FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 691
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS RUSSELL, VOGEL AND GOODE.
Read 1st time February 27, 2003, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
1974S.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 32.057 and 34.040, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to tax compliance, with penalty provisions.
Section A. Sections 32.057 and 34.040, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 32.057 and 34.040, to read as follows:
32.057. 1. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the director of revenue, any officer, employee, agent or deputy or former director, officer, employee, agent or deputy of the department of revenue, any person engaged or retained by the department of revenue on an independent contract basis, any person to whom authorized or unauthorized disclosure is made by the department of revenue, or any person who lawfully or unlawfully inspects any report or return filed with the department of revenue or to whom a copy, an abstract or a portion of any report or return is furnished by the department of revenue to make known in any manner, to permit the inspection or use of or to divulge to anyone any information relative to any such report or return, any information obtained by an investigation conducted by the department in the discharge of official duty, or any information received by the director in cooperation with the United States or other states in the enforcement of the revenue laws of this state. Such confidential information is limited to information received by the department in connection with the administration of the tax laws of this state.
2. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit:
(1) The disclosure of information, returns, reports, or facts shown thereby, as described in subsection 1 of this section, by any officer, clerk or other employee of the department of revenue charged with the custody of such information:
(a) To a taxpayer or the taxpayer's duly authorized representative under regulations which the director of revenue may prescribe;
(b) In any action or proceeding, civil, criminal or mixed, brought to enforce the revenue laws of this state;
(c) To the state auditor or the auditor's duly authorized employees as required by subsection 4 of this section;
(d) To any city officer designated by ordinance of a city within this state to collect a city earnings tax, upon written request of such officer, which request states that the request is made for the purpose of determining or enforcing compliance with such city earnings tax ordinance and provided that such information disclosed shall be limited to that sufficient to identify the taxpayer, and further provided that in no event shall any information be disclosed that will result in the department of revenue being denied such information by the United States or any other state. The city officer requesting the identity of taxpayers filing state returns but not paying city earnings tax shall furnish to the director of revenue a list of taxpayers paying such earnings tax, and the director shall compare the list submitted with the director's records and return to such city official the name and address of any taxpayer who is a resident of such city who has filed a state tax return but who does not appear on the list furnished by such city. The director of revenue may set a fee to reimburse the department for the costs reasonably incurred in providing this information;
(e) To any employee of any county or other political subdivision imposing a sales tax which is administered by the state department of revenue whose office is authorized by the governing body of the county or other political subdivision to receive any and all records of the state director of revenue pertaining to the administration, collection and enforcement of its sales tax. The request for sales tax records and reports shall include a description of the type of report requested, the media form including electronic transfer, computer tape or disk, or printed form, and the frequency desired. The request shall be made by annual written application and shall be filed with the director of revenue. The director of revenue may set a fee to reimburse the department for the costs reasonably incurred in providing this information. Such city or county or any employee thereof shall be subject to the same standards for confidentiality as required for the department of revenue in using the information contained in the reports;
(f) To the director of the department of economic development or the director's duly authorized employees in discharging the director's official duties to certify taxpayers eligibility to claim state tax credits as prescribed by statutes;
(g) To any employee of any political subdivision, such records of the director of revenue pertaining to the administration, collection and enforcement of the tax imposed in chapter 149, RSMo, as are necessary for ensuring compliance with any cigarette or tobacco tax imposed by such political subdivision. The request for such records shall be made in writing to the director of revenue, and shall include a description of the type of information requested and the desired frequency. The director of revenue may charge a fee to reimburse the department for costs reasonably incurred in providing such information;
(2) The publication by the director of revenue or of the state auditor in the audit reports relating to the department of revenue of:
(a) Statistics, statements or explanations so classified as to prevent the identification of any taxpayer or of any particular reports or returns and the items thereof;
(b) The names and addresses without any additional information of persons who filed returns and of persons whose tax refund checks have been returned undelivered by the United States Post Office;
(3) The director of revenue from permitting the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States or the Secretary's delegates, the proper officer of any state of the United States imposing a tax equivalent to any of the taxes administered by the department of revenue of the state of Missouri or the appropriate representative of the multistate tax commission to inspect any return or report required by the respective tax provision of this state, or may furnish to such officer an abstract of the return or report or supply the officer with information contained in the return or disclosed by the report of any authorized investigation. Such permission, however, shall be granted on condition that the corresponding revenue statute of the United States or of such other state, as the case may be, grants substantially similar privileges to the director of revenue and on further condition that such corresponding statute gives confidential status to the material with which it is concerned;
(4) The disclosure of information, returns, reports, or facts shown thereby, by any person on behalf of the director of revenue, in any action or proceeding to which the director is a party or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding pursuant to the revenue laws of this state when such information is directly involved in the action or proceeding, in either of which events the court may require the production of, and may admit in evidence, so much of such information as is pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more;
(5) The disclosure of information, returns, reports, or facts shown thereby, by any person to a state or federal prosecuting official, the official's designees, or other persons officially involved in any criminal or quasi-criminal investigation, action or proceeding pursuant to the laws of this state or of the United States when such information is pertinent to an investigation, action or proceeding involving the administration of the revenue laws or duties of public office or employment connected therewith;
(6) Any school district from obtaining the aggregate amount of the financial institution tax paid pursuant to chapter 148, RSMo, by financial institutions located partially or exclusively within the school district's boundaries, provided that the school district request such disclosure in writing to the department of revenue;
(7) The disclosure of records which identify all companies licensed by this state pursuant to the provisions of subsections 1 and 2 of section 149.035, RSMo. The director of revenue may charge a fee to reimburse the department for the costs reasonably incurred in providing such records;
(8) The disclosure to the commissioner of administration pursuant to section 34.040, RSMo, of a list of vendors and their affiliates who meet the conditions of section 144.635, RSMo, but refuse to collect the use tax levied pursuant to chapter 144, RSMo, on their sales delivered to this state.
