904C Power of inspection (returns and collection of appropriate tax): assurance companies.

(1) In this section—

“assurance company” and “life business” have, respectively, the meanings assigned to them in section 706;

“appropriate tax” has the meaning assigned to it in section 730F;

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

“books, records or other documents” includes—

(a) any records used in the business of an assurance company whether—

(i) comprised in bound volume, loose-leaf binders or other loose-leaf filing system, loose-leaf ledger sheets, pages, folios or cards, or

(ii) kept on microfilm, magnetic tape or in any non-legible form (by use of electronics or otherwise) which is capable of being reproduced in a legible form, and

(b) every electronic or other automatic means, if any, by which any such thing in non-legible form is so capable of being reproduced, and

(c) documents in manuscript, documents which are typed, printed, stencilled or created by any other mechanical means or partly mechanical process in use from time to time and documents which are produced by any photographic or photostatic process, and

(d) correspondence and records of other communications by, or on behalf of, policyholders with the assurance company carrying on life business;

“chargeable event”, in relation to a life policy, has the meaning assigned to it by section 730C;

“declaration” means a declaration referred to in section 730E;

“liability”, in relation to a person, means any liability in relation to tax to which the person is or may be, or may have been, subject, or the amount of such liability;

“life policy” has the meaning assigned to it in section 730B;

“policyholder” has the meaning assigned to it in section 730E;

^[5]>

“return” means a return under section 730G;

^<[5]

^[5]>

“return” means a return under section 730FA or section 730G;

^<[5]

“tax” means any tax, duty, levy or charge under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

(2) An authorised officer may at all reasonable times enter any premises or place of business of an assurance company carrying on life business for the purposes of auditing for a financial year the returns made by the company of appropriate tax.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2) the authorised officer may—

(a) examine the procedures put in place by the assurance company for the purpose of ensuring compliance by the assurance company with its obligations under Chapter 5 of Part 26,

(b) examine all or a sample of the declarations made to the assurance company,

(c) examine a sample of life policies to determine whether—

(i) the procedures referred to in paragraph (a) have been observed in practice and whether they are adequate,

(ii) the assurance company has on the happening of chargeable events in relation to each life policy, paid the correct amount of appropriate tax in connection with the chargeable events, and

(iii) there is information in the assurance company’s possession which can reasonably be taken to indicate that the assurance company incorrectly failed to pay appropriate tax in connection with a chargeable event.

(4) Where an authorised officer in exercising or performing his or her powers and duties under this section has reason to believe that in respect of one or more life policies, the assurance company has incorrectly failed to pay appropriate tax in connection with a chargeable event, the authorised officer may make such further enquiries as are necessary to establish whether there is a liability in relation to any person.

(5) An authorised officer may require an assurance company or an employee of the assurance company to produce books, 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 and examination under subsections (2) and (3), and, as the case may be, enquiries under subsection (4).

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

(7) An employee of an assurance company 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 ^[2]>£1,000^{<[2] [2]>}€1,265^<[2].

(8) An assurance company which 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 ^[3]>£15,000^{<[3] [3]>}€19,045^<[3] and if that failure continues a further penalty of ^[4]>£2,000^{<[4] [4]>}€2,535^<[4] for each day on which the failure continues.