(Amended by Ord. No. 180,380, Eff. 1/5/09.)
(a) It shall be unlawful for the Director of Finance or any person having an administrative duty under the provisions of this Article or Article 1.6 to make known in any manner whatever the business affairs and operations of, or the nature, amount or source of income, profits, losses, expenditures, net worth, or any particular thereof, or any other information set forth in any statement or return or obtained by an investigation of records and equipment of, any person required to obtain a business tax registration certificate or sales or use tax permit, or pay business, sales or use tax or any other person visited or examined in the discharge of official duty, or to permit any statement or return, or copy of either, or any book containing any abstract or particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent:
1. the disclosure of information to, or the examination of records and equipment by, another City official or employee or a member of the Board of Review for the sole purpose of administering or enforcing any provision of this article or Article 1.6;
2. the disclosure of information to, or the examination of records by federal or state officials, or the tax officials of another city or county, or city and county, if a reciprocal arrangement exists; or to a grand jury;
3. the disclosure of information and results of examination of records of a particular taxpayer, or relating to a particular taxpayer, with respect to any proceeding in a court of law or before an administrative body in which the existence or amount of any business, sales or use tax liability of the particular taxpayer to the City of Los Angeles is relevant and material and the particular taxpayer is a party to the proceeding, including but not limited to proceedings before any Board or Commission as set forth in Municipal Code section 22.02;
4. the disclosure after the filing of a written request to that effect, to the taxpayer, or to the taxpayer’s successors, receivers, trustees, executors, administrators, assignees and guarantors, if directly interested, of information as to the items included in the measure of any paid tax, any unpaid tax or amounts of tax required to be collected, interest and penalties; further provided, however, that the City Attorney approves each such disclosure and that the Director of Finance may refuse to make any disclosure referred to in this paragraph when in the Director’s opinion the public interest would suffer thereby;
5. the disclosure of the names and addresses of persons to whom registration certificates or sales tax and use tax permits have been issued;
6. the disclosure of such information as may be necessary to the City Council in order to permit it to be fully advised as to the facts when a taxpayer files a claim for refund of business, sales or use taxes, or submits an offer of compromise with regard to a claim for refund of business, sales or use taxes, or submits an offer of compromise with regard to a claim asserted against the taxpayer by the City for business, sales or use taxes, or where the existence or amount of business, sales, or use taxes are otherwise relevant to the determination of a matter required to be submitted to the City Council under the City of Los Angeles Charter, the Los Angeles Municipal Code, or the Los Angeles Administrative Code;
7. the disclosure of information to, or the examination of records by, contractors or employees of contractors with whom the City of Los Angeles has contracted to assist the City of Los Angeles for the sole purpose of administering or enforcing any provision of this Article or Article 1.6, if the contract requires the persons granted access to such information or records to abide by the confidentiality requirements of this Section, and if the City Council has approved the award and execution of such contract;
8. the disclosure of information to, or the examination of records by, purchasers of accounts receivable pursuant to Los Angeles Administrative Code section 5.186, or the disclosure to any employees of such purchasers of accounts receivable, if the purchase agreement requires the persons granted access to such information or records to abide by the confidentiality requirements of this Section;
9. the disclosure of the identity of any particular taxpayer with delinquent business, sales, or use taxes and the type and amount of the delinquent business, sales, or use tax liability of that taxpayer, and the publication of such information at the discretion of the Office of Finance pursuant to Los Angeles Municipal Code section 21.15(m);
10. the disclosure of information when compelled by an order of court or other judicial process; and
11. the disclosure of statistical or cumulative information when the disclosure does not identify any particular taxpayer or reveal information in a manner that could identify a particular taxpayer.