3. Any person violating any provision of subsection 1 or 2 of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a class D felony.
4. The state auditor or the auditor's duly authorized employees who have taken the oath of confidentiality required by section 29.070, RSMo, shall have the right to inspect any report or return filed with the department of revenue if such inspection is related to and for the purpose of auditing the department of revenue; except that, the state auditor or the auditor's duly authorized employees shall have no greater right of access to, use and publication of information, audit and related activities with respect to income tax information obtained by the department of revenue pursuant to chapter 143, RSMo, or federal statute than specifically exists pursuant to the laws of the United States and of the income tax laws of the state of Missouri.
34.040. 1. All purchases in excess of three thousand dollars shall be based on competitive bids, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
2. On any purchase where the estimated expenditure shall be twenty-five thousand dollars or over, except as provided in subsection 5 of this section, the commissioner of administration shall:
(1) Advertise for bids in at least two daily newspapers of general circulation in such places as are most likely to reach prospective bidders and may advertise in at least two weekly minority newspapers and may provide such information through an electronic medium available to the general public at least five days before bids for such purchases are to be opened. Other methods of advertisement, which may include minority business purchase councils, however, may be adopted by the commissioner of administration when such other methods are deemed more advantageous for the supplies to be purchased;
(2) Post a notice of the proposed purchase in his or her office; and
(3) Solicit bids by mail or other reasonable method generally available to the public from prospective suppliers. All bids for such supplies shall be mailed or delivered to the office of the commissioner of administration so as to reach such office before the time set for opening bids.
3. The contract shall be let to the lowest and best bidder. The commissioner of administration shall have the right to reject any or all bids and advertise for new bids, or purchase the required supplies on the open market if they can be so purchased at a better price. When bids received pursuant to this section are unreasonable or unacceptable as to terms and conditions, noncompetitive, or the low bid exceeds available funds and it is determined in writing by the commissioner of administration that time or other circumstances will not permit the delay required to resolicit competitive bids, a contract may be negotiated pursuant to this section, provided that each responsible bidder who submitted such bid under the original solicitation is notified of the determination and is given a reasonable opportunity to modify their bid and submit a best and final bid to the state. In cases where the bids received are noncompetitive or the low bid exceeds available funds, the negotiated price shall be lower than the lowest rejected bid of any responsible bidder under the original solicitation.
4. All bids shall be based on standard specifications wherever such specifications have been approved by the commissioner of administration. The commissioner of administration shall make rules governing the delivery, inspection, storage and distribution of all supplies so purchased and governing the manner in which all claims for supplies delivered shall be submitted, examined, approved and paid. The commissioner shall determine the amount of bond or deposit and the character thereof which shall accompany bids or contracts.
5. The department of natural resources may, without the approval of the commissioner of administration required pursuant to this section, enter into contracts of up to five hundred thousand dollars to abate illegal waste tire sites pursuant to section 260.276, RSMo, when the director of the department determines that urgent action is needed to protect public health, safety, natural resources or the environment. The department shall follow bidding procedures pursuant to this section and may promulgate rules necessary to establish such procedures. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 1999, shall be invalid and void.
6. The commissioner of administration and other agencies to which the state purchasing law applies shall not contract for goods or services with a vendor if the vendor or an affiliate of the vendor makes sales at retail of tangible personal property or for the purpose of storage, use, or consumption in this state but fails to collect and properly pay the tax as provided in chapter 144, RSMo. For the purposes of this section, "affiliate of the vendor" shall mean any person or entity that is controlled by or is under common control with the vendor, whether through stock ownership or otherwise. The director of revenue shall provide the commissioner of administration periodically with a list of vendors to which this section applies.