904A Power of inspection: returns and collection of appropriate tax.

(1) In this section—

“amount on account of appropriate tax”, “appropriate tax”, “deposit”, “interest”, “relevant deposit taker”, “relevant interest” and “return” have, respectively, the meaning assigned to them by section 256(1);

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“authorised officer” means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them in writing to exercise the powers conferred by this section;

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“auditor” means a person who is qualified, for the purposes of^[9]> Part X of the Companies Act, 1990^<[9][9]>Part 6 of the Companies Act 2014^<[9], for appointment as auditor of a company, or any other person whom the Revenue Commissioners consider suitable, having regard to his or her qualifications or experience, for appointment as an authorised officer;

“authorised officer” means—

(a) an officer of the Revenue Commissioners who is authorised by them in writing to exercise the powers conferred by this section, and

(b) an auditor who is authorised by the Revenue Commissioners in writing to exercise the powers conferred by this section in relation to an audit of the return of a named relevant deposit taker for a specified year or years of assessment;

“associated company”, in relation to a relevant deposit taker, means a company which is itself a relevant deposit taker and which is the relevant deposit taker’s associated company within the meaning of section 432;

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“books, records or other documents” includes—

(a) any records used in the business of a financial institution, or used in the transfer department of a financial institution acting as registrar of securities, whether—

(i) comprised in bound volume, loose-leaf binders or other loose-leaf filing system, loose-leaf ledger sheets, pages, folios or cards, or

(ii) kept on microfilm, magnetic tape or in any non-legible form (by the use of electronics or otherwise) which is capable of being reproduced in a legible form, and

(b) every electronic or other automatic means, if any, by which any such thing in non-legible form is so capable of being reproduced, and

(c) documents in manuscript, documents which are typed, printed, stencilled or created by any other mechanical or partly mechanical process in use from time to time and documents which are produced by any photographic or photostatic process, and

(d) correspondence and records of other communications between a relevant deposit taker and a person to whom it pays interest;

“liability” in relation to a person means any liability in relation to tax to which the person is or may be, or may have been, subject, or the amount of such liability;

“tax” means any tax, duty, levy or charge under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

(2) An authorised officer, having regard to Chapter 4 of Part 8, may at all reasonable times enter any premises or place of business of a relevant deposit taker for the purposes of auditing for a year of assessment—

(a) the return made by the relevant deposit taker of—

(i) the relevant interest paid by it in that year,

(ii) the appropriate tax in relation to the payment of that interest,

(iii) the amount of interest in respect of which an amount on account of appropriate tax is due and payable for that year, and

(iv) the amount on account of appropriate tax so due and payable, and

(b) whether payments of interest were properly made by the relevant deposit taker without deducting appropriate tax in relation to the payments.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), the authorised officer may—

(a) examine the procedures put in place by the relevant deposit taker for the purpose of ensuring compliance by the relevant deposit taker with its obligations under section 257(2), and

(b) check a sample of accounts into which deposits, which have not been treated by the relevant deposit taker as relevant deposits, have been paid, to determine whether—

(i) the procedures referred to in paragraph (a) have been observed in practice and whether they are adequate,

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(ii) the relevant deposit taker is, in respect of each deposit in the sample of deposits, in possession of a declaration mentioned in section 263, 265 or 266, as the case may be, and

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(ii) the relevant deposit taker is, in respect of each deposit in the sample of deposits, in possession of—

(I) a declaration mentioned in ^[8]>section 246A(3)(b)(ii)(III) or 263,^{<[8] [8]>}section 246A(3)(b)(ii)(III), 263 or 263A,^<[8]

(II) the number referred to in paragraph (f)(ii) or (h)(ii) of the definition of “relevant deposit” in section 256, or

(III) as respects a case within paragraph (b)(ii)(I) or (b)(ii)(II) of subsection (3) of section 246A, the tax reference number referred to in subsection (4) of that section,

as the case may be, and

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(iii) there is information in the relevant deposit taker’s possession which can reasonably be taken to indicate that one or more of such deposits is or may be a relevant deposit.

(4) Where an authorised officer in exercising or performing his or her powers and duties under this section has reason to believe that in respect of one or more deposits, the relevant deposit taker has incorrectly treated them as not being relevant deposits, the authorised officer may make such further enquiries as are necessary to establish whether there is a liability in relation to any person.

(5) An authorised officer may require a relevant deposit taker or an employee of the relevant deposit taker to produce books, records or other documents and to furnish information, explanations and particulars and to give all assistance, which the authorised officer reasonably requires for the purposes of his or her audit and examination under subsections (2) and (3), and, as the case may be, enquiries under subsection (4).

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(6) An employee of a relevant deposit taker who fails to comply with the requirements of the authorised officer in the exercise or performance of the authorised officer’s powers or duties under this section shall be liable to a penalty of £1,000.

(7) A relevant deposit taker which fails to comply with the requirements of the authorised officer in the exercise or performance of the authorised officer’s powers or duties under this section shall be liable to a penalty of £15,000 and if that failure continues a further penalty of £2,000 for each day on which the failure continues.”,

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(6) An authorised officer may require an associated company in relation to a relevant deposit taker or an employee of such an associated company to produce books, records or other documents and to furnish information, explanations and particulars and to give all assistance, which the authorised officer reasonably requires for the purposes of his or her audit and examination under subsections (2) and (3) and, as the case may be, enquiries under subsection (4).

(7) An authorised officer may make extracts from or copies of all or any part of the books, records or other documents or other material made available to him or her or require that copies of books, records, or other documents be made available to him or her, in exercising or performing his or her powers or duties under this section.

(8) An employee of a relevant deposit taker or of an associated company in relation to a relevant deposit taker, who fails to comply with the requirements of the authorised officer in the exercise or performance of the authorised officer’s powers or duties under this section shall be liable to a penalty of ^[4]>£1,000^{<[4] [4]>}€1,265^<[4].

(9) A relevant deposit taker or an associated company in relation to a relevant deposit taker which fails to comply with the requirements of the authorised officer in the exercise or performance of the authorised officer’s powers or duties under this section shall be liable to a penalty of ^[5]>£15,000^{<[5] [5]>}€19,045^<[5] and if that failure continues a further penalty of ^[6]>£2,000^{<[6] [6]>}€2,535^<[6] for each day on which the failure continues.

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