Section 3402-506 - Enforcement rules and regulations; inquisitorial powers of the departmentA. The department is hereby charged with the enforcement of the provisions of this act and is hereby authorized and empowered to prescribe, adopt, promulgate, and enforce rules and regulations relating to any matter or thing pertaining to the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this act and the collection of taxes, penalties and interest imposed by this act.B. The department, or any agent authorized in writing by it, is hereby authorized to examine the books, papers, and records of any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in order to verify the accuracy of any return made, or if no return was made, to ascertain and assess the tax imposed by this act. Every such taxpayer or supposed taxpayer is hereby directed and required to give to the department, or its duly authorized agent, the means, facilities, and opportunity for such examinations and investigations as are hereby provided and authorized. The department is hereby authorized to examine any person under oath concerning any property which was, or should have been, returned for taxation, and to this end may compel the production of books, papers, and records, and the attendance of all persons, whether as parties or witnesses, whom it believes have knowledge of such property. The procedure for such hearing or examination shall be the same as that provided by The Fiscal Code relating to inquisitorial powers of fiscal officers.C. Any information gained by the department as a result of any returns, investigations, hearings or verifications, required or authorized by this act, shall be confidential except for official purposes and except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, and any person or agent divulging such information shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not in excess of five hundred dollars ($500.00) and costs of prosecution, or to undergo imprisonment for not more than three (3) years, or both, in the discretion of the court. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection C of this section, the department may permit the commissioner of internal revenue of the United States, or the proper officer of any state imposing an income tax upon the incomes of individuals, or the authorized representative of either such officer, to inspect the income tax returns of any individuals, or may furnish to such officer, or his authorized representative, an abstract of the return of income of any individual, or supply him with information concerning any item of income contained in any return, or disclosed by the report of any investigation of the income or return of income of any individual; but such permission shall be granted, or such information furnished, to such officer or his representative only if the statutes of the United States, or of such other state as the case may be, grant substantially similar privileges to the proper officer of this State charged with the administration of the personal income tax law thereof.
1935, July 12, P.L. 970, No. 314, art. V, § 506.