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INDIVIDUAL INCOME, CORPORATE, AND FRANCHISE TAXES, §422.72
422.72 Information deemed confidential — informational exchange agreement —
subpoenas.
1. a. (1) It is unlawful for the director, or any person having an administrative duty under
this chapter, or any present or former officer or other employee of the state authorized by
the director to examine returns, to divulge in any manner whatever, the business affairs,
operations, or information obtained by an investigation under this chapter of records and
equipment of any person visited or examined in the discharge of official duty, or the amount or
source of income, profits, losses, expenditures or any particular thereof, set forth or disclosed
in any return, or to permit any return or copy of a return or any book containing any abstract
or particulars thereof to be seen or examined by any person except as provided by law.
(2) It is unlawful for any person to willfully inspect, except as authorized by the director,
any return or return information.
(3) However, the director may authorize examination of such state returns and other state
information which is confidential under this section, if a reciprocal arrangement exists, by
tax officers of another state or the federal government.
b. The director may, by rules adopted pursuant to chapter 17A, authorize examination
of state information and returns by other officers or employees of this state to the extent
required by their official duties and responsibilities. Disclosure of state information to tax
officers of another state is limited to disclosures which have a tax administrative purpose
and only to officers of those states which by agreement with this state limit the disclosure of
the information as strictly as the laws of this state protecting the confidentiality of returns
and information. The director shall place upon the state tax form a notice to the taxpayer
that state tax information may be disclosed to tax officials of another state or of the United
States for tax administrative purposes.
c. The department shall not authorize the examination of tax information by officers and
employees of this state, another state, or of the United States if the officers or employees
would otherwise be required to obtain a judicial order to examine the information if it were
to be obtained from another source, and if the purpose of the examination is other than for tax
administration. However, the director may provide sample individual income tax information
to be used for statistical purposes to the legislative services agency. The information shall
not include the name or mailing address of the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s social security
number. Any information contained in an individual income tax return which is provided
by the director shall only be used as a part of a database which contains similar information
from a number of returns. The legislative services agency shall not have access to the income
tax returns of individuals. Each request for individual income tax information shall contain a
statement by the director of the legislative services agency that the individual income tax
information received by the legislative services agency shall be used solely for statistical
purposes. This subsection does not prevent the department from authorizing the examination
of state returns and state information under the provisions of section 252B.9. This subsection
prevails over any general law of this state relating to public records.
d. The director shall provide state tax returns and return information to the auditor of
state, to the extent that the information is necessary to complete the annual audit of the
department required by section 11.2. The state tax returns and return information provided
by the director shall remain confidential and shall not be included in any public documents
issued by the auditor of state.
2. Federal tax returns, copies of returns, and return information as defined in section
6103(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, which are required to be filed with the department
for the enforcement of the income tax laws of this state, shall be held as confidential by the
department and subject to the disclosure limitations in subsection 1.
3. a. Unless otherwise expressly permitted by section 8A.504, section 8G.4, section
11.41, section 96.11, subsection 6, section 421.17, subsections 22, 23, and 26, section 421.17,
subsection 27, paragraph “k”, section 421.17, subsection 31, section 252B.9, section 321.40,
subsection 6, sections 321.120, 421.19, 421.28, 422.20, and 452A.63, this section, or another
provision of law, a tax return, return information, or investigative or audit information shall
not be divulged to any person or entity, other than the taxpayer, the department, or internal
revenue service for use in a matter unrelated to tax administration.
Wed Feb 08 03:45:02 2017
Iowa Code 2017, Section 422.72 (25, 0)
§422.72, INDIVIDUAL INCOME, CORPORATE, AND FRANCHISE TAXES
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b. This prohibition precludes persons or entities other than the taxpayer, the department,
or the internal revenue service from obtaining such information from the department, and a
subpoena, order, or process which requires the department to produce such information to a
person or entity, other than the taxpayer, the department, or internal revenue service for use
in a nontax proceeding is void.
4. A person violating subsection 1, 2, 3, or 6 is guilty of a serious misdemeanor.
5. The director may disclose taxpayer identity information to the press and other media
for purposes of notifying persons entitled to tax refunds when the director, after reasonable
effort and lapse of time, has been unable to locate the persons.
6. a. The department may enter into a written informational exchange agreement for tax
administration purposes with a city or county which is entitled to receive funds due to a local
hotel and motel tax or a local sales and services tax. The written informational exchange
agreement shall designate no more than two paid city or county employees that have access
to actual return information relating to that city’s or county’s receipts from a local hotel and
motel tax or a local sales and services tax.
b. City or county employees designated to have access to information under this
subsection are deemed to be officers and employees of the state for purposes of the
restrictions pursuant to subsection 1 pertaining to confidential information. The department
may refuse to enter into a written informational exchange agreement if the city or county
does not agree to pay the actual cost of providing the information and the department may
refuse to abide by a written informational exchange agreement if the city or county does not
promptly pay the actual cost of providing the information or take reasonable precautions to
protect the information’s confidentiality.
7. a. Notwithstanding subsection 3, the director shall provide state tax returns and
return information in response to a subpoena issued by the court pursuant to rule of criminal
procedure 2.5 commanding the appearance before the attorney general or an assistant
attorney general if the subpoena is accompanied by affidavits from such person and from a
sworn peace officer member of the department of public safety affirming that the information
is necessary for the investigation of a felony violation of chapter 124 or chapter 706B.
b. The affidavits accompanying the subpoenas and the information provided by the
director shall remain a confidential record which may be disseminated only to a prosecutor
or peace officer involved in the investigation, or to the taxpayer who filed the information
and to the court in connection with the filing of criminal charges or institution of a forfeiture
action. A person who knowingly files a false affidavit with the director to secure information
or who divulges information received under this subsection in a manner prohibited by this
subsection commits a serious misdemeanor.
[C35, §6943-f59; C39, §6943.096; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, §422.65; C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81,
§422.72]
83 Acts, ch 32, §1, 2; 87 Acts, ch 199, §9; 88 Acts, ch 1028, §34; 88 Acts, ch 1153, §3, 4; 90
Acts, ch 1232, §19; 91 Acts, ch 159, §20; 97 Acts, ch 158, §22, 23; 99 Acts, ch 151, §25, 89; 99
Acts, ch 152, §10, 40; 2003 Acts, ch 35, §45, 46, 49; 2003 Acts, ch 145, §257; 2008 Acts, ch
1113, §10, 11; 2010 Acts, ch 1146, §15, 26; 2010 Acts, ch 1193, §148, 149; 2011 Acts, ch 122,
§52; 2013 Acts, ch 30, §91; 2013 Acts, ch 70, §8, 9
Referred to in §2A.3, §8A.504, §99G.30A, §257.22, §321.105A, §421.17, §421.28, §422.20, §422D.3, §423.42, §423A.6, §423B.6, §423C.4,
§423D.4, §425.28
Wed Feb 08 03:45:02 2017
Iowa Code 2017, Section 422.72 (25, 0)
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