Except when required in an investigation or proceeding to ascertain or collect amount of tax, interest, penalty, refund or credit due, or pursuant to an exemption in W. Va. Code § 11-10-5d, it shall be unlawful for any officer, employee or agent of the municipality to divulge or make known in any manner the tax return, or any part thereof, of any person, or disclose information concerning the personal affairs of any individual or the business of any person, or disclose the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report, declaration or return required to be filed with the treasurer or otherwise obtained by the municipality in an investigation undertaken by the treasurer concerning the tax imposed by this article. Any person protected by the provisions of this article may, in writing, waive the confidentiality provisions of this section for such purpose and such period as he shall therein state. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the publication or release of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports and the items thereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the treasurer may permit the proper officer, or his authorized representative or agent, of the United States or the State, or any political subdivision of the State, to inspect return information to or may furnish to such officer or representative a copy of any such return or any other tax return information, provided, that such other jurisdiction grants similar privileges to this municipality or if the other jurisdiction is a party of an intergovernmental agreement authorizing the exchange of such information.
(a) Any officer, employee or agent of the municipality or any former officer, employee or agent of the municipality who shall divulge facts or information obtained from returns or tax statements other than for the purpose of administering such tax shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, together with costs of prosecution.
(b) Any officer, employee or agent of the municipality or any former officer, employee or agent of the municipality who shall make unauthorized disclosure of information received from the State Tax Commissioner under authority of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, together with costs of prosecution.
(c) For purposes of this article, "unauthorized disclosure" means the release to any person of any tax information obtained by the municipality from the State Tax Commissioner unless the person receiving the information is the authorized counsel of the municipality and shall be using the information only for the purpose of administering the tax imposed by this article, Sales Tax from single location businesses, or Liquor Sales Tax; or the person who filed the return has authorized, in writing, its release, thereby waiving his right to secrecy.
(Ord. 2024-005. Passed 6-3-24.)