________________
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
Prescription
of form required by section 6 (2)
LANDOWNERS TAXATION (INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT) REGULATIONS
Commencement: 26 August 1980
Citation
1.
These Regulations may be cited as the Landowners Taxation (Individual
Assessment)
Regulations.
Interpretation
2.
In these Regulations "the Ordinance" means the Landowners Taxation
Ordinance.
Prescribed
Form
3. The form set out in the
Schedule hereto with such variations as circumstances may require is the form
prescribed for the purposes
of section 6 (2) of the Ordinance.
_______
SCHEDULE
NOTICE OF INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT
Pursuant
to section 6 of the Landowners Taxation
Ordinance
To
.............................................................................................
(Name of Landowner)
Registered
number of land plot
........................................................................
Description
of land
.....................................................................................................
Year
of assessment
.....................................................................................................
Amount
of tax assessed
...............................................................................................
Penalty
for late payment (being 25 per cent of tax assessed)
......................................
TOTAL
amount owing
....................................................................................
TAKE
NOTICE that if the Total amount of
................................................................ shown above
remains unpaid
and tax is not paid in the year ..................... the land
described above shall be liable to seizure and sale by the Council
as provided
under the Landowners Taxation
Ordinance.
Dated
......................... day of .......................19.....
Signed:
................................
Executive
Officer
----------------------------------
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