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PART XII |
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INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE |
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Provision of information |
| | 123. - (1) Every person involved (in whatever capacity) in making or receiving supplies of taxable commodities, or in any connected activities, shall provide the Commissioners with such information relating to the matters in which he is or has been involved as the Commissioners may reasonably require.
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(2) Information required under sub-paragraph (1) shall be provided to the Commissioners within such period after being required, and in such form, as the Commissioners may reasonably require.
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(3) Subject to sub-paragraphs (4) and (5) and to paragraph 106(5) (which relates to supplementary assessments of daily penalties), if a person fails to provide information which he is required to provide under this paragraph, he shall be liable-
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(a) to a penalty of £250; and |
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(b) to a further penalty of £20 for every day after the last relevant date and before the day after that on which the required information is provided. |
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(4) Liability to a penalty specified in sub-paragraph (3) shall not arise if the person required to provide the information satisfies the Commissioners or, on appeal, an appeal tribunal-
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(a) in the case of the penalty under paragraph (a) of that sub-paragraph that there is a reasonable excuse- |
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(i) for the initial failure to provide the required information on or before the last relevant date; and
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(ii) for every subsequent failure to provide it;
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(b) in the case of any penalty under paragraph (b) of that sub-paragraph for any day, that there is a reasonable excuse for the failure to provide the information on or before that day. |
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(5) Where, by reason of any failure by any person to provide information required under this paragraph-
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(a) that person is convicted of an offence (whether under this Act or otherwise), or |
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(b) that person is assessed to a penalty under paragraph 97 (penalty for evasion), |
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that person shall not by reason of that failure be liable also to a penalty under this paragraph.
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(6) In this paragraph "the last relevant date" means the last day of the period within which the person in question was required to provide the information.
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Records |
| | 124. - (1) The Commissioners may by regulations impose obligations to keep records on persons who are, or are required to be, registered.
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(2) Regulations under this paragraph may be framed by reference to such records as may be stipulated in any notice published by the Commissioners in pursuance of the regulations and not withdrawn by a further notice.
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(3) Regulations under this paragraph may-
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(a) require any records kept in pursuance of the regulations to be preserved for such period, not exceeding six years, as may be specified in the regulations; |
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(b) authorise the Commissioners to direct that any such records need only be preserved for a shorter period than that specified in the regulations; |
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(c) authorise a direction to be made so as to apply generally or in such cases as the Commissioners may stipulate. |
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(4) Any duty under regulations under this paragraph to preserve records may be discharged by the preservation of the information contained in them by such means as the Commissioners may approve.
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(5) The Commissioners may, as a condition of approving under sub-paragraph (4) any means of preserving information contained in any records, impose such reasonable requirements as appear to them necessary for securing that the information will be as readily available to them as if the records themselves had been preserved.
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(6) Subject to sub-paragraphs (7) and (8), a person who fails to preserve any record in compliance with-
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(a) any regulations under this paragraph, or |
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(b) any notice, direction or requirement given or imposed under such regulations, |
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shall be liable to a penalty of £250.
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(7) A failure such as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (6) shall not give rise to any penalty under that sub-paragraph if the person required to preserve the record satisfies the Commissioners or, on appeal, an appeal tribunal that there is a reasonable excuse for the failure.
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(8) Where, by reason of any such failure by any person as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (6)-
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(a) that person is convicted of an offence (whether under this Act or otherwise), or |
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(b) that person is assessed to a penalty under paragraph 97 (penalty for evasion), |
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that person shall not by reason of that failure be liable also to a penalty under this paragraph.
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(9) The Commissioners may if they think fit at any time modify or withdraw any approval or requirement given or imposed for the purposes of this paragraph.
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Evidence of records that are required to be preserved |
| | 125. - (1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, where any obligation to preserve records is discharged in accordance with paragraph 124(4), a copy of any document forming part of the records shall be admissible in evidence in any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, to the same extent as the records themselves.
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(2) A statement contained in a document produced by a computer shall not by virtue of this paragraph be admissible in evidence-
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(a) in criminal proceedings in England and Wales, except in accordance with Part II of the Criminal Justice Act 1988; |
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(b) in civil proceedings in Scotland, except in accordance with sections 5 and 6 of the Civil Evidence (Scotland) Act 1988; |
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(c) in criminal proceedings in Scotland, except in accordance with Schedule 8 to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995; |
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(d) in criminal proceedings in Northern Ireland, except in accordance with Part II of the Criminal Justice (Evidence, Etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 1988. |
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Production of documents |
| | 126. - (1) Every person involved (in whatever capacity) in making or receiving supplies of taxable commodities, or in any connected activities, shall upon demand made by an authorised person produce or cause to be produced for inspection by that person any documents relating to the matters in which he is or has been involved.
