Section 321 — Excise Tax Act: Seizure of chattels

Where a person fails to pay an amount as required under this Part, the Minister may give thirty days notice to the person by registered or certified mail addressed to the person’s latest known address of the Minister’s intention to direct that the person’s goods and chattels be seized and sold, and, if the person fails to make the payment before the expiration of the thirty days, the Minister may issue a certificate of the failure and direct that the person’s goods and chattels be seized. Property seized under this section shall be kept for ten days at the expense and risk of the owner and, if the owner does not pay the amount due together with all expenses within the ten days, the property seized shall be sold by public auction. Except in the case of perishable goods, notice of a sale referred to in subsection (2) setting out the time and place thereof, together with a general description of the property to be sold shall, a reasonable time before the goods are sold, be published at least once in one or more newspapers of general local circulation. Any surplus resulting from a sale referred to in subsection (2), after deduction of the amount owing and all expenses, shall be paid or returned to the owner of the property seized. Such goods and chattels of any person in default as would be exempt from seizure under a writ of execution issued out of a superior court of the province in which the seizure is made are exempt from seizure under this section.