12.1. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision, any amount which a person owes under a fiscal law carries a recovery charge equal to 10 %, calculated on the unpaid balance of the debt on the date on which the Minister either resorts to a recovery measure provided for in a fiscal law or exercises a recourse before a court of competent jurisdiction to collect the debt. Such a charge shall not be less than $50 nor more than $10 000.
Where several recourses or recovery measures are exercised by the Minister in respect of a debt, the charge provided for in the first paragraph shall be applied only once.
The Minister may cancel or reduce the charge so calculated if he considers that the charge would not have been so calculated had it not been for an error or negligence attributable to him, or where the amount of the debt which gave rise to the application of the charge is cancelled or reduced.
1988, c. 4, s. 153; 1992, c. 31, s. 12; 1993, c. 79, s. 31.