§ Mr. David Atkinsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the officials for whom he is responsible have the power to enter premises subject to statutory conditions; and if in each case he will indicate the statutory authority under which such power is exercised.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 25 October 1979, c. 291]: The information requested is as follows:
CUSTOMS AND EXCISE
Commissioned officers of Customs and Excise have carefully delimited powers of entry to premises for the purpose of the detection and prevention of smuggling and duty or tax evasion, under the provisions of the following Acts of Parliament—Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, Sections 33, 84, 112, 113 and 161Finance Act 1972, Section 37 and Schedule 7Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979, Sections 25, 79 and 83Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1972. Schedules 1, 2, 3 and 4Approximately 14,000 officers of Customs and Excise hold commissions which would empower them to enter premises, subject to statutory conditions, but only a small proportion of these officers are engaged at any one time on duties where the need to exercise that power is likely to arise.INLAND REVENUE
Any collector of taxes is empowered by section 61 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 to distrain upon goods in order to recover unpaid tax and in doing so may enter premises. The power was exercised in some 18,500 cases in 1977–78.There is a group of provisions under which officers of the Board of Inland Revenue may enter and inspect premises which have to be valued. Under section 86 of the General Rate Act 1967, valuation officers and persons authorised by them may inspect any hereditament in making a valuation for rating purposes. Under section 110 of the Taxes Management Act 1970, a person authorised by the Board may, on producing evidence of the authority enter on and inspect land, to establish its annual value for income tax or corporation tax purposes. Similarly, under section 111 the Board may authorise an officer to inspect property for capital gains tax purposes. There are parallel provisions for capital transfer tax (paragraph 11 of schedule 4 to the Finance Act 1975) and development land tax (section 111A, Taxes Management Act 1970).No other officials of the Inland Revenue have a general power of entry. Circumstances in 530W which the power may be conferred upon a named officer or officers for a specific purpose are as follows—Under section 20c of the Taxes Management Act 1970, an officer of the Board may, with the Board's approval and with a warrant issued by the appropriate judicial authority, enter and search premises on which he has reasonable ground for suspecting that evidence of tax fraud is to be found. The power has so far been exercised in 13 cases.Under section 17 of the Finance Act 1975, an inspector specifically authorised by the Board and bearing an authority in which he is named may enter premises for the purpose of assisting the Board to determine whether a direction should be given under section 485 of the Taxes Act (sales etc. at undervalue or overvalue). The power has never yet been exercised.