Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 4) Act 2019 (8 of 2019)

Schedule 8   Miscellaneous amendments

Part 5   Offshore information notices

Taxation Administration Act 1953

19   At the end of Division 353 in Schedule 1

Add:

Subdivision 353-B - Powers to obtain information and evidence from overseas

Table of sections

353-25 Offshore information notices

353-30 Offshore information notices - consequence of not complying

353-25 Offshore information notices

(1) The Commissioner may, by notice in writing (an offshore information notice ) given to you, request you to do all or any of the following:

(a) to give the Commissioner any information that the Commissioner reasonably believes is:

(i) relevant to the *assessment of a *tax-related liability of yours; and

(ii) *offshore information;

(b) to produce to the Commissioner any documents that the Commissioner reasonably believes are:

(i) relevant to the assessment of a tax-related liability of yours; and

(ii) *offshore documents;

(c) to make copies of any documents the Commissioner could request you to produce under paragraph (b), and to produce those copies to the Commissioner.

(2) An offshore information notice:

(a) must specify a period, of at least 90 days after it is given to you, within which you are to give the information or produce the documents or copies; and

(b) must set out the effect of section 353-30; and

(c) may set out how the request is to be complied with; and

(d) may be included in the same document as a notice under section 353-10.

A notice is not invalid merely because it does not comply with paragraph (b).

(3) The Commissioner may, by notice in writing, extend the period within which you are to give the information or produce the documents or copies, if, before the end of that period, you apply for the extension in the *approved form.

(4) If the Commissioner does not notify you, in writing, before the end of the period of the Commissioner's decision on an application you make under subsection (3), then the period is extended until the day on which the Commissioner so notifies you.

(5) An offshore information notice may be varied or revoked in accordance with subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, however a variation:

(a) must not have the effect of shortening the period within which you must give particular *offshore information or produce particular *offshore documents or copies; and

(b) must not have the effect that the period within which you must give particular offshore information, or produce particular offshore documents or copies, is less than 90 days.

(6) Nothing in this section affects the operation of section 353-10 and nothing in that section affects the operation of this section.

(7) Offshore information is any information that is one or more of the following:

(a) within the knowledge (whether exclusive or otherwise) of an entity outside Australia;

(b) recorded (whether exclusively or otherwise) in a document outside Australia;

(c) stored (whether exclusively or otherwise) by any means whatsoever outside Australia.

(8) An offshore document is any document that is outside Australia (whether or not copies are in Australia or, if the documents are copies of other documents, whether or not those other documents are in Australia).

353-30 Offshore information notices - consequence of not complying

(1) Section 8C does not apply to a request set out in an offshore information notice under section 353-25.

(2) If you refuse or fail to comply with a request set out in an offshore information notice (including a request you are not able to comply with), the following are not admissible in evidence in proceedings under Part IVC on a review or appeal relating to a *tax-related liability of yours, except with the consent of the Commissioner:

(a) the *offshore information;

(b) the contents of the*offshore documents or copies.

(3) In deciding whether to consent, the Commissioner must:

(a) have regard to whether, because of the absence of that information or those documents or copies, the remaining information or documents that are relevant to the proceedings are, or are likely to be, misleading; and

(b) not have regard to the consequences (whether direct or indirect) of an obligation arising under a *foreign law relating to the secrecy of the information, documents or copies; and

(c) consent if refusal would have the effect, for the purposes of the Constitution, of making any tax or penalty incontestable.

(4) If, before the hearing of a proceeding under Part IVC on a review or appeal relating to a *tax-related liability of yours, the Commissioner forms the views that:

(a) you have refused or failed to comply with a request under section 353-25; and

(b) the Commissioner is unlikely to give the consent mentioned in subsection (3);

the Commissioner must, by notice in writing, inform you that the Commissioner has formed those views. However, a failure to do so does not affect the validity of the Commissioner's decision under subsection (3).