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(2) Where, by virtue of sub-paragraph (1), an authorised person has power to require the production of any documents from any person-
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(a) he shall have the like power to require production of the documents concerned from any other person who appears to the authorised person to be in possession of them; and |
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(b) the production of any document by that other person in pursuance of a requirement under this sub-paragraph shall be without prejudice to any lien claimed by that other person on that document. |
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(3) The documents mentioned in sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be produced at such time and place as the authorised person may reasonably require.
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(4) Subject to sub-paragraphs (5) and (6) and to paragraph 106(5) (which relates to supplementary assessments of daily penalties), if a person fails to produce any document which he is required to produce under this paragraph, he shall be liable-
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(a) to a penalty of £250; and |
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(b) to a further penalty of £20 for every day after the last relevant date and before the day after that on which the document is produced. |
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(5) Liability to a penalty specified in sub-paragraph (4) shall not arise if the person required to produce the document in question satisfies the Commissioners or, on appeal, an appeal tribunal-
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(a) in the case of the penalty under paragraph (a) of that sub-paragraph, that there is a reasonable excuse- |
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(i) for the initial failure to produce the document at the required time; and
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(ii) for every subsequent failure to produce it;
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(b) in the case of any penalty under paragraph (b) of that sub-paragraph for any day, that there is a reasonable excuse for the failure to produce the document on or before that day. |
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(6) Where, by reason of any failure by any person to provide information required under this paragraph-
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(a) that person is convicted of an offence (whether under this Act or otherwise), or |
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(b) that person is assessed to a penalty under paragraph 97 (penalty for evasion), |
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that person shall not by reason of that failure be liable also to a penalty under this paragraph.
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(7) In this paragraph "the last relevant date" means the last day of the period within which the person in question was required to produce the document.
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Powers in relation to documents produced |
| | 127. - (1) An authorised person may take copies of, or make extracts from, any document produced under paragraph 126.
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(2) If it appears to him to be necessary to do so, an authorised person may, at a reasonable time and for a reasonable period, remove any document produced under paragraph 126.
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(3) An authorised person who removes any document under sub-paragraph (2) shall, if requested to do so, provide a receipt for the document so removed.
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(4) Where a lien is claimed on a document produced under paragraph 126(2), the removal of the document under sub-paragraph (2) shall not be regarded as breaking the lien.
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(5) Where a document removed by an authorised person under sub-paragraph (2) is reasonably required for any purpose he shall, as soon as practicable, provide a copy of the document, free of charge, to the person by whom it was produced or caused to be produced.
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(6) Where any documents removed under the powers conferred by this paragraph are lost or damaged, the Commissioners shall be liable to compensate their owner for any expenses reasonably incurred by him in replacing or repairing the documents.
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Entry and inspection |
| | 128. For the purpose of exercising any powers under this Schedule, an authorised person may at any reasonable time enter and inspect premises used in connection with the carrying on of a business.
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Entry and search |
| | 129. - (1) Where-
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(a) a justice of the peace is satisfied on information on oath that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that a fraud offence which appears to be of a serious nature is being, has been or is about to be committed on any premises or that evidence of the commission of such an offence is to be found there, or |
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(b) in Scotland a justice (within the meaning of section 307 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995) is satisfied by evidence on oath as mentioned in paragraph (a), |
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he may issue a warrant in writing authorising any authorised person to enter those premises, if necessary by force, at any time within one month from the time of the issue of the warrant and to search them.
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(2) A person who enters the premises under the authority of the warrant may-
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(a) take with him such other persons as appear to him to be necessary; |
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(b) seize and remove any such documents or other things at all found on the premises as he has reasonable cause to believe may be required as evidence for the purposes of proceedings in respect of a fraud offence which appears to him to be of a serious nature; |
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(c) search, or cause to be searched, any person found on the premises whom he has reasonable cause to believe to be in possession of any documents or other things which may be so required. |
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(3) Sub-paragraph (2) shall not authorise any person to be searched by a member of the opposite sex.
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(4) The powers conferred by a warrant under this paragraph shall not be exercisable-
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(a) by more than such number of authorised persons as may be specified in the warrant; |
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(b) outside such periods of the day as may be so specified; or |
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(c) if the warrant so provides, otherwise than in the presence of a constable in uniform. |
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(5) An authorised person seeking to exercise the powers conferred by a warrant under this paragraph or, if there is more than one such authorised person, such one of them as is in charge of the search shall provide a copy of the warrant endorsed with his name as follows-
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(a) if the occupier of the premises concerned is present at the time the search is to begin, the copy shall be supplied to the occupier; |
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(b) if at that time the occupier is not present but a person who appears to the authorised person to be in charge of the premises is present, the copy shall be supplied to that person; |
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(c) if neither paragraph (a) nor paragraph (b) applies, the copy shall be left in a prominent place on the premises. |
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(6) In this paragraph "a fraud offence" means an offence under any of paragraphs 91 to 93.
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