35 ILCS 5/917

(35 ILCS 5/917) (from Ch. 120, par. 9-917)

Sec. 917. Confidentiality and information sharing.

(a) Confidentiality.
Except as provided in this Section, all information received by the Department
from returns filed under this Act, or from any investigation conducted under
the provisions of this Act, shall be confidential, except for official purposes
within the Department or pursuant to official procedures for collection
of any State tax or pursuant to an investigation or audit by the Illinois
State Scholarship Commission of a delinquent student loan or monetary award
or enforcement of any civil or criminal penalty or sanction
imposed by this Act or by another statute imposing a State tax, and any
person who divulges any such information in any manner, except for such
purposes and pursuant to order of the Director or in accordance with a proper
judicial order, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.   However, the
provisions of this paragraph are not applicable to   information furnished
to (i) the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (formerly
Department of Public Aid), State's Attorneys, and the Attorney General for child support enforcement purposes and (ii) a licensed attorney representing the taxpayer where an appeal or a protest
has been filed on behalf of the taxpayer. If it is necessary to file information obtained pursuant to this Act in a child support enforcement proceeding, the information shall be filed under seal. 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 Department within the meaning of this Section.

(b) Public information. Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent
the Director from publishing or making available to the public the names
and addresses of persons filing returns under this Act, or from publishing
or making available reasonable statistics concerning the operation of the
tax 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.

(c) Governmental agencies. The Director may make available to the
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States or his delegate, or the
proper officer or his delegate of any other state imposing a tax upon or
measured by income, for exclusively official purposes, information received
by the Department in the administration of this Act, but such permission
shall be granted only if the United States or such other state, as the case
may be, grants the Department substantially similar privileges.  The Director
may exchange information with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the
Department of Human Services (acting as successor to the Department of Public
Aid under the Department of Human Services Act) for
the purpose of verifying sources and amounts of income and for other purposes
directly connected with the administration of this Act, the Illinois Public Aid Code, and any other health benefit program administered by the State. The Director may exchange information with the Director of
the Department of Employment Security for the purpose of verifying sources
and amounts of income and for other purposes directly connected with the
administration of this Act and Acts administered by the Department of
Employment
Security.
The Director may make available to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission
information regarding employers for the purpose of verifying the insurance
coverage required under the Workers' Compensation Act and Workers'
Occupational Diseases Act. The Director may exchange information with the Illinois Department on Aging for the purpose of verifying sources and amounts of income for purposes directly related to confirming eligibility for participation in the programs of benefits authorized by the Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities Property Tax Relief and Pharmaceutical Assistance Act. The Director may exchange information with the State Treasurer's Office and the Department of Employment Security for the purpose of implementing, administering, and enforcing the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act. The Director may exchange information with the State Treasurer's Office for the purpose of administering the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act or successor Acts. The Director may make information available to the Secretary of State for the purpose of administering Section 5-901 of the Illinois Vehicle Code. The Director may exchange information with the State Treasurer's Office for the purpose of administering the Illinois Higher Education Savings Program established under Section 16.8 of the State Treasurer Act. The Director may make individual income tax information available to the State health benefits exchange, as defined in Section 513, if the disclosure is authorized by the taxpayer pursuant to Section 513.

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 tax, penalty and interest shown therein,
or has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty or interest due
under this Act.
The Director may make available to any State agency, including the Illinois
Supreme
Court, information regarding whether a bidder, contractor, or an affiliate of a
bidder or
contractor has failed to file returns under this Act or pay the tax, penalty,
and interest
shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty, or
interest due
under this Act, for the limited purpose of enforcing bidder and contractor
certifications.
For purposes of this Section, the term "affiliate" means any entity that (1)
directly,
indirectly, or constructively controls another entity, (2) is directly,
indirectly, or
constructively controlled by another entity, or (3) is subject to the control
of
a common
entity. For purposes of this subsection (a), an entity controls another entity
if
it owns,
directly or individually, more than 10% of the voting securities of that
entity.
As used in
this subsection (a), the term "voting security" means a security that (1)
confers upon the
holder the right to vote for the election of members of the board of directors
or similar
governing body of the business or (2) is convertible into, or entitles the
holder to receive
upon its exercise, a security that confers such a right to vote. A general
partnership
interest is a voting security.

The Director may make available to any State agency, including the
Illinois
Supreme Court, units of local government, and school districts, information
regarding
whether a bidder or contractor is an affiliate of a person who is not
collecting
and
remitting Illinois Use taxes, for the limited purpose of enforcing bidder and
contractor
certifications.

The Director may also make available to the Secretary of State
information that a corporation which has been issued a certificate of
incorporation by the Secretary of State has failed to file returns under
this Act or pay the tax, penalty and interest shown therein, or has failed
to pay any final assessment of tax, 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.  For
taxable years ending on or after December 31, 1987, the Director may make
available to the Director or principal officer of any Department of the
State of Illinois, information that a person employed by such Department
has failed to file returns under this Act or pay the tax, penalty and
interest shown therein.  For purposes of this paragraph, the word
"Department" shall have the same meaning as provided in Section 3 of the
State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.

(d) 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, 1995. 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