128B Power of inspection.

(1) In this section—

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

“employee” means an employee who by virtue of his or her employment is in a position to, or to procure—

(a) the production of the books, records or other documents,

(b) the furnishing of information, explanations and particulars, and

(c) the giving of all assistance, to an authorised officer, as may be required under subsection (3);

“records” has the same meaning as in section 128A;

“relevant person” means an accountable person and, where records are retained on his or her behalf, a person who retains the records;

“return” means an electronic return or a paper return.

(2) An authorised officer may at all reasonable times enter any premises or place of business of a relevant person for the purpose of auditing a return.

(3) An authorised officer may require a relevant person or an employee of the relevant person to produce 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 under subsection (2).

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

(5) An authorised officer when exercising or performing his or her powers or duties under this section shall, on request, produce his or her authorisation for the purposes of this section.

(6) An employee of a relevant person 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 €1,265.

(7) A relevant person 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 €19,045 and if that failure continues a further penalty of €2,535 for each day on which the failure continues.