Sec. 151.027. CONFIDENTIALITY OF TAX INFORMATION. (a) Information in or derived from a record, report, or other instrument required to be furnished under this chapter is confidential and not open to public inspection, except for information set forth in a lien filed under this title or a permit issued under this chapter to a seller and except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section.

(b) Information secured, derived, or obtained during the course of an examination of a taxpayer's books, records, papers, officers, or employees, including the business affairs, operations, profits, losses, and expenditures of the taxpayer, is confidential and not open to public inspection except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section.

(c) This section does not prohibit:

(1) the examination of information, if authorized by the comptroller, by another state officer or law enforcement officer, by a tax official of another state, by a tax official of the United Mexican States, or by an official of the United States if a reciprocal agreement exists;

(2) the delivery to a taxpayer, or a taxpayer's authorized representative, of a copy of a report or other paper filed by the taxpayer under this chapter;

(3) the publication of statistics classified to prevent the identification of a particular report or items in a particular report;

(4) the use of records, reports, or information secured, derived, or obtained by the attorney general or the comptroller in an action under this chapter against the same taxpayer who furnished the information;

(5) the delivery to a successor, receiver, executor, administrator, assignee, or guarantor of a taxpayer of information about items included in the measure and amounts of any unpaid tax or amounts of tax, penalties, and interest required to be collected;

(6) the delivery of information to a municipality, county, or other local governmental entity in accordance with Section 321.3022, 322.2022, or 323.3022; or

(7) the release of information in or derived from a record, report, or other instrument required to be furnished under this chapter by a governmental body, as that term is defined in Section 552.003, Government Code.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1549, ch. 389, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1982. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 351, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1000, Sec. 69, eff. Oct. 1, 1995; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1218, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.

Amended by:

Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1360 (S.B. 636), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2009.