RS 47:1677     

§1677. Financial institution data match

            A. A financial institution or its processor shall provide to the department or the office, the name, record address, social security number or other taxpayer identification number, any other identifying information, and an average daily account balance for the most recent thirty-day period, for each calendar quarter for each account owner who maintains an account at such institution and who the office purports is a tax or nontax debtor. A financial institution may also provide the information described in this Subsection pertaining to any co-owner of such account.

            B. For purposes of this Section, the following words or phrases shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

            (1) "Account" shall mean any money held in the name of an account owner, individually or jointly with another, including but not limited to a deposit account, demand account, savings account, negotiable order of withdrawal account (NOW account), share account, member account, time certificate of deposit, or money market account. "Account" shall not include money held by a financial institution where the tax or nontax debtor is listed in a capacity other than owner, such as an authorized signer only, custodian, tutor, or agent.

            (2) "Financial institution" shall mean a state or federally chartered bank, savings bank, savings and loan association, or credit union operating in this state with a main office or one or more branch offices.

            (3) "Nontax debtor" shall mean an individual against whom an assessment or judgment for a debt owed to the state has become final and is currently enforceable in accordance with the law.

            (4) "Tax debtor" shall mean an individual against whom an assessment or judgment for state taxes payable has become final and is currently enforceable in accordance with law.

            C.(1) If a financial institution or its processor has a current data match system developed or used to comply with the child support data match system provided for in R.S. 46:236.1.4, the financial institution or its processor may use that system to comply with the provisions of this Section. The office shall not require a financial institution or its processor to change their data match system or file format established under R.S. 46:236.1.4 in order to comply with this Section.

            (2) For Louisiana-domiciled financial institutions having no branch offices outside the state, the office or its data match vendor shall ensure that compliance with both the provisions of this Section and R.S. 46:236.1.4 may be accomplished with a single data match file. Louisiana-domiciled institutions having no branch offices outside the state, or their processor, shall not be required to process multiple data match files to comply with this Section.

            D. A financial institution may, but is not required to, disclose to its depositors or account holders that the department or the office has the authority to request and receive certain identifying information provided for in this Section for state tax and nontax debt collection purposes.

            E.(1) No financial institution, including its directors, officers, employees, attorneys, accountants, or other agents, shall incur liability to any person, including any depositor or other customer, as a result of providing account information to the department or office in compliance with a request that conforms to the provisions of this Section.

            (2) A financial institution, including any of its directors, officers, employees, attorneys, accountants, or other agents, shall not be civilly or criminally liable to any person, including any customer, for any disclosure of information made in accordance with this Section, including any disclosure of account balances.

            F.(1) Notwithstanding any other law or rule to the contrary, the department or office shall pay a participation fee to each financial institution that actually receives a data match request file. The participation fee to a financial institution shall be for actual costs incurred for conducting the data match and otherwise complying with the provisions of this Section. Actual costs incurred for complying with this Section shall be the total cost incurred by the financial institution to process all data match request files under R.S. 46:236.1.4 and this Section minus the costs incurred to process data match request files under R.S. 46:236.1.4. In order to receive the participation fee authorized by this Section, the financial institution must be FDIC insured.

            (2) Before a financial institution receives a participation fee, the financial institution must show it has incurred costs under R.S. 46:236.1.4 and this Section. The department or office may require a financial institution to submit paperwork such as invoices and other documentation to substantiate the costs that have been incurred. After actual costs are established by a financial institution under Paragraph (1) of this Subsection through submitted paperwork, the office shall automatically remit payment to the financial institution on a quarterly basis without the financial institution having to resubmit additional paperwork each quarter thereafter. However, the office may request additional paperwork from a financial institution on a periodic basis, not to exceed once every two years, to verify their actual costs in complying with this Section.

            (3) Notwithstanding any other law or rule to the contrary, if a financial institution assesses a fee to its customer for processing a state tax or state nontax levy received from the office or the department, the fee shall be collected by the financial institution from the proceeds of the customer's account before any account proceeds are remitted to the office or the department to satisfy the state tax or state nontax levy.

            (4) The department or office shall be responsible for the reconciliation and tracking of data and information regarding the number of sent data match request files, received completed data match accounts, and amounts paid in accordance with this Section. The department shall also be responsible for tracking and reporting all statistical information regarding financial data match activities to the commissioner of administration or his designee every six months and to report the information to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget every session prior to the last day of each legislative session.

            (5) At the discretion of the secretary, the department or office and the Department of Children and Family Services may enter into an agreement to share the costs of reimbursement fees paid to financial institutions for complying with financial institution data match laws pursuant to R.S. 46:236.1.4 or this Section. As part of any such agreement, the department shall make reimbursement out of current allocations.

            G. The department, office, and their designated vendor for the data match program, shall keep all information received from financial institutions pursuant to this Section confidential, and any employee, agent, or representative of the department, office, and their designated vendor is prohibited from disclosing that information to any other third party.

            H. The department or office shall generally conduct the data match program provided for in this Section on a quarterly basis. However, if the department or office decides to conduct data match with a particular financial institution less frequently than every quarter, the department or office shall provide written notice to the chief operating officer of the financial institution at least ninety days before the next scheduled quarterly data match date. If the department or office provides the required notice to change the frequency of data match, the department or office shall not further change the frequency of data match with that financial institution for at least one year from the date written notice was provided to the financial institution originally changing the frequency of the data match schedule. After the one year period has elapsed, any subsequent changes to the frequency of the data match schedule with a financial institution shall also be done by the department or office only after providing written notice to the chief operating officer of the financial institution at least ninety days in advance of the next data match date.

            Acts 2013, No. 399, §3, eff. June 17, 2013; Acts 2015, No. 215, §3.