Cap. 406 Art. 48Records to be kept.

(1) Every taxable person established in Malta shall keep full and proper records of all transactions carried out in the course or furtherance of his economic activity.

(2) Every person who is liable to tax on any transaction or who identifies himself as a person registered under this Act for the purpose of any transaction shall keep full and proper records of any such transaction.

(3) Every taxable person and every non-taxable legal person shall keep full and proper records of all intra-community acquisitions made by him.

(4) The records referred to in sub-articles (1), (2) and (3) shall be kept and stored in such manner, contain such details and be supported by such information, documents and accounts as set out in the Eleventh Schedule and such records, information, documents and accounts shall be retained for a period of at least six years from the end of the year to which they relate, or such other period or periods as the Minister may, in special cases, by regulations prescribe:

Provided that, where a tax return is furnished after its due date or, in the case where a person makes a correction in terms of article 28(1), the six year period provided for in this sub-article shall start to run from the date on which a tax return is furnished or the date on which the Commissioner receives a request for the correction.

(5) The Commissioner may, at any time within the period specified in sub-article (4), request any person to produce, or may remove from any person, including a third party, the records, documents, accounts and electronic data required to be kept by him in virtue of this article and to make copies thereof: Provided that, if there is evidence that after being requested by the Commissioner by means of a notice in writing, that such person failed to produce without any reasonable excuse any records, documents, accounts and electronic data within thirty days from the date of service of such notice, such person shall not be allowed to produce such records, documents, accounts and electronic data at a later stage after the issue of the provisional assessment or assessments or before the Tribunal or in any Court of law: Provided further that when reliance is placed on any other person to perform any task, the fact of that reliance or any delay or inaccuracy on the part of the person relied upon shall not constitute a reasonable excuse for the purposes of this sub-article.