California Business and Professions Code 17530.5 – (a) It is a misdemeanor for any person, including an individual, …
(a) It is a misdemeanor for any person, including an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, or joint venture, or any employee or agent thereof, to disclose any information obtained in the business of preparing federal or state income tax returns or assisting taxpayers in preparing those returns, including any instance in which this information is obtained through an electronic medium, unless the disclosure is within any of the following:
(1) Consented to in writing by the taxpayer in a separate document that states to whom the disclosure will be made and how the information will be used. If the taxpayer agrees, this separate consent document may be in the form of an electronic record, executed by an electronic signature as provided by Title 2.5 (commencing with Section 1633.1) of Part 2 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 17530.5
- board: means any entity listed in Section 101, the entities referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600, the State Bar, the Department of Real Estate, and any other state agency that issues a license, certificate, or registration authorizing a person to engage in a business or profession. See California Business and Professions Code 31
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- person: includes any individual, partnership, firm, association, or corporation. See California Business and Professions Code 17506
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21
(2) Expressly authorized by state or federal law.
(3) Necessary to the preparation of the return.
(4) Pursuant to court order.
(b) For the purposes of this section, a person is engaged in the business of preparing federal or state income tax returns or assisting taxpayers in preparing those returns if the person does any of the following:
(1) Advertises, or gives publicity to the effect that the person prepares or assists others in the preparation of state or federal income tax returns.
(2) Prepares or assists others in the preparation of state or federal income tax returns for compensation.
(3) Files a state or federal income tax return by electronic transmittal of return data directly to the Franchise Tax Board or to the Internal Revenue Service.
(c) A disclosure prohibited by this section includes a disclosure made internally within the entity preparing or assisting in preparing the return for any purpose other than tax preparation or made by that entity to any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
(d) For purposes of this section, “affiliate” means any entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, another entity.
(e) Contacting a taxpayer to obtain his or her written consent to disclosure does not constitute a violation of this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 1084, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)