(35 ILCS 635/27.25)

Sec. 27.25. Confidential information; exceptions. All information received by the Department from returns filed under this Act, or from any investigations conducted under this Act, shall be confidential, except for official purposes, and any person who divulges any such information in any manner, except in accordance with a proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

Provided, that nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the Director from publishing or making available to the public the names and addresses of telecommunications retailers filing returns under this Act, or from publishing or making available reasonable statistics concerning the operation of the fees wherein the contents of returns are grouped into aggregates in such a way that the information contained in any individual return shall not be disclosed.

And provided, that nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the Director from making available to the United States Government or any officer or agency thereof, for exclusively official purposes, information received by the Department in the administration of this Act.

The furnishing upon request of the Auditor General, or his or her authorized agents, for official use, of returns filed and information related thereto under this Act is deemed to be an official purpose within the meaning of this Section.

The Director may make available to any State agency, including the Illinois Supreme Court, which licenses persons to engage in any occupation, information that a person licensed by such agency has failed to file returns under this Act or pay the fees, penalty, and interest shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of fees, penalty, or interest due under this Act. An assessment is final when all proceedings in court for review of such assessment have terminated or the time for the taking thereof has expired without such proceedings being instituted.

The Director shall make available for public inspection in the Department's principal office and for publication, at cost, administrative decisions issued on or after January 1, 1998. These decisions are to be made available in a manner so that the following taxpayer information is not disclosed:

(1) The names, addresses, and identification numbers of the taxpayer, related entities, and employees.

(2) At the sole discretion of the Director, trade secrets or other confidential information identified as such by the taxpayer, no later than 30 days after receipt of an administrative decision, by such means as the Department shall provide by rule.

The Director shall determine the appropriate extent of the deletions allowed in paragraph (2). In the event the taxpayer does not submit deletions, the Director shall make only the deletions specified in paragraph (1).

The Director shall make available for public inspection and publication an administrative decision within 180 days after the issuance of the administrative decision. The term "administrative decision" has the same meaning as defined in Section 3-101 of Article III of the Code of Civil Procedure. Costs collected under this Section shall be paid into the Tax Compliance and Administration Fund.

(Source: P.A. 90-562, eff. 12-16-97.)