Summary — SB 2038 (North Dakota) — Disclosure of Tax Incentive Amounts
Status (key dates)
- Introduced: March 7, 2025
- Filed with Secretary of State: March 25, 2025
- Enrolled / Signed by Legislature: (enrollment and legislative votes recorded in March–May 2025)
- Enacted / Governor approval recorded in legislative actions: early June 2025 (enrolled bill signed June 2; approved by Governor June 4, 2025).
- Retroactive application: applies to tax incentives claimed or granted after December 31, 2024.
Purpose
- To authorize limited disclosure by the Tax Commissioner of the monetary amount of tax incentives (deductions, credits, or exemptions) claimed or earned by taxpayers, when requested in writing by specified legislative leaders, thereby increasing legislative oversight and transparency of tax incentive usage.
Key provisions
- Statutory change: Amends and reenacts subsection 17 of N.D.C.C. § 57‑01‑02.
- Authorized disclosure: Upon written request from either
- the chairman of the Legislative Management, or
- the chairman of a standing committee of the Legislative Assembly,
the Tax Commissioner must disclose the amount of any tax deduction, credit, or other tax incentive that was claimed or earned by a taxpayer.
- Definition: For this subsection, “tax incentive” includes a tax deduction, credit, or exemption.
- Privacy limits: The amendment expressly prohibits disclosure of the taxpayer’s name or any other information already prohibited from disclosure under Title 57 of the North Dakota Century Code.
- Notice requirement: The Tax Commissioner must provide notice to taxpayers that their incentive amounts may be disclosed under this subsection; the commissioner prescribes the manner of that notice.
- Retroactivity: The law applies retroactively to tax incentives claimed or granted after December 31, 2024.
Who is affected
- Tax Commissioner’s office: new mandatory disclosure duty on written request and new notice/administrative obligations.
- Legislative leadership: chairmen of Legislative Management and standing committees gain access to the amounts of incentives claimed by taxpayers for oversight purposes.
- Taxpayers receiving incentives: disclosure of the dollar amounts of incentives they claimed or earned (without names) if a qualifying legislative request is made; subject to notice from the Tax Commissioner.
- State oversight and audit processes: increased legislative access to incentive data may affect review, evaluation, and possible future policy changes related to tax incentives.
Practical implications and considerations
- Transparency and oversight: enables legislative chairs to obtain aggregate/individual-dollar information about who (by amount) is using incentives, supporting program evaluation and fiscal oversight.
- Privacy trade-offs: taxpayer identities remain protected under Title 57, but disclosure of amounts—especially for small sets of taxpayers—could risk re‑identification in some cases.
- Administrative impacts: the Tax Department must establish procedures for providing notice to taxpayers and responding to requests; it may face additional workload to identify and disclose amounts in compliance with the statute.
- Retroactivity: applying to incentives claimed or granted after Dec. 31, 2024 means data from 2025 filings and some late‑2024 awards may be subject to disclosure.
Exact statutory text reference
- Amends subsection 17, N.D.C.C. § 57‑01‑02 (disclosure exceptions and authorities).
