(a) No person, including an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, or joint venture, or any employee or agent thereof, shall disclose information obtained from a federal or state income tax return or any information obtained from a tax schedule submitted with the return by a consumer in connection with a financial or other business-related transaction unless the disclosure is within any of the following:
(1) Consented to in writing by the consumer in a separate document that states to whom the disclosure will be made and how the information will be used. If the consumer agrees, this separate consent document may be in the form of an electronic record, executed by an electronic signature as provided by Title 2.5 (commencing with Section 1633.1) of Part 2 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
(2) Authorized or required by state or federal law.
(3) Necessary to complete or service the financial or business-related transaction or to effect, administer, or enforce a financial or business-related transaction requested by the consumer.
(4) Pursuant to court order.
(5) Required to complete any of the transactions described in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, by a person, including an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership or joint venture, if the disclosure is made solely for that purpose. The provisions of this section apply to any person, including an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, or joint venture, and any employee or agent thereof, receiving information as a result of a disclosure authorized by this paragraph.
(A) A proposed or actual sale, merger, transfer, or exchange of all or a portion of a business or operating unit.
(B) A proposed or actual securitization or secondary market sale, including the sale of servicing rights.
(C) To provide information to insurance rate advisory organizations, guaranty funds or agencies, rating agencies, and other persons assessing compliance with industry standards.
(D) To protect against or to prevent actual or potential fraud and unauthorized transactions and claims and for institutional risk control activities.
(b) No unrelated use shall be made of a federal or state tax return or any information obtained therefrom or any information submitted with the return by a consumer in connection with a financial or other business-related transaction. “Unrelated use” means any use that is not necessary to effect, administer, or enforce the financial or other business-related transaction with the consumer or that is beyond the scope of the stated purpose to which the consumer consented for the use of the return or any other information he or she submitted.
(c) (1) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(A) “Affiliate” means any entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, another entity.
(B) “Consumer” means an individual who requests or obtains financial or other business-related services.
(C) “Tax return” means a return, declaration, statement, refund claim, or other document required to be made or to be filed in connection with state or federal income taxes or state bank and corporation franchise taxes.
(2) A disclosure prohibited by this section includes a disclosure made internally within the entity or by that entity to any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
(3) The information described in subdivision (a) includes that information obtained through an electronic medium.
(d) No person, including an individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, or joint venture, or any employee or agent thereof, shall dispose of any of the information described in subdivision (a) in a manner in which the identity of the consumer may be determined from the disposed information alone or in combination with other publicly available information. This subdivision shall not become operative if Assembly Bill 2246 of the 1999–2000 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2001.
(e) The civil remedies in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1799.2) shall be applicable to a violation of this section. Each violation of this section shall constitute a separate cause of action for which damages are recoverable.
(f) The treatment of tax returns by tax preparers, as defined in Section 22251 of the Business and Professions Code, shall be governed by Section 17530.5 of the Business and Professions Code.
(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 1084, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2001. Note: Subd. (d) is inoperative; AB 2246 was enacted as Ch. 1039, Stats. 2000.)