Various duties of the Department of Revenue, including issuing declaratory judgments, conducting audits and assessments, asserting liability, allowing claims for refunds, awarding the costs of litigation, prohibiting browsing of returns and claims, imposing penalties related to a taxpayer's negligence, requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, and providing a penalty

Under the bill, DOR may not impose a penalty on a taxpayer for negligence or for otherwise filing an improper return unless the the taxpayer's action was due to the taxpayer's willful neglect and not to reasonable cause.

The bill prohibits class action lawsuits against the state or any other party if the relief sought by the plaintiff includes the refund of any tax administered by the state.

Under current law, DOR may choose not to appeal a ruling by the Tax Appeals Commission (commission) and, instead, file a notice of nonacquiescence with the clerk of the commission. The effect of filing the notice is that, although the commission's decision is binding on the parties involved in the ruling, the commission's legal reasoning is not binding on DOR with regard to future cases.

Under the bill, although DOR may file a notice of nonacquiescence and, therefore, not be required to follow the commission's legal reasoning, the parties involved in the ruling are bound by the commission's decision and the decision may be cited by the commission and the courts in future cases.

Under current law, a person may file a petition with a state agency to issue a declaratory ruling with respect to how a statute or rule applies to any person, property, or set of facts. The agency must, within a reasonable time after receiving the petition, either deny the petition for failure to complete a proper petition or schedule a hearing for the matter described in the petition. Under the bill, if a person files a petition with DOR to issue a declaratory ruling, DOR must deny the petition, issue a notice that it will issue a ruling on the facts contained in the petition, or schedule a hearing for the matter described in the petition no later than 30 days after receiving the petition. If DOR does not deny the petition and does not issue a notice, DOR must hold a hearing and determine, no later than 180 days after it receives the petition, whether the person submitting the petition has presented sufficient facts from which to issue a declaratory ruling. If DOR determines that it has sufficient facts from which to issue a declaratory ruling, DOR must issue a ruling on the merits of the petition no later than 180 days after that determination, unless the deadline for issuing the ruling is extended by written agreement with all parties involved.

Under current law, certain persons may file a petition with a state agency to have the agency promulgate a rule. In order to promulgate the rule, the agency must first prepare a statement of the scope of the proposed rule and submit the statement to the governor for the governor's approval. In addition, the agency must submit the proposed rule in final draft form to the governor for approval before the rule is published and submitted to the legislature for review.

Under this bill, if a petition filed with DOR alleges that DOR has established a standard by which it construes a tax statute, but has not promulgated a rule to adopt the standard, DOR must submit a statement of the scope of the proposed rule to the governor no later than 90 days after receiving the petition. No later than 270 days after the statement is approved by the governor, DOR must submit the proposed rule in final draft form to the governor for the governor's approval. The rule does not have to adhere to the standard established by DOR, but must address the same circumstances as the standard addresses.

Under current law, no person, other than the person who filed the return or claim, may inspect an income or franchise tax return or claim, unless that person is doing so in performing the duties of his or her position. Under this bill, no person, other the person who filed the return or claim, may inspect an income or franchise tax return or claim, or any information derived from the return or claim, unless that person is doing so in performing the duties of his or her position. In addition, under the bill, the same prohibition applies to other tax returns and claims, including sales and use tax returns and claims, estate tax returns and claims, and cigarette tax returns and claims.