(a) To enforce the provisions of this article and to prevent fraud and abuse of the Unemployment Trust Fund, the Commissioner or his or her duly authorized representative may submit to the state revenue commissioner the names and social security numbers of any individuals who are required to report earnings to the department along with the amount of earnings such individuals have reported to the department during specified time periods. The state revenue commissioner shall compare the submitted earnings of such individuals with income reported by such individuals to the Department of Revenue and shall verify and report back to the department that the submitted earnings of each such individual are either equal to, greater than, or less than the amount of income reported by each such individual to the Department of Revenue. Furthermore, the department may submit to the state revenue commissioner the name of any employer along with the number of employees who are being reported to the department by such employer during specified time periods. The state revenue commissioner shall compare such records submitted by employers to the department with the number of employees reported by each such employer to the Department of Revenue and shall verify and report back to the department that the number of employees reported to the department is either equal to, greater than, or less than the number of employees reported to the Department of Revenue for state income tax withholding purposes for the specified time period. The department shall pay the state revenue commissioner for all costs incurred by the Department of Revenue pursuant to this subsection. No report contemplated by this subsection shall be provided by the Department of Revenue to the department without a cooperative data sharing agreement executed by the two departments that is specific to the subject matter of this subsection. Any tax information secured from the federal government by the Department of Revenue pursuant to the provisions of Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code shall not be disclosed by the Department of Revenue pursuant to this subsection. Any person receiving any tax information under the authority of this subsection shall be subject to the provisions of Code Section 48-7-60 and to all penalties provided under Code Section 48-7-61 for unlawful divulging of confidential tax information, as well as the penalties provided under Code Section 34-8-125.

(b) Nothing in this Code section shall prevent the Department of Revenue or any other governmental agency from having access to records or information as provided for under Code Section 34-8-125.