57-37.1-22. Secrecy as to returns

57-37.1-22. Secrecy as to returns The secrecy of returns must be guarded except as follows: 1. Except when otherwise directed by judicial order or as provided in section 57-37.1-08 or as is otherwise provided by law, the tax commissioner and the tax commissioner's deputies, agents, clerks, and other officers and employees may not divulge nor make known, in any manner, the particulars set forth or disclosed in any return required under this chapter, including the copy or any portion thereof or information reflected in the federal estate tax return that is required to be attached to, furnished with, or included in the state estate tax return. This provision may not be construed to prohibit the publication of statistics, so classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns, and the items thereof, or the inspection by the attorney general or other legal representatives of the state of the return for any estate if an action or proceeding to set aside or review the tax based thereon is brought by the personal representative of the estate or any other person or if an action or proceeding is instituted by the tax commissioner to recover any tax, penalty, or interest imposed by this chapter. 2. The tax commissioner, however, may permit the commissioner of internal revenue of the United States or the proper officer of any state or of the District of Columbia or of any territory of the United States imposing a tax similar to that imposed by this chapter, or the authorized representative of any such officer, to inspect the estate tax return for any estate, or may furnish to such officer or the officer's authorized representative an abstract of the return for any estate, or supply the officer with information concerning any item contained in any return, or disclosed by the report of any investigation of the estate, but such permission may be granted, or such information furnished, to such officers or representatives only if the statutes of the United States or of such other state or of the District of Columbia or of any territory of the United States, as the case may be, grant substantially similar privileges to the proper officer of this state charged with the administration of this chapter; provided, that any information furnished or made available by the tax commissioner to any other person pursuant to this subsection may be used by such person only for the administration of tax laws administered by such person; and provided, further, that similar information furnished or made available to the tax commissioner by a representative or officer of any other state or of the United States or of the District of Columbia or of a territory of the United States may be used by the tax commissioner only for the administration of tax laws administered by such commissioner.