Person: means every individual, firm, association, joint-stock company, syndicate, partnership, corporation, or state or federal agency. See Tennessee Code 67-1-1701
Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Return: means any tax or information return, declaration of estimated tax, claim for refund, or petition for waiver of penalty required by, or provided for, or permitted under, any law, that is filed with or submitted to the commissioner by, on behalf of, or with respect to, any person, and any amendment or supplement thereto, including supporting schedules, attachments, or lists which are supplemental to, or part of, any return so filed or submitted. See Tennessee Code 67-1-1701
sex: means a person's immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth and evidence of a person's biological sex. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
Tax information: means a taxpayer's identity, the nature, source, or amount of the taxpayer's income, payments, receipts, deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, tax liability, tax collected, deficiencies, overassessments, or tax payments, whether the taxpayer's return was, is being, or will be, examined or subject to other investigation or processing, or any other data, received by, recorded by, prepared by, furnished to, or collected by, the commissioner with respect to a return or with respect to the determination of the existence, or possible existence, of liability, or the amount of the liability, of any person for any tax, penalty, interest, fine, forfeiture, or other penalty, imposition or offense, administered by or collected by the commissioner, either directly or indirectly. See Tennessee Code 67-1-1701
written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Returns and tax information shall, without written request, be open to inspection by or disclosure to the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller’s designated representative for purposes of audit.(2) Such disclosure shall only be applicable to state tax returns and state tax information.(3) Disclosure of federal tax returns and federal tax information may be made if permitted by federal law or any prohibition of disclosure is waived by the appropriate federal agency.(b) A return or tax information may be disclosed to a competent authority of another state or the federal government that agrees to disclose returns or tax information to this state.(c) Upon request in writing, the commissioner may, in the commissioner’s discretion, furnish tax information to officers and employees of an agency of this state or of the federal government engaged in tax or economic analysis, if such tax information is relevant to the functions and duties of the requesting agency; but no agency, or officer or employee of the agency, who receives tax information under this subsection (c) shall disclose such information to any person other than the person to whom it relates, except in a form that cannot be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer.(d) Returns and tax information may be disclosed to any person to whom the department is authorized to provide such returns and information by any other law.(e) Nothing in this part shall restrict the disclosure of tax returns or tax information by a private firm engaged in the business of tax return preparation; provided, that such disclosure is in connection with the purchase or sale of a firm engaged in the business of tax return preparation or in connection with the review of such a firm by an affiliated firm or in connection with the offering of services to individual taxpayers.(f) This part does not restrict the public disclosure of the name and address of an owner of a business tax license under chapter 4, part 7 of this title, or any information on the license or license application pertaining to whether the owner is a veteran or a member of a minority group based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or national origin.(g) Upon request in writing, the commissioner may, in the commissioner’s discretion, furnish tax information to officers or employees of an agency of this state, if such tax information is relevant to the functions and duties of the requesting agency. No agency or employee of the agency who receives tax information under this subsection (g) shall disclose such information to any person other than the person to whom it relates, except as otherwise may be authorized by law.(h) The commissioner may provide tax information to an official of any state agency or other state entity, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with title 12, chapter 4, part 1, requiring that persons contracting with the state or other state entities register themselves and their affiliates to collect and remit taxes. No agency or employee of the agency who receives tax information under this subsection (h) shall disclose such information to any person other than the person to whom it relates, except as otherwise may be authorized by law.(i) A return or tax information may be disclosed in response to a subpoena that is duly authorized and properly served under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure.(j) The commissioner shall, without written request, provide tax information to officers or employees of a claimant as defined in § 67-1-1808, if such tax information is necessary to accomplish and effectuate the purposes of § 67-1-1808. No officer or employee who receives tax information under this subsection (j) shall disclose such information to any person other than the person to whom it relates, except as otherwise may be authorized by law.(k) The commissioner may, in the commissioner’s discretion, disclose tax information to a unit of local government of this state for purposes of effectuating distributions of tax revenues under the Border Region Retail Tourism Development District Act, compiled in title 7, chapter 40. No unit of local government that receives tax information under this subsection (k) shall disclose the information to any person. However, nothing in this part shall prohibit the unit of local government from making payment or reimbursement to a private party out of distributions received under the Border Region Retail Tourism Development District Act, even if the funds are derived from sales and use taxes collected from a single parcel of property, and such payment or reimbursement shall not be a violation of this part.
