Once a tax officer has seized property, who may no longer dispose of it or pay the delinquent taxpayer, and which acts are caught?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the practice file we read the tax office's record of the seizure, which names the property seized and the date, the notice of seizure served on the delinquent taxpayer, and any contract or payment record showing a third party's debt to that taxpayer.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes each actor separately: once a tax officer has seized property, the delinquent taxpayer may not transfer it, create a limited property right over it, receive payment of a claim, or otherwise dispose of it; and where a claim or other property right has been seized, the debtor of that claim, or another person in an equivalent position, defined in the provision as a third-party debtor, may not pay the delinquent taxpayer.
Another reading marks the reach of the provision: the prohibition runs only against the specific property seized and only after a tax officer has seized it, and the provision states what these persons may not do without saying how a disposal or payment made in breach is treated, while for seized securities shares and electronically registered shares it points to the persons named in the categories of the related provisions rather than to all third-party debtors.
Your judgment
If a third party has paid the delinquent taxpayer after a claim was seized, what in the file would show whether that payment discharged the seized claim or another debt?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change who is bound or to state the effect of a disposal or payment made in breach, or if a court decision construes the reach of the seizure restriction.