Finance Act 1988

127 Production of computer records etc. U.K.

(1) Any provision made by or under the Taxes Acts which requires a person—

(a) to produce, furnish or deliver any document or cause any document to be produced, furnished or delivered; or

(b) to permit the Board, or an inspector or other officer of the Board—

(i) to inspect any document, or

(ii) to make or take extracts from or copies of or remove any document,

shall have effect as if any reference in that provision to a document [F1 were a reference to anything in which information of any description is recorded and any reference to a copy of a document were a reference to anything onto which information recorded in the document has been copied, by whatever means and whether directly or indirectly].

(2) In connection with tax, a person authorised by the Board to exercise the powers conferred by this subsection—

(a) shall be entitled at any reasonable time to have access to, and inspect and check the operation of, any computer and any associated apparatus or material which is or has been in use in connection with any document to which this subsection applies; and

(b) may require—

(i) the person by whom or on whose behalf the computer is or has been so used, or

(ii) any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the computer, apparatus, or material,

to afford him such reasonable assistance as he may require for the purposes of paragraph (a) above.

(3) Subsection (2) above applies to any document [F2 , within the meaning given by subsection (1) above,]which a person is or may be required by or under any provision of the Taxes Acts—

(a) to produce, furnish or deliver, or cause to be produced, furnished or delivered; or

(b) to permit the Board, or an inspector or other officer of the Board, to inspect, make or take extracts from or copies of or remove.

(4) Any person who—

(a) obstructs a person authorised under subsection (2) above in the exercise of his powers under paragraph (a) of that subsection, or

(b) fails to comply within a reasonable time with a requirement under paragraph (b) of that subsection,

shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £500.

F3 (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6) This section shall be construed as if it were contained in the M1 Taxes Management Act 1970.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 127(1) substituted (31.1.1997) by 1995 c. 38, s. 15(1), Sch. 1 para. 13(2) (with ss. 1(3), 6(4)(5), 14); S.I. 1996/3217, art. 2

F2 Words in s. 127(3) substituted (31.1.1997) by 1995 c. 38, s. 15(1), Sch. 1 para. 13(3) (with ss. 1(3), 6(4)(5), 14); S.I. 1996/3217, art. 2

F3 S. 127(5) repealed (31.1.1997) by 1995 c. 38, s. 15, Sch. 1 para. 13(4), Sch. 2 (with ss. 1(3), 6(4)(5), 14); S.I. 1996/3217, art. 2

Marginal Citations

M1 1970 c. 9.