KRS 131.190 — Information acquired in tax administration not to be divulged -- Exceptions

(1) No present or former commissioner or employee of the department, present or
former member of a county board of assessment appeals, present or former property
valuation administrator or employee, present or former secretary or employee of the
Finance and Administration Cabinet, former secretary or employee of the Revenue
Cabinet, or any other person, shall intentionally and without authorization inspe ct
or divulge any information acquired by him or her of the affairs of any person, or
information regarding the tax schedules, returns, or reports required to be filed with
the department or other proper officer, or any information produced by a hearing or
investigation, insofar as the information may have to do with the affairs of the
person's business.
(2) The prohibition established by subsection (1) of this section shall not extend to:
(a) Information required in prosecutions for making false reports or returns of
property for taxation, or any other infraction of the tax laws;
(b) Any matter properly entered upon any assessment record, or in any way made
a matter of public record;
(c) Furnishing any taxpayer or his or her properly authorized agent with
information respecting his or her own return;
(d) Testimony provided by the commissioner or any employee of the department
in any court, or the introduction as evidence of returns or reports filed with the
department, in an action for violation of state or federal tax laws or in any
action challenging state or federal tax laws;
(e) Providing an owner of unmined coal, oil or gas reserves, and other mineral or
energy resources assessed under KRS 132.820, or owners of surface land
under which the unmined minera ls lie, factual information about the owner's
property derived from third-party returns filed for that owner's property, under
the provisions of KRS 132.820, that is used to determine the owner's
assessment. This information shall be provided to the owner on a confidential
basis, and the owner shall be subject to the penalties provided in KRS
131.990(2). The third -party filer shall be given prior notice of any disclosure
of information to the owner that was provided by the third-party filer;
(f) Providing t o a third -party purchaser pursuant to an order entered in a
foreclosure action filed in a court of competent jurisdiction, factual
information related to the owner or lessee of coal, oil, gas reserves, or any
other mineral resources assessed under KRS 132. 820. The department may
promulgate an administrative regulation establishing a fee schedule for the
provision of the information described in this paragraph. Any fee imposed
shall not exceed the greater of the actual cost of providing the information or
ten dollars ($10);
(g) Providing information to a licensing agency, the Transportation Cabinet, or
the Kentucky Supreme Court under KRS 131.1817;
(h) Statistics of gasoline and special fuels gallonage reported to the department
under KRS 138.210 to 138.448;
(i) Providing any utility gross receipts license tax return information that is
necessary to administer the provisions of KRS 160.613 to 160.617 to
applicable school districts on a confidential basis;
(j) Providing documents, data, or other information to a third party pursuant to an
order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction;
(k) Publishing administrative writings on its official website in accordance with
KRS 131.020(1)(b); or
(l) Providing information to the Legislative Research Commission under:
1. KRS 139.519 for purposes of the sales and use tax refund on building
materials used for disaster recovery;
2. KRS 141.436 for purposes of the energy efficiency products credits;
3. KRS 141.437 for purposes of the ENERGY STAR home and the
ENERGY STAR manufactured home credits;
4. KRS 141.383 for purposes of the film industry incentives;
5. KRS 154.26-095 for purposes of the Kentucky industrial revitalization
credit and the job assessment fees;
6. KRS 141.068 for purposes of the Kentucky investment fund;
7. KRS 141.396 for purposes of the angel investor credit;
8. KRS 141.389 for purposes of the distilled spirits credit;
9. KRS 141.408 for purposes of the inventory credit;
10. KRS 141.390 for purposes of the recycling and composting credits;
11. KRS 141.3841 for purposes of the selling farmer credit;
12. KRS 141.4231 for purposes of the renewable chemical production
credit;
13. KRS 141.524 for purposes of the Education Opportunity Account
Program credit;
14. KRS 141.398 for purposes of the development area credit;
15. KRS 139.516 for purposes of the sales and use tax exemptions for the
commercial mining of cryptocurrency;
16. KRS 141.419 for purposes of the decontamination credit;
17. KRS 141.391 for purposes of the qualified broadband investment credit;
18. KRS 139.499 for purposes of the sales and use tax exemptions for a
qualified data center project; and
19. KRS 139.5325 for purposes of the sales and use tax incentive for a
qualifying attraction.
(3) The commissioner shall make available any information for official use only and on
a confidential basis to the proper officer, agency, board or commission of this state,
any Kentucky county, any Kentucky city, any other state, or the federal
government, under reciprocal agreements whereby the department shall r eceive
similar or useful information in return.
(4) Access to and inspection of information received from the Internal Revenue Service
is for department use only, and is restricted to tax administration purposes.
Information received from the Internal Revenue Service shall not be made available
to any other agency of state government, or any county, city, or other state, and
shall not be inspected intentionally and without authorization by any present
secretary or employee of the Finance and Administration Cabinet, commissioner or
employee of the department, or any other person.
(5) Statistics of crude oil as reported to the department under the crude oil excise tax
requirements of KRS Chapter 137 and statistics of natural gas production as
reported to the d epartment under the natural resources severance tax requirements
of KRS Chapter 143A may be made public by the department by release to the
Energy and Environment Cabinet, Department for Natural Resources.
(6) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the co ntrary, beginning with mine -map
submissions for the 1989 tax year, the department may make public or divulge only
those portions of mine maps submitted by taxpayers to the department pursuant to
KRS Chapter 132 for ad valorem tax purposes that depict the b oundaries of mined-
out parcel areas. These electronic maps shall not be relied upon to determine actual
boundaries of mined-out parcel areas. Property boundaries contained in mine maps
required under KRS Chapters 350 and 352 shall not be construed to const itute land
surveying or boundary surveys as defined by KRS 322.010 and any administrative
regulations promulgated thereto.