(a) Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the Commissioner or any person who is an officer or employee in the Office of the Commissioner, or for any other officer or employee of this State who has access to tax returns or information from tax returns under this chapter, to disclose or make known to any person in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report or return required under this chapter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Commissioner may permit the Commissioner of Internal Revenue of the United States, the proper officer of this or any other state, the District of Columbia, or any possession or territory of the United States that imposes a tax, or the authorized representative of any of such officers, to inspect the tax return of any taxpayer under this chapter, and the Commissioner may furnish to any such officer, or such officer’s authorized representative, an abstract of the tax return of any taxpayer under this chapter or supply such officer or such officer’s authorized representative with information contained in any such tax return or disclosed by the report of examination or investigation of the income or return of such taxpayer, but only for the purpose of, and only to the extent necessary in, the administration of the tax laws of such jurisdiction; provided, however, that no such permission shall be granted, and no such information shall be furnished, to any such officer or the officer’s representative unless the statutes of such jurisdiction grant substantially similar privileges to the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s legal representative.

(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the publication of statistics classified so as to avoid identification of specific taxpayers, or to prohibit the disclosure of the tax return or return information of any taxpayer to such person or persons as the taxpayer may designate in a written request or consent to such disclosure.

(c) For purposes of this section, the term “officer or employee” shall include present and former officers and employees, and any person or persons employed or retained by the State on an independent contractor basis.

(d) Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or imprisonment not to exceed 6 months, or both. The Superior Court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over such misdemeanor.

72 Del. Laws, c. 15, § 27; 73 Del. Laws, c. 24, § 3.