Florida Administrative Code › 12 - DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE › 12 - Departmental › Chapter 12-22 - CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE OF TAX INFORMATION › Section 12-22.002 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
For the purposes of this rule chapter, the terms have the
				  meanings prescribed in this section.
(1) "Department" means the Florida Department
				of Revenue.
(2) "Disclosure" means
				making known or available to any person in any manner whatsoever, a return,
				return information, state tax information, or federal tax
				information.
(3) "Federal tax
				information" means any tax information furnished to the Department by the
				Internal Revenue Service.
(4)
				"Return" means any report, claim, statement, notice, application, affidavit, or
				other document required to be filed within a prescribed period or on or before
				a prescribed date under the authority of any provision of those documents,
				declarations, reports, schedules, amendments, or other written statements filed
				with the Department by a taxpayer under a revenue law of this state which the
				Department has the responsibility of regulating, controlling, and
				administering. This term includes any copy of a federal income tax return or
				other attachments which are designed to be supplemental to, or become a part
				of, a return.
(5) "Return
				information" means any information shown on a return which is filed with, or
				furnished to, the Department, by, or on behalf of, a taxpayer, including
				taxpayers' names, addresses, account numbers, tax computations or payment data,
				and any other specific accounts details.
(6) "State tax information" means all records
				of the Department relating to particular taxpayers, including returns, return
				information, letters of advice, technical assistance advisements, large
				currency transaction reports, and investigative reports which are subject to
				the disclosure provisions of Section
				213.053, F.S., and does not
				include federal tax information furnished to the Department by the Internal
				Revenue Service.
(7) "Tax
				information" means all records of the Department relating to particular
				taxpayers, including returns, return information, federal tax information,
				letters of advice, technical assistance advisements, large currency transaction
				reports, and investigative reports. This term encompasses the status and
				existence of an account and whether the account is active, inactive, or
				delinquent.
(8) "Official Purposes"
				as used in Section 213.053, F.S., and this rule
				includes the following:
(a) The use of state
				tax information in referring a case for criminal prosecution in instances when
				an agency employee attests by affidavit that there is probable cause to believe
				that a crime has been committed. Such attestation and affidavit must be
				reviewed and approved by the Criminal Investigations Process Owner, General Tax
				Administration, and the General Counsel, or their designees.
(b) The use of state tax information upon
				written approval by the Executive Director or the Executive Director's designee
				in obtaining a search warrant or subpoena in the investigation of a crime under
				the revenue laws.
(c) The use of
				state tax information, if approved in writing by the Executive Director or the
				Executive Director's designee, to notify state attorneys, sheriffs or other law
				enforcement agencies of activity in violation of state law or Department rules
				when such violation is beyond the legal authority or capacity of the Department
				to halt or prosecute.
(d) The use
				of state tax information in any judicial or quasi-judicial actions, including
				actions brought under Chapter 72, F.S., in which the Department is
				participating as a party and where the liability for or collectability of a tax
				is at issue.
(e) The use of
				taxpayer information by independent contract agents in the administration of
				the Department's statutory duties and responsibilities. Such independent
				contract agents are subject to the restrictions and prohibitions contained in
				Section 213.053, F.S. and this
				rule.
(f) The use of state tax
				information by the Department, solely to the extent necessary to obtain
				information which is not otherwise available in the determination and/or
				collection of a specific taxpayer's tax liability. The Department's employee or
				agent must first exhaust all efforts to obtain or confirm information from the
				taxpayer or from internal sources before disclosing information under this
				subsection. The following examples are included to clearly describe the intent
				of this paragraph:
1. Example 1. An auditor
				uses state tax information in an audit of a purchaser's use tax liability,
				where the information is obtained relative to the purchaser's use tax liability
				during an audit of a vendor.
2.
				Example 2. An auditor uses state tax information obtained in an audit of a
				vendee to confirm the status and amount of purchases from a vendor by the
				vendee.
(g) The
				enumeration in this rule of activities of the Department as "Official Purposes"
				is not all inclusive, and should not be construed to deny the existence of
				other "Official Purposes" not here enumerated.