(A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, no former or present expert, clerk, or employee of a county auditor, county board of revision, or the tax commissioner, and no former or present deputy, assistant, or agent of the tax commissioner shall divulge, except in the performance of official duties or in any report to the county auditor, the county board of revision, or the tax commissioner, or when called upon to testify in any court or proceeding, any information acquired in the exercise of the powers vested therein by any law, or while claiming to exercise such powers, as to the transactions, property, or business of any person, company, firm, corporation, association, or partnership. Whoever violates this section shall thereafter be disqualified from acting in any official capacity in connection with the assessment or collection of taxes or recoupment charges.

Terms Used In Ohio Code 5715.50

  • 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 an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Whoever: includes all persons, natural and artificial; partners; principals, agents, and employees; and all officials, public or private. See Ohio Code 1.02

(B) Division (A) of this section does not prohibit the divulgence of:

(1) The name and address of the statutory agent in this state and the names of officers and directors of any corporation;

(2) The name and business address of a vendor, vendor’s license number, or information regarding the active or inactive status of a vendor’s license issued by the county auditor pursuant to section 5739.17 of the Revised Code ;

(3) The tax return information of a hotel subject to a lodging tax levied by the county pursuant to section 5739.09 of the Revised Code when that information is provided to the executive director of a convention and visitors’ bureau operating in the county.