84.—(1) The Comptroller or any officer authorised by the Comptroller in that behalf —| (a) | has at all times full and free access to all buildings, places, documents, computers, computer programs and computer software (whether installed in a computer or otherwise) for any of the purposes of this Act; | | (b) | has access to any information, code or technology which has the capability of retransforming or unscrambling encrypted data contained in or available to such computers into readable and comprehensive format or text for any of the purposes of this Act; | | (c) | is entitled —| (i) | without fee or reward, to inspect, copy or make extracts from any such document, computer, computer program, computer software or computer output; and | | (ii) | at any reasonable time to inspect and check the operation of any computer, device, apparatus or material which is or has been in use in connection with anything to which this section applies; |
| | (d) | may take possession of any such document, computer, device, apparatus, material, computer program or computer software where in his or her opinion —| (i) | the inspection, checking, copying thereof or extraction therefrom cannot reasonably be performed without taking possession; | | (ii) | any such items may be interfered with or destroyed unless possession is taken; or | | (iii) | any such items may be required as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act or in proceedings for the recovery of tax or penalty, or in proceedings by way of an appeal against an assessment; |
| | (e) | is entitled to require —| (i) | the person by whom or on whose behalf the computer is or has been used, or any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of the computer, device, apparatus or material, to provide the Comptroller or officer with such reasonable assistance as he or she may require for the purposes of this section; and | | (ii) | any person in possession of decryption information to grant the Comptroller or officer access to such decryption information necessary to decrypt data required for the purposes of this section; and |
| | (f) | is entitled to require a person in or at the building or place, and who appears to the Comptroller or officer to be acquainted with —| (i) | any facts or circumstances concerning the person’s or another person’s transactions (whether or not made in the course or furtherance of a business), that is relevant for the purposes of this Act; or | | (ii) | any facts or circumstances that are relevant to an investigation of, or the prosecution of a person for, an offence under this Act, |
| to do any or both of the following: |
| (iii) | answer any question to the best of that person’s knowledge, information and belief; | | (iv) | take reasonable steps to produce a document for inspection. [34/2016; 52/2018; 33/2019] |
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| (1A) The Comptroller or a specially authorised officer may, for the purpose of investigating an offence under section 62, 62C or 63, break open any outer or inner door or window, or use any other reasonable means, to gain entry to a building or place. [52/2018] [Act 35 of 2022 wef 01/01/2023] |
(1B) The Comptroller or a specially authorised officer may only exercise the power under subsection (1A) if —| (a) | he or she has reason to believe that there is in that building or place any document or thing that may be, or that contains information that may be —| (i) | relevant to the investigation; or | | (ii) | required as evidence in proceedings for the offence being investigated; |
| | (b) | he or she has reason to believe that the document or thing is likely to be concealed, removed or destroyed, or the information is likely to be deleted, by any person; and | | (c) | he or she is unable to gain entry to that building or place after stating his or her authority and purpose and demanding such entry. [52/2018] |
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| (1C) To avoid doubt, the Comptroller or a specially authorised officer who has gained entry to a building or place by exercising his or her power under subsection (1A), may exercise any of his or her powers under subsection (1) after such entry. [52/2018] |
| (1D) The Comptroller or a specially authorised officer may, after gaining entry into a building or place under subsection (1) or (1A) for the purpose of investigating an offence under this Act, search or caused to be searched a person found in the building or place for any document or thing which may be relevant for the investigation, or is required as evidence in proceedings for that offence. [52/2018] |
| (1E) A woman must not be searched except by a woman. [52/2018] |
(2) The Comptroller may by notice require any person to give orally, in writing, or through the electronic service —| (a) | any information concerning the person’s or any other person’s income, assets or liability, or concerning the person’s or any other person’s transactions (whether or not made in the course or furtherance of a business), that is relevant for the purposes of this Act; or | | (b) | any information that is relevant for an investigation of, or the prosecution of a person for, an offence under this Act. [52/2018; 33/2019] |
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(2A) The Comptroller may by notice require any person to attend personally before the Comptroller or an officer authorised by the Comptroller, at a place and time specified in the notice, to do one or both of the following:| (a) | provide, to the best of that person’s knowledge, information and belief —| (i) | any information concerning the person’s or any other person’s transactions (whether or not made in the course or furtherance of a business), that is relevant for the purposes of this Act; or | | (ii) | any information that is relevant for an investigation of, or the prosecution of a person for, an offence under this Act; |
| | (b) | take reasonable steps to produce for inspection any document concerning such transactions, or that contains such information. [34/2016; 52/2018; 33/2019] |
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(2B) The power to require a person to provide information or produce a document under subsection (1)(f) or (2), or when in attendance before the Comptroller or an authorised officer pursuant to a notice under subsection (2A), includes the power —| (a) | to require that person, or any person who is or was an officer or employee of that person, to provide an explanation of the information or document; | | (b) | if the information is not provided or the document is not produced, to require that person to state, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, where it is; | | (c) | if the information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be made available to the Comptroller or authorised officer (as the case may be) in legible form; and | | (d) | in the case of a document, to inspect, copy or make extracts from the document without fee or reward, and to take possession of the document if in the Comptroller or authorised officer’s opinion —| (i) | the inspection, copying or extraction cannot reasonably be performed without taking possession of the document; | | (ii) | the document may be interfered with or destroyed unless possession of the document is taken; or | | (iii) | the document may be required as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act or in proceedings for the recovery of tax or penalty, or in proceedings by way of an appeal against an assessment. [34/2016] |
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(2C) A statement made by any person asked under subsection (1)(f), or in compliance with a demand for information, must —| (a) | be reduced to writing; | | (b) | be read over to the person; | | (c) | if the person does not understand English, be interpreted in a language that the person understands; and | | (d) | be signed by the person. [34/2016] |
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(2D) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, fails, neglects or refuses to comply with any notice or requirement of the Comptroller or an officer authorised by the Comptroller under this section, or with a demand for information, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to —| (a) | a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both; and | | (b) | in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine not exceeding $100 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction. [34/2016] |
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(2E) Any person who, in purported compliance with a notice or requirement of the Comptroller or an officer authorised by the Comptroller under this section, or with a demand for information, produces any document which contains any information, or provides any information, known to the person to be false or misleading in a material particular —| (a) | without indicating to the Comptroller or the officer that the information is false or misleading and the part that is false or misleading; and | | (b) | without providing correct information to the Comptroller or the officer if the person is in possession of, or can reasonably acquire, the correct information, |
| shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both. |
[34/2016] |
| (3) No person is, by virtue of this section, obliged to disclose (including through the production of a document) any particulars which the person is under any statutory obligation to observe secrecy. [34/2016] |
| (3A) The generality of the term “reasonable excuse” in subsection (2D) is not affected by subsection (3). [34/2016] |
| (4) The Minister may by regulations make provision for requiring taxable persons to notify the Comptroller of such particulars of changes in circumstances relating to those persons or any business carried on by them as appear to the Comptroller to be required for the purpose of keeping the register kept under this Act up to date. |
| (5) In this section, “document” has the meaning given by section 81. |
| (6) In this section, “demand for information” means a demand by the Comptroller or an officer authorised by the Comptroller to answer a question when in attendance before the Comptroller or the officer pursuant to a notice under subsection (2A). [34/2016] |
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