Nev. Rev. Stat. § 360.247 — Hearing on appeal concerning liability for tax must be open to public; consideration of proprietary or confidential information in closed hearing; abstracts of certain decisions; protection of confidentiality and liability for disclosure of information

NRS  360.247    Hearing on appeal concerning liability for tax must be open to
public; consideration of proprietary or confidential information in closed
hearing; abstracts of certain decisions; protection of confidentiality and
liability for disclosure of information.
1.  Except as otherwise provided in this
section, any appeal to the Nevada Tax Commission which is taken by a taxpayer
concerning his or her liability for tax must be heard during a session of the
Commission which is open to the public. Upon request by the taxpayer, a hearing
on such an appeal must be closed to the public to receive proprietary or
confidential information.
2.  A taxpayer may request a closed hearing
pursuant to subsection 1 by submitting the request in writing to the Nevada Tax
Commission:
(a) Not later than 14 calendar days before the
date of the hearing; or
(b) If authorized by the Executive Director for good
cause shown, not later than 5 calendar days before the date of the hearing.
3.  Notwithstanding the provisions of NRS 241.020 , all information received by
the Nevada Tax Commission concerning an appeal taken by a taxpayer pursuant to
subsection 1 shall be deemed proprietary and confidential and the Nevada Tax
Commission shall not provide a member of the public with any such information
until after the date by which the taxpayer may submit a request for a closed
hearing pursuant to subsection 2, even if the information is provided to
members of the Nevada Tax Commission. Thereafter the information must be
provided to a member of the public upon request unless the taxpayer has made a
request for a closed hearing.
4.  As soon as practicable after closing a
hearing pursuant to subsection 1, the Nevada Tax Commission shall determine
whether the information to be presented in the closed hearing is proprietary or
confidential information. If the Commission, in its discretion, determines that
the information is not proprietary or confidential information, the Commission
shall immediately open the hearing to the public. If the Commission, in its
discretion, determines that the information is proprietary or confidential
information:
(a) The hearing must remain closed to the public
and the Commission shall receive the information in a manner that ensures that
the members of the Commission have a reasonable and adequate opportunity to
review the information and make any inquiries that any member believes to be
necessary and appropriate.
(b) After the receipt of and opportunity to
review the proprietary or confidential information pursuant to paragraph (a),
the Commission shall reopen the hearing to the public and proceed to deliberate
toward a decision regarding issues in the appeal that are not proprietary or
confidential.
(c) After a hearing has been reopened pursuant to
paragraph (b), the Commission shall, upon the request of any member of the
Commission who believes that he or she cannot conduct meaningful deliberations
with the other members of the Commission on the appeal because the appeal
concerns proprietary or confidential information, close the hearing for further
deliberations. The definitive vote on the appeal must be taken during a hearing
of the Commission that is open to the public.
5.  The Nevada Tax Commission shall adopt
regulations which establish procedures:
(a) By which a taxpayer may request a closed
hearing pursuant to this section.
(b) By which the Commission may determine whether
information is proprietary or confidential information during a closed hearing.
6.  Not later than 45 days after the Nevada
Tax Commission deliberates in a closed hearing and makes a definitive decision
on an appeal in a hearing that is open to the public pursuant to this section,
the Commission shall prepare an abstract that explains the reasons for the
decision, which must be made available to the public upon request. Such an
abstract:
(a) Must include, without limitation:
(1) The name of the taxpayer;
(2) The amount of the taxpayer’s liability,
including interest and penalties;
(3) The type of tax at issue; and
(4) The general nature of the evidence
relied upon by the Commission in reaching its decision.
(b) Must not contain any proprietary or
confidential information relating to the taxpayer.
7.  A member of the Nevada Tax Commission
or an officer, agent or employee of the Department is not subject to any
criminal penalty or civil liability for the use or publication of proprietary
or confidential information received pursuant to the procedure set forth in
subsection 4, regardless of whether the information was received during a
closed hearing.
8.  The Nevada Tax Commission shall take
such actions as it deems necessary to protect the confidentiality of
information provided by a taxpayer that the Commission has determined to be
proprietary or confidential information, including, without limitation:
(a) Issuing such protective orders as it deems
necessary;
(b) Restricting access to any hearing closed to
the public and to the records and transcripts of any such hearing, without the
prior approval of the Commission; and
(c) Prohibiting any intervener allowed to attend
such a hearing or allowed access to the records and transcripts of such a
hearing from disclosing such information without prior authorization from the
Commission.
9.  A person who violates a protective
order issued by the Nevada Tax Commission pursuant to subsection 8 is guilty of
a misdemeanor, unless a more severe penalty is prescribed by law for the act
that constitutes the violation of the order.
10.  As used in this section:
(a) “Confidential economic information”:
(1) Means any information which is not
available to the public generally, which confers an economic benefit on the
holder of the information as a result of its unavailability and which is the
subject of reasonable efforts by the taxpayer to maintain its secrecy.
(2) Includes, without limitation,
information relating to the amount or source of any income, profits, losses or
expenditures of the taxpayer, such as data relating to costs, prices or
customers.
(b) “Proprietary or confidential information”:
(1) Means:
(I) Any trade secret, confidential
economic information or business information that is submitted to the Nevada
Tax Commission by the taxpayer and is determined to be proprietary or
confidential information by the Commission; or
(II) Any information that a specific
statute declares to be confidential or prohibits the Commission from making
public.
(2) Does not include any information that has
been published for public distribution or is otherwise available to the public
generally or in the public domain.