Remedial amendments to Inland Revenue's search and seizure powers
The Tax Administration Act 1994 and the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 have been amended to mirror IR's search and seizure powers. Applies from 1 Sep 2013.
Sections 16 and 16C of the Tax Administration Act 1994, Tax Administration (Form of Warrant) Regulations 2003 and the Schedule to the Search and Surveillance Act 2012
The Tax Administration Act 1994 and the Schedule to the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 have been amended to ensure that Inland Revenue's search and seizure powers are harmonised between the two Acts.
Key features
The Search and Surveillance Act codified search powers used by enforcement agencies, such as Inland Revenue. To ensure that those changes introduced by the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 to Inland Revenue's search and seizure powers in the Tax Administration Act 1994 were made consistently and to harmonise the two Acts, remedial amendments, including cross-references were inserted into the Tax Administration Act 1994.
Those provisions needed to be reflected in the Schedule to the Search and Surveillance Act 2012. Therefore, amendments have been made to both the Tax Administration Act 1994 and the Schedule to the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 to ensure that the powers are harmonised between the two Acts, as a remedial matter.
The Tax Administration (Form of Warrant) Regulations 2003 have been consequentially revoked.
All warrants under section 16(4) to access private dwellings and warrants under section 16C(2) to remove and retain documents for inspection will now be in a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.
Application date
The amendments apply from 1 September 2013.