§ 47–4406. Secrecy of returns.

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), (d)(2), (e), (e-1), and (e-2) of this section, and except as to an official of the District of Columbia, having a right thereto in his official capacity, an officer, employee, or contractor, or a former officer, employee, or contractor, of the District of Columbia shall not divulge or make known in any manner the amount of reported value, or any information relating to value or the computation of value, disclosed in a return required to be filed under this title. The original (or a copy) of a tax return desired for use in litigation in court shall not be furnished where the District of Columbia or the United States is not interested in the result of the litigation, whether or not the request is contained in an order of the court. Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the furnishing to the taxpayer of a copy of his or her return upon the payment of a fee as provided by the Mayor. This subsection shall also be applicable to federal, state, or local tax returns (or copies of these returns) and to federal, state, or local tax information either submitted by the taxpayer or otherwise obtained.

(b) The District of Columbia may provide the information reported in a tax return to either the Mayor, the Office of Administrative Hearings, or the United States if either the District of Columbia or the United States is a party to litigation in which either of the 2 governments is interested in the result of the litigation and if the information reported in the tax return would be relevant to the liabilities of the parties in the litigation.

(c) The District of Columbia may provide the information reported in a tax return to either the federal government or a state government if the United States, with respect to disclosure to the federal government, and the state government, with respect to disclosure to the state government, grant substantially similar privileges to the District of Columbia.

(d) The District of Columbia may publish the following information if it does not identify particular tax returns and items in tax returns:

(1) Statistics about the tax system;

(2) A list of taxpayers who are delinquent in their taxes; and

(3) Other information that may help the Mayor collect taxes.

(e) The District of Columbia may disclose information reported on tax returns to a contractor obligated to the District of Columbia to store documents or information to provide other services related to tax administration to the extent that the disclosure relates to the obligations of the contractor.

(e-1) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the return required by §§ 42-1103 and 47-903, unless otherwise provided by regulation.

(e-2) Nothwithstanding [sic] any other provision of this section, the Office of Tax and Revenue may furnish in accordance with § 11-1905 to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, upon request of the Court, the names, addresses, and social security numbers of individuals who have filed a return under § 47-1805.02(1).

(f) A person who willfully violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than the amount set forth in [§ 22-3571.01], or imprisoned not more than 180 days, or both. Prosecutions under this section shall be brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by the Attorney General for the District of Columbia in the name of the District of Columbia.

(g)(1) Notwithstanding any other law, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer is authorized to require federal and state criminal background investigations on any employee, candidate for employment, contractor, or subcontractor of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer that has or will have access to federal tax information for the purpose of determining the individual's suitability to access federal tax information as required by section 6103(p)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 6103(p)(4)).

(2)(A) The criminal background investigations shall be conducted in accordance with section 6103(p)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 6103(p)(4)), and shall include a fingerprint-based criminal record check of national crime information databases.

(B) For the criminal record check authorized pursuant to this paragraph, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer shall submit the individual's fingerprints to the Office of Integrity and Oversight for forwarding to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(3) Prospective employees shall be subject to fingerprinting and national, state, and local criminal history records checks only after a conditional offer of employment has been made.

(4) Current employees, contractors, and subcontractors with access to federal tax information shall be subject to fingerprinting and national, state, and local criminal history records checks at a minimum of every 10 years.

(5) The Chief Financial Officer may adopt rules to implement the provisions of this subsection.

(h) For the purposes of this section, the term:

(1) "Criminal background investigation" means a District, local, state, or national fingerprint-supported criminal history investigation.

(2) "Employee" means an individual employed by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, an individual working for a private business entity under contract with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, an individual working for a private business entity under contract with the District of Columbia, or an individual who is employed by the District of Columbia.

(3) "Federal tax information" means a return or return information received directly from the Internal Revenue Service or obtained through an authorized secondary source, such as the Social Security Administration or any entity acting on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to an Internal Revenue Code section 6103(p)(2)(B) agreement.

(June 9, 2001, D.C. Law 13-305, § 405(b), 48 DCR 334; Apr. 4, 2003, D.C. Law 14-282, § 11(fff), 50 DCR 896; Dec. 9, 2003, D.C. Law 15-50, § 2(b), 50 DCR 8980; Dec. 7, 2004, D.C. Law 15-217, § 4(m), 51 DCR 9126; Apr. 13, 2005, D.C. Law 15-354, § 73(o)(2), 52 DCR 2638; June 11, 2013, D.C. Law 19-317, § 286(ii), 60 DCR 2064; Oct. 30, 2018, D.C. Law 22-168, § 7103, 65 DCR 9388.)

Section References

This section is referenced in § 47-903.

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 14-282, in subsec. (a), substituted “(e), and (e-1)” for “and (e)”; and added subsec. (e-1).

D.C. Law 15-50, in subsec. (a), substituted “, (e-1), and (e-2)” for “, and (e-1)”; and added subsec. (e-2).

D.C. Law 15-217, in subsec. (b), substituted “Mayor, the Office of Administrative Hearings,” for “Mayor”.

D.C. Law 15-354 substituted “Attorney General for the District of Columbia” for “Corporation Counsel”.

The 2013 amendment by D.C. Law 19-317 substituted “not more than the amount set forth in [§ 22-3571.01]” for “not more than $1,000” in (f).

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 7103 of Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2018 (D.C. Act 22-458, Oct. 3, 2018, 65 DCR 11212).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 7103 of Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2018 (D.C. Act 22-434, July 30, 2018, 65 DCR 8200).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 12(nnn) of Tax Clarity and Recorder of Deeds Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-381, June 6, 2002, 49 DCR 5674).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 12(ooo) of Tax Clarity and Related Amendments Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-456, July 23, 2002, 49 DCR 8107).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 12(ooo) of Tax Clarity and Related Amendments Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-510, October 23, 2002, 49 DCR 10247).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(b) of Superior Court of the District of Columbia Master Jury List Project Clarification Emergency Act of 2003 (D.C. Act 15-111, July 29, 2003, 50 DCR 6571).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(b) of Superior Court of the District of Columbia Master Jury List Project Clarification Legislative Review Emergency Act of 2003 (D.C. Act 15-201, October 24, 2003, 50 DCR 9831).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 3(m) of Office of Administrative Hearings Establishment Emergency Amendment Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-513, August 2, 2004, 51 DCR 8976).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 3(m) of Office of Administrative Hearings Establishment Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-553, October 26, 2004, 51 DCR 10359).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 286(ii) of the Criminal Fine Proportionality Emergency Act of 2013 (D.C. Act 20-45, April 1, 2013, 60 DCR 5400, 20 DCSTAT 1300).

Temporary Legislation

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see 12(ooo) of Tax Clarity and Recorder of Deeds Temporary Act of 2002 (D.C. Law 14-191, October 5, 2002, law notification 49 DCR 9549).

For temporary (225 day) amendment of section, see 12(ooo) of Tax Clarity and Related Amendments Temporary Act of 2003 (D.C. Law 14-228, March 23, 2003, law notification 50 DCR 2741).

Editor's Notes

Applicability of D.C. Law 19-317: Section 401 of D.C. Law 19-317 provided that the act shall apply only to offenses committed on or after June 11, 2013.