Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024

Penalty for failure to keep and preserve records

54 Penalty for failure to keep and preserve records

(1) A person (“P”) who fails to comply with section 28 in relation to a return is liable to a penalty as determined by a relevant local authority, subject to the following exception.

(2) No penalty is incurred if the relevant local authority is satisfied that any facts that it reasonably requires to be proved, and that would have been proved by the records, are proved by other documentary evidence provided to the authority.

55 Reasonable excuse for failure to keep and preserve records

(1) If P satisfies the relevant local authority that there is a reasonable excuse for a failure to comply with section 28, liability to a penalty under section 54 does not arise in relation to that failure.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—

(a) an insufficiency of funds is not a reasonable excuse unless attributable to events outside P's control,

(b) where P relies on any other person to do anything, that is not a reasonable excuse unless P took reasonable care to avoid the failure, and

(c) where P had a reasonable excuse for the failure but the excuse has ceased, P is to be treated as having continued to have the excuse if the failure is remedied without unreasonable delay after the excuse ceased.