Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 368 – Secrecy of returns and information; penalty
(a) Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the Department of Finance, or for any other officer or employee of this State who has access to tax returns or information from tax returns under this title (other than Chapters 30 [except §§ 3004 and 3005], 51 and 52) to disclose or make known to any person in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report or return required under this title (other than Chapters 30 [except §§ 3004 and 3005], 51 and 52) including any copy of any portion of a federal income or estate tax return or report, or any information on a federal return or report which is required to be attached to or included in a state tax return.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 368
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Department: means the Department of Finance. See Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 101
- Director: means the Director of the Division of Revenue or the Secretary of Finance of the State. See Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 502
- Internal Revenue Service: means the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of Treasury of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 502
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: means and includes an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation. See Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 502
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, The United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 502
- Tax: shall be deemed also to refer to license fees imposed under Part III of this title. See Delaware Code Title 30 Sec. 502
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the publication of statistics classified so as to avoid identification of specific taxpayers, or to prohibit the disclosure of the tax return or return information of any taxpayer to such person or persons as the taxpayer may designate in a written request or consent to such disclosure.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term “officer or employee” shall include present and former officers and employees, and any person or persons employed or retained by the State on an independent contractor basis, or any subcontractors thereof. The term “return” or “report” shall include reports of the Internal Revenue Service or other competent federal authority containing tax return information.
(d) Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or imprisonment not to exceed 6 months, or both. The Superior Court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over such misdemeanor.
(e) For purposes of this section, the terms “return” and “return information” shall not be construed to include any information appearing on or to appear on the face of a license required to be displayed under § 2109 of this title or the name or mailing address of the licensee of said license.
(f) Refunds. — The Director may disclose taxpayer identity information to the press and other media for the purpose of notifying persons entitled to tax refunds when the Director, after reasonable effort and lapse of time, has been unable to locate such persons.
67 Del. Laws, c. 40, § ?1; 73 Del. Laws, c. 123, § ?1; 81 Del. Laws, c. 103, § 1;