Finance Act 1988

127 Production of computer records etc

(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 were a reference to a document within the meaning of Part I of the [1968 c. 64.] Civil Evidence Act 1968; and, accordingly, any reference in such a provision to a copy of a document shall be construed in accordance with section 10(2) of that Act.

(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, within the meaning of Part I of the Civil Evidence Act 1968, 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.

(5) In the application of this section to Scotland and Northern Ireland, references in this section to Part I of the [1968 c. 64.] Civil Evidence Act 1968 and section 10(2) of that Act shall be construed—

(a) in the case of Scotland, as references to Part III of the [1968 c. 70.] Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1968 and section 17(4) of that Act respectively; and

(b) in the case of Northern Ireland, as references to Part I of the [1971 c. 36 (N.I.).] Civil Evidence Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and section 6(2) of that Act respectively.

(6) This section shall be construed as if it were contained in the [1970 c. 9.] Taxes Management Act 1970.