Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) A person shall:
(a) keep records that record and explain all transactions and other acts engaged in by the person or any other person that are relevant for the purpose of ascertaining the person's liability under this Act; and
(b) retain those records for a period of 7 years after the completion of the transactions or acts to which they relate.
(2) A person who is required by this section to keep records shall keep the records:
(a) in writing in the English language or so as to enable the records to be readily accessible and convertible into writing in the English language; and
(b) so as to enable the person's liability under this Act to be readily ascertained.
(2A) An offence under subsection (1) or (2) is an offence of strict liability.
Note: For strict liability , see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .
(3) Nothing in this section shall be taken to require a person (in this subsection referred to as the record keeper ) to keep a record of information relating to a transaction or act engaged in by another person if:
(a) where the transaction or act was entered into or done under an arrangement to which the record keeper was a party:
(i) the record keeper made all reasonable efforts:
(A) to ascertain whether the transaction had been entered into or the act had been done; and
(B) to obtain the information; and
(ii) did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, the information; or
(b) in any other case--the record keeper did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, the information.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (3), see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
(4) Nothing in this section shall be taken to require a person to retain records where:
(a) the Commissioner has notified the person that retention of the records is not required; or
(b) the person is a company that has gone into liquidation and been finally dissolved.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (4), see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
Note 1: See section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914 for the current value of a penalty unit.
Note 2: There is an administrative penalty if you do not keep or retain records as required by this section: see section 288 - 25 in Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 .