(A) No present or former employee of the city shall intentionally and without authorization inspect or divulge any information acquired by him or her of the affairs of any person, or information regarding the tax schedules, returns or reports required to be filed with the city or other proper officer, or any information produced by a hearing or investigation, insofar as the information may have to do with the affairs of the person’s business. This prohibition does not extend to information required in prosecutions for making false reports or returns for taxation, or any other infraction of the tax laws, or in any way made a matter of public record, nor does it preclude furnishing any taxpayer or the taxpayer’s properly authorized agent with information respecting his or her own return. Further, this prohibition does not preclude any employee of the city from testifying in any court or by deposition, or from introducing as evidence returns or reports filed with the city, in an action for violation of a tax law of the city or other tax district or in any action challenging the city’s tax laws or in any action in which the income of the business entity is a relevant issue at trial.
(B) The city reserves the right to disclose to the Commissioner of Revenue of the commonwealth or his or her duly authorized agent all such information and rights to inspect any of the books and records of the city if the Commissioner of Revenue of the commonwealth grants to the city the reciprocal right to obtain information from the files and records of the state’s Department of Revenue and maintains the privileged character of the information so furnished. Furthermore, the city may publish statistics based on such information in such a manner as not to reveal data respecting net profits or compensation of any person or business entity.
(C) In addition, the city is empowered to execute similar reciprocity agreements as described in division (B) above with any other taxing entity should there be a need for exchange of information to effect diligent enforcement of this division (C) or the ordinances of the other taxing entity.
(D) (1) To ensure the confidentiality of city, state and federal tax information in the possession of the city’s Finance Department, all Finance Department employees, any authorized persons or entities conducting research, any persons or entities contracted to provide services for the Finance Department or any other person or entity permitted access to Finance Department records and files, shall execute a form confirming his or her knowledge of the applicable rules, laws and regulations concerning maintaining the confidentiality of certain tax records and information.
(2) Such employee or other authorized individual shall also be familiar with the city, state and federal laws and regulations concerning confidentiality of taxpayer information, and by signing the required acknowledgment he or she must confirm such familiarity with all applicable rules, laws and regulations.
(3) The form is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
(1984 Code, § 110.14) (Ord. O-77-82, passed 11-30-1982; Ord. O-78-82, passed 11-30-1982; Ord. O-13-94, passed 4-12-1994; Ord. O-65-04, passed 12-7-2004; Ord. O-26-17, passed 11-14-2017; Ord. O-18-19, passed 6-24-2019) Penalty, see § 110.99