9. How can I protect myself against the costs of a taxation hearing by making a settlement offer?

9. How can I protect myself against the costs of a taxation hearing by making a settlement offer? 

You can make a formal sanctioned payment under Order 62A of the Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A) or the Rules of the District Court (Cap. 336H) by paying your settlement offer into court at any time prior to the “relevant date” (the date of provisional taxation on paper or the date set down for an oral taxation hearing). 

If the receiving party accepts your sanctioned payment within 14 days, taxation is stayed as of right. The receiving party may still accept the payment after the 14-day period if the parties agree on the liability and quantum of taxation costs incurred after that period, or if the court grants leave. 

If he rejects or fails to accept it and subsequently fail to “better” your payment at taxation, the taxing master must (unless unjust) penalize the receiving party by: 

• Disallowing all or part of the post-judgment interest on his costs for some or all of the period after the latest date the offer could have been accepted without leave (i.e., after the 14-day window).; 
• Ordering him to pay your costs of the taxation on an indemnity basis for the period after the date on which the sanctioned payment was made; and 

• Awarding you enhanced interest on those costs at a rate up to 10% above the judgment rate.