Ky. Rev. Stat. » Chapter 131

Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190

Information acquired in tax administration not to be divulged --

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section KY-LRCapps.legislature.ky.gov JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

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 inspect 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 minerals 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 to 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 receive 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 department 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 contrary, 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 boundaries 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 constitute land surveying or boundary surveys as defined by KRS 322.010 and any administrative regulations promulgated thereto. Effective: June 27, 2025 History: Amended 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 98, sec. 27, effective June 27, 2025. -- Amended 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 166, sec. 13, effective July 15, 2024. -- Amended 2022 Ky. Acts ch. 212, sec. 55, effective July 14, 2022. -- Amended 2021 Ky. Acts ch. 122, sec. 4, effective July 1, 2021; ch. 156, sec. 20, effective June 29, 2021; ch. 167, sec. 21, effective June 29, 2021; and ch. 203, sec. 10, effective June 29, 2021. -- Amended 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 91, sec. 21, effective April 15, 2020. -- Amended 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 196, sec. 1, effective June 27, 2019. -- Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 171, sec. 102, effective April 14, 2018; and ch. 207, sec. 102, effective April 27, 2018. -- Amended 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 119, sec. 3, effective July 1, 2013. -- Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 92, effective July 15, 2010; and ch. 75, sec. 14, effective April 7, 2010. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 85, sec. 126, effective June 20, 2005; ch. 123, sec. 14, effective June 20, 2005; and ch. 184, sec. 5, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 2003 Ky. Acts ch. 87, sec. 1, effective June 24, 2003. -- Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 503, sec. 2, effective July 14, 2000. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 134, sec. 3, effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 326, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994; and ch. 508, sec. 44, effective July 15, 1994. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 47, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 233, sec. 8, effective June 17, 1978. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 163, sec. 1. -- Amended 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 64, secs. 1 and 3. -- Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 4114h-15. Legislative Research Commission Note (6/27/2019). This statute was amended in 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 151, sec. 5 (HB 354) and ch. 196, sec. 1 (HB 458). Although HB 354 was enacted, 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 196, sec. 16 (HB 458) repealed certain sections of that prior Act, including Section 5, and directed the Reviser of Statutes to not codify them. Therefore, the amendment to this statute in 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 151, sec. 5, was not codified. Legislative Research Commission Note (6/29/2017). Under the authority of KRS 7.136(1), a reference to "KRS 131.990(2)" in subsection (1)(b)5. of this statute has been changed to "KRS 131.990(1)" by the Reviser of Statutes following the enactment of 2017 Ky. Acts ch. 74, sec. 67, which deleted subsection (1) of KRS 131.990 and renumbered the subsequent subsections, but did not amend this statute to conform.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 15 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1943–2022 · leading case: People v. Gutierrez
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
People v. Gutierrez (2009) colo “§ 12-1 ,108 (2009); Kentucky: Ky.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 131.190 (West 2009); Louisiana: La.”
Department of Revenue v. Eifler (2013) kyctapp · cites it 8× “081(15) and KRS 131.190. The Department argues that these statutes protect all information on tax returns unless one of the specifically enumerated exceptions provided in KRS 131.”
City of St. Matthews v. Voice of St. Matthews, Inc. (1974) kyctapphigh · cites it 2× “KRS 131.190 is indicative of some legislative policy in this regard.”
Commonwealth, Revenue Cabinet v. Liberty National Bank of Lexington (1993) kyctapp · cites it 3× “Liberty sent interrogatories to the Cabinet inquiring into the basis of the Cabinet’s lien; the Cabinet declined to answer, citing KRS 131.190, the confidentiality statute.”
