653AA. Appointment of an expert

(1) The Revenue Commissioners may, in relation to any amount of tax or exemption, deferral or abatement of residential zoned land tax included in a return required under section 653T, consult with any person (in this section referred to as an ‘expert’) who, in their opinion, may be of assistance in ascertaining—

(a) the market value of a relevant site,

(b) the suitability of any building for use as a dwelling,

(c) the yards, gardens and other lands, which are suitable for occupation and enjoyment with a dwelling,

(d) whether works on a relevant site, for which a commencement notice has been lodged, have permanently ceased,

(e) the area in square metres of the relevant site which is included within a planning permission and is being developed for dwellings and the total area of the relevant site in square metres,

(f) where a development on a relevant site is partially completed on the last day of the planning permission period relating to the development, the percentage of the development completed on that day, and

(g) the total gross floor space for all of the buildings comprised in the development to which a planning permission for a relevant site relates and the total gross floor space of the dwellings to which the planning permission relates.

(2) The Revenue Commissioners may authorise in writing any of their officers to exercise any powers to perform any acts or discharge any functions conferred by this section.

(3) In this section, ‘authorised officer’ means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised under subsection (2).

(4) Notwithstanding any obligation as to secrecy or other restriction on the disclosure of information imposed by, or under, the Tax Acts or any other statute or otherwise, but subject to subsection (5), an authorised officer may disclose to an expert any detail in a liable person’s return under this Part which they consider necessary for the purposes of such consultation.

(5) Before disclosing information to an expert under subsection (4), an authorised officer shall give the liable person in relation to the relevant site concerned a notice in writing of—

(a) the officer’s intention to disclose information to an expert,

(b) the information that the officer intends to disclose, and

(c) the identity of the expert with whom the officer intends to consult.

(6) Where a liable person who has received a notice under subsection (5) shows to the authorised officer’s satisfaction, within 30 days from the date of the notice, that disclosure of such information to that expert could prejudice the liable person’s trade or business, the authorised officer shall not disclose the information.

(7) Where, on the expiry of the period referred to in subsection (6), it is not shown to the satisfaction of an authorised officer that disclosure could prejudice the trade or business of the liable person concerned, the authorised officer may decide to disclose the information and may disclose the information on the expiry of a further period of 30 days after giving notice in writing of the authorised officer’s decision to disclose the information.

(8) A liable person aggrieved by an authorised officer’s decision under subsection (7) may appeal the decision to the Appeal Commissioners, in accordance with section 949I, within the period of 30 days after the date of that decision.

(9) Section 911 shall apply for the purposes of this Part subject to the following modifications:

(a) a reference to an authorised person shall be construed as a reference to an expert or an authorised officer,

(b) a reference to ascertaining the value of an asset shall be construed as a reference to ascertaining the matters specified in subsection (1) , and

(c) a reference to reporting the value of an asset shall be construed as a reference to reporting the matters specified in subsection (1).