Code of the District of Columbia

§ 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.