Maysville Transit Co. v. Ort (1943) kyctapphigh · cites it 3× “Purdon published Ort’s report in his newspaper; thus the tax information made confidential by KRS 131.190 was made public. In the Tomlin case we said there had been a violation of this statute, in so far as the tax reports of the Company were concerned.”
Kohler v. Benckart (1952) kyctapphigh · cites it 2× “As the fifteenth ground of error, it is contended that the provision of the ordinance penalizing the disclosure of information received by city officials through tax returns and the examination of taxpayers’ records imposes a penalty less than that imposed by KRS 131.190 and…”
Schmitt Furniture Co. v. Commonwealth (1987) ky “It has been the position of the Revenue Cabinet that the documents in question were protected from disclosure by four kinds of privileges: 1) Executive or governmental privilege; 2) Confidentiality of tax information (KRS 131.190); 3) Attorney-client privilege, and 4) the work…”
Department of Revenue, Finance and Administration Cabinet, Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Hon Phillip J. Shepherd Judge, Fr (2020) ky · cites it 6× “ANALYSIS It is undisputed by the DOR that the issue of whether the trial court may compel it to produce the TAM request letter without running afoul of KRS 131.190 and KRS 131.081 is moot. “[A] ‘moot case’ is one which seeks to get a judgment.”
Louisville Title Mortgage Co. v. Commonwealth Ex Rel. Unemployment Compensation Commission (1944) kyctapphigh “Section 4114h-15, Kentucky Statutes; KRS 131.190. The provision for the giving of notice under the Unemployment Compensation Act rests upon the same ground.”
Curd v. Commonwealth (1950) kyctapp “It is true that some or all of these records may be confidential under the provisions of KRS 131.190, ' or they might have been so designated by the Commissioner of Revenue under KRS 12.”
Michelle Grimes Jones, on Behalf of Herself and Her Minor Children v. Holly M. Johnson, in Her Official Capacity as Secr (2022) ky “Section 21 amends KRS 131.190, pertaining to the responsibility of state employees to maintain confidentiality, to allow the transmission of EOA program information to the Legislative Research Commission.”
Council for Better Education, Inc. v. Holly Johnson, in Her Official Capacity as Secretary of the Finance and Administra (2022) ky “Section 21 amends KRS 131.190, pertaining to the responsibility of state employees to maintain confidentiality, to allow the transmission of EOA program information to the Legislative Research Commission.”
Show all 15 citing cases →
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(1) — 1 case
Department of Revenue, Finance and Administration Cabinet, Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Hon Phillip J. Shepherd Judge, Fr (2020) ky “ANALYSIS It is undisputed by the DOR that the issue of whether the trial court may compel it to produce the TAM request letter without running afoul of KRS 131.190 and KRS 131.081 is moot. “[A] ‘moot case’ is one which seeks to get a judgment.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(1)(a) — 1 case
Department of Revenue v. Eifler (2013) kyctapp “081(15) and KRS 131.190. The Department argues that these statutes protect all information on tax returns unless one of the specifically enumerated exceptions provided in KRS 131.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(2) — 1 case
Department of Revenue, Finance and Administration Cabinet, Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Hon Phillip J. Shepherd Judge, Fr (2020) ky “ANALYSIS It is undisputed by the DOR that the issue of whether the trial court may compel it to produce the TAM request letter without running afoul of KRS 131.190 and KRS 131.081 is moot. “[A] ‘moot case’ is one which seeks to get a judgment.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(7) — 1 case
Department of Revenue v. Eifler (2013) kyctapp “081(15) and KRS 131.190. The Department argues that these statutes protect all information on tax returns unless one of the specifically enumerated exceptions provided in KRS 131.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(l)(a) — 1 case
Department of Revenue v. Eifler (2013) kyctapp “081(15) and KRS 131.190. The Department argues that these statutes protect all information on tax returns unless one of the specifically enumerated exceptions provided in KRS 131.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(l)(b) — 1 case
Department of Revenue v. Eifler (2013) kyctapp “081(15) and KRS 131.190. The Department argues that these statutes protect all information on tax returns unless one of the specifically enumerated exceptions provided in KRS 131.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 131.190(l)(b)(2) — 1 case
Department of Revenue v. Eifler (2013) kyctapp “081(15) and KRS 131.190. The Department argues that these statutes protect all information on tax returns unless one of the specifically enumerated exceptions provided in KRS 131.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.