GA Code § 48-2-15 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 48 - Revenue and Taxation|Chapter 2 - State Administrative Organization, Administration, and Enforcement|Article 1 - State Administrative Organization|§ 48-2-15. Confidential and Privileged Information

  Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, information secured by the commissioner incident to the administration of any tax shall be confidential and privileged. Neither the commissioner nor any officer or employee of the department shall divulge or disclose any such confidential information obtained from the department's records or from an examination of the business of any taxpayer to any person other than the commissioner, an officer or employee of the department, an officer of the state or local government entitled in his or her official capacity to have access to such information, or the taxpayer.   This Code section shall not:   Be construed to prevent the use of confidential information as evidence before any state or federal court in the event of litigation involving tax liability of any taxpayer;   Be deemed to prevent the print or electronic publication of statistics so arranged as not to reveal information respecting an individual taxpayer;   Apply in any way whatsoever to any official finding of the commissioner with respect to any assessment or any information properly entered upon an assessment roll or other public record;   Affect any information which in the regular course of business is by law made the subject matter of a public document in any federal or state office or in any local office in this state;   Apply to information, records, and reports required and obtained under Article 1 of Chapter 9 of this title, which requires distributors of motor fuels to make reports of the amounts of motor fuels sold and used in each county by the distributor, or under Article 2 of Chapter 9 of this title, relating to road tax on motor carriers;   Be construed to prevent the disclosure of information, so arranged as not to reveal information respecting an individual taxpayer, requested by the House Committee on Ways and Means or the Senate Finance Committee regarding the department's administration of any tax; or   Apply to information, records, and reports required and obtained under Title 38 or Title 46 as each pertains to collection and remittance of prepaid and postpaid 9-1-1 fees or charges. The application of the exemption provided for under this paragraph to Code Section 38-3-190 shall apply exclusively to the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority and Department of Revenue in the handling of such information.     The provisions of this Code section shall not apply with respect to Chapter 7 of this title, relating to income taxation.   Reserved.     This Code section shall not be construed to prohibit persons or groups of persons other than employees of the department from having access to tax information when necessary to:   Conduct research commissioned by the department or where necessary in connection with the processing, storage, transmission, and reproduction of such tax information; the programming, maintenance, repair, testing, and procurement of equipment; and the providing of other services for purposes of tax administration; or     Contract with an entity licensed to do business in this state for data analytics services that assist the department in the identification of taxpayers that are noncompliant with Chapter 8 of this title; provided, however, that:     No such contract shall be for a period of more than three years; and   Any services to be performed as provided in this subparagraph shall be by specific North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sectors, as designated by the commissioner; and when such sectors have been so designated by the commissioner, such services shall encompass the entirety of taxpayers within such sectors.   Compensation for such data analytics services may be based on collections that may be attributable thereto.   Any contact with a taxpayer resulting from the data analytics services provided pursuant to this subparagraph, including correspondence, billings, assessments, and audits, shall only be made by the department.         Any access allowed by this subsection shall be pursuant to a written agreement with the department providing for the handling, permitted uses, and destruction of such tax information, requiring security clearance checks for such persons or groups of persons similar to those required of employees of the department, and including such other terms and conditions as the department may require to protect the confidentiality of the tax information to be disclosed.   A contracting entity granted access, as provided in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, shall not utilize or retain such taxpayer information, whether anonymized or not, in any manner that is not specifically authorized in the written agreement with the department, which shall expressly prohibit any action not specifically set out in such agreement, including but not limited to the aggregation, study, transmission, retention, or dissemination of taxpayer information.   Any person who divulges or makes known any tax information obtained under this subsection shall be subject to the same civil and criminal penalties as those provided for divulgence of information by employees of the department.       This Code section shall not be construed to prohibit disclosure as required in subsection (h) of Code Section 48-2-35.    (d.1) (1)Notwithstanding this Code section, the commissioner, upon request by resolution of the governing authority of any county, consolidated government, or municipality of this state, shall furnish to the designated finance officer or taxing official of the county, consolidated government, or municipality information included on the vendor's sales tax certificate for all vendors that have filed a report for the designated period, to be used by such designated officer or official in the discharge of his or her official duties.   (A) Such designated officer or official shall not be authorized to contact in any manner any taxpayer identified in such confidential information.   Such designated officer or official to whom such confidential information is provided under this subsection may request the commissioner to validate the political subdivision to which a taxpayer with a business location within the political subdivision has remitted sales and use taxes for the designated period. Upon inquiry by such designated officer or official, the commissioner shall, within 30 days, respond to the inquiry and validate that the sales tax being collected from a taxpayer is being remitted to the proper political subdivision and take other appropriate action as provided by law.   Any information furnished under this subsection to such designated officer or official shall retain its privileged and confidential nature to the same extent and under the same conditions as such information is privileged and confidential in the hands of the commissioner.   Any such information furnished under this subsection shall constitute confidential tax information for purposes of paragraph (2) of Code Section 50-14-2 and paragraph (43) of subsection (a) of Code Section 50-18-72 and shall not be discussed or disclosed except as specifically authorized under this subsection.   Such information may be discussed with or disclosed to the members of the governing authority of such county or municipality levying a tax pursuant to the provisions of Article 4 of Chapter 8 of this title, but only when the members of such governing authority are in executive session as defined in paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 50-14-1. In the event of such discussion with or disclosure to the members of such governing authority, any such information so discussed or disclosed shall retain its privileged and confidential nature to the same extent and under the same conditions as such information is privileged and confidential in the hands of the commissioner, and any further disclosure by the members of such governing authority is prohibited. Prior to such discussion with or disclosure to the members of such governing authority, any member of the governing authority who has a conflict of interest shall be required to recuse himself or herself from the executive session. For purposes of such recusal, a conflict of interest shall include, but not be limited to, engaging in similar business to those which are identified in the confidential information or having a financial or other personal interest, direct or indirect, in such matter which is incompatible with the impartial and proper discharge of that person's official duties, which would tend to impair the independence of that person's judgment or actions, or which would make such person privy to information that would provide a competitive business advantage.   It shall be unlawful for any person to divulge confidential tax information in violation of this subsection. Any person who violates this paragraph shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the same penalties that would apply to an employee of the department convicted of divulging confidential tax information.   The commissioner may make a nominal charge for any information so furnished, not to exceed the actual cost of furnishing the information; provided, however, that any such charge shall be in addition to the 1 percent administrative fee otherwise allowed to the commissioner for defraying the cost of collecting a local sales and use tax.   Nothing contained in this subsection shall prevent or be construed to prevent:   The use of the information as evidence in any state or federal court in the event of litigation involving any municipal or county tax liability of a taxpayer; or   The release of the information pursuant to a subpoena or court order.   (Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 12; Ga. L. 1945, p. 160, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 1137, § 1; Code 1933, § 91A-212, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1979, p. 5, §§ 8, 9; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1857, § 4; Ga. L. 1991, p. 303, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 200, § 2/HB 1310; Ga. L. 2010, p. 838, § 11/SB 388; Ga. L. 2011, p. 297, § 1/HB 346; Ga. L. 2016, p. 574, § 1/HB 960; Ga. L. 2018, p. 312, § 1/HB 811; Ga. L. 2018, p. 689, § 3-4/HB 751; Ga. L. 2018, p. 720, § 1/SB 371; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1056, § 48/SB 52.)   - Ga. L. 2018, p. 689, § 4-1(b)/HB 751, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "The provisions of this Act shall not in any manner diminish, extinguish, reduce, or affect any cause of action for audits, services, or the recovery of funds from service providers which may have existed prior to January 1, 2019. Any such cause of action is expressly preserved."   Law reviews.   - For comment, "Confidentiality and Dissemination of Personal Information: An Examination of State Laws Governing Data Protection," see 41 Emory L.J. 1185 (1992).    JUDICIAL DECISIONS