(a) For the purpose of verifying the tax payments required by this article, it shall be the duty of every transporter for hire, bailee for hire, warehouseman, distributor and retail licensee, on or before the fifteenth day of the succeeding month, to transmit to the department, on forms supplied by the department, a report, under oath or affirmation, of malt or brewed beverages which were imported and came to rest or storage at his place of business in this Commonwealth during the preceding month, or which were transported from a point outside the Commonwealth to a point within the Commonwealth. Such report shall show the number of barrels, or standard fraction thereof, imported, transported or stored during the period for which it is made, and such further information as the department shall prescribe.

(b) Each manufacturer, transporter for hire, bailee for hire, warehouseman, distributor and retail licensee shall maintain and keep, for a period of two years, such record or records of malt or brewed beverages manufactured, sold by a manufacturer or distributor, transported from a point outside of the Commonwealth to a point within the Commonwealth, imported, or substantiating the other information required on his report, together with invoices, bills of lading and other pertinent papers, as may be required by the department.