Part 4 Claims for and repayment of unclaimed money
In this Part:applicant means a person who applies under section 17 for the repayment of unclaimed money paid to the Chief Commissioner under this Act.
15 Owner’s entitlement to recovery
The owner of any unclaimed money paid to the Chief Commissioner under this Act is entitled to recover that money from the Chief Commissioner in accordance with this Part.
16 Extinguishment of entitlement
Despite the Limitation Act 1969:(a) if an owner’s right to money paid to the Chief Commissioner under this Act was not extinguished before the date of that payment, the owner’s entitlement under this Part is not extinguished until the end of a period of 6 years beginning on that date, and(b) the owner’s right to that money subsists until the end of that period.
(1) The owner of any money paid to the Chief Commissioner under this Act may apply to the Chief Commissioner for repayment of the money.(2) An application under this section must be made in writing and be lodged with the Chief Commissioner.
An application in accordance with section 17 may be lodged at any time before the owner’s right to the money is extinguished.
An applicant bears the onus of establishing that the applicant is the owner of the money to which the application relates.
The standard of proof for establishing ownership of unclaimed money is the balance of probabilities.
(1) The Chief Commissioner determines an application by giving the applicant notice in writing to the effect that the Chief Commissioner is satisfied (or is not satisfied) that the applicant is the owner of the money (or part of the money) to which the application relates.(2) If the Chief Commissioner has not determined an application by the end of the period of 90 days after its lodgment, the Chief Commissioner is taken to have given the applicant notice, at the end of that period, to the effect that the Chief Commissioner is not satisfied that the applicant is the owner of the money concerned.
24 Chief Commissioner may repay unclaimed money to owner
(1) The Chief Commissioner may repay unclaimed money paid to the Chief Commissioner under this Act to any person who is determined under this Part to be the owner of the money.(2) A notice under section 21 (1) is to be accompanied, or followed as soon as practicable, by the appropriate repayment (if any).(3), (4) (Repealed)
25 Chief Commissioner may repay unclaimed money not required to be paid to Chief Commissioner
(1) The Chief Commissioner may repay money paid to the Chief Commissioner in purported compliance with this Act, but only if the Chief Commissioner is of the opinion that the money is not unclaimed money that is required to be paid to the Chief Commissioner under this Act.(2) The money may be repaid to the person by whom it was paid or to such other person as the Chief Commissioner considers appropriate.
25A Enterprise entitled to recover money from Chief Commissioner in certain cases
(1) An enterprise that pays an amount of unclaimed money to the owner of the money, after having paid the same amount to the Chief Commissioner under this Act, is entitled to recover the amount paid to the Chief Commissioner from the Chief Commissioner.(2) This Part applies in respect of the money as if a reference to the owner of the money were a reference to the enterprise entitled to recover the money from the Chief Commissioner.(3) The person to whom the money was paid by the enterprise is not entitled to recover the money from the Chief Commissioner.(4) This section does not apply in respect of any money paid to the Chief Commissioner that was paid to a person determined by the Chief Commissioner to be the owner of the money before an application to recover the money is made by an enterprise.
The Consolidated Fund is appropriated by this section for the purposes of, and to the extent necessary to permit, repayments by the Chief Commissioner under this Part.
26A Recovery of money wrongly paid
(1) If money is paid under this Part to a person who is not the owner of the money, the Chief Commissioner is entitled to recover the money from the person to whom it was paid (unless prevented from doing so by operation of the Limitation Act 1969.)(2) The Chief Commissioner is to pay money recovered under this section into the Consolidated Fund.