§346E-10 Disclosure of returns unlawful; destruction of returns. (a) All tax returns and return information required to be filed under this chapter, and the report of any investigation of the return or of the subject matter of the return, shall be confidential. It shall be unlawful for any person or any officer or employee of the State to intentionally make known information imparted by any tax return or return information filed pursuant to this chapter, or any report of any investigation of the return or of the subject matter of the return, or to wilfully permit any such return, return information, or report so made, or any copy thereof, to be seen or examined by any person; provided that for tax purposes only the operator, the operator's authorized agent, or persons with a material interest in the return, return information, or report may examine the same. Unless otherwise provided by law, persons with a material interest in the return, return information, or report shall include:
(1) Trustees;
(2) Partners;
(3) Persons named in a board resolution or a one per cent shareholder in the case of a corporate return;
(4) The person authorized to act for a corporation in dissolution;
(5) A shareholder of an S corporation;
(6) The personal representative, trustee, heir, or beneficiary of an estate or trust in the case of the estate's or decedent's return;
(7) The committee, trustee, or guardian of any person in paragraphs (1) to (6) who is incompetent;
(8) The trustee in bankruptcy or receiver, and the attorney-in-fact of any person in paragraphs (1) to (7);
(9) Persons duly authorized by the State in connection with their official duties; and
(10) Any duly accredited tax official of the United States or any state or territory.
Any violation of this subsection shall be a misdemeanor. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports or returns and the items of the reports or returns.
(b) The department may destroy the quarterly or semiannual returns filed pursuant to section 346E-3, or any of them, upon the expiration of three years after the end of the calendar or fiscal year in which the taxes so returned accrued. [L 1993, c 315, pt of §1; ree L 1994, c 230, pt of §1]