Mich. Admin. Code R. 205.1003 - Confidentiality of information

Rule 3.

( 1) Except as otherwise provided by law, the treasurer, any employee or authorized representative or former employee or former authorized representative, or anyone connected with the department shall not disclose to any person, except the taxpayer or his or her or its authorized representative, any facts or information obtained in connection with the administration of a tax or information or parameters that would enable a person to ascertain the audit selection or processing criteria for a tax administered by the department or collection or assessment parameters or collection information.

( 2) Access to confidential information shall be restricted to department employees who have a need to access the information to perform their duties. A department employee shall not disclose confidential information to another department employee, except as needed to perform duties. For example, if an employee reviews a taxpayer's individual return and discovers a letter concerning the taxpayer's business tax liability, the employee shall refer the correspondence to the business tax division for further action and shall identify the source of the correspondence.

( 3) A department employee shall not disclose confidential information to confirm information made public by another party or source or which is part of any public record. For example, if an unauthorized third party wants to know if a tax lien has been filed against a certain business, a department employee shall not release that information. A tax lien becomes part of the public record upon filing, but still retains its identity as tax return information and may not be released to unauthorized parties.

( 4) An employee or authorized representative of another agency of the federal, state, or local government who handles confidential information pursuant to an agreement or subpoena is subject to the same restrictions as department employees or authorized representatives and shall not disclose the confidential information.

( 5) A department employee shall not disclose confidential information obtained about a taxpayer without proper authorization.

( 6) The department shall keep records of persons who are not department employees or authorized representatives of the department and are granted access to, or given copies of, returns or return information. The records must contain all of the following information:

(a) The name and address of the person who has been granted access to, or given copies of, returns.

(b) The representative capacity of the person specified in subdivision (a) of this subrule if not the taxpayer.

(c) The date of disclosure.

(d) The name of the taxpayer or taxpayers.

(e) The type of returns.

(f) The taxable periods involved.

Notes

Mich. Admin. Code R. 205.1003

1996 AACS; 2018 MR 9, Eff. 5/11/2018