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ROH §8A-1.17

Tax returns are confidential and when they can be destroyed

Read the official text at honolulu.gov ↗

Your city tax returns and related information are confidential. City workers and others cannot share or show them except to people with a legal right to see them, like you or your agent. The tax director can destroy certain monthly, quarterly, or semiannual returns after three years.

everyone

The ordinance, as written (Honolulu County) — Disclosure and destruction of returns

A copy, taken August 22, 2026. The version published by Honolulu is the one that governs, and it may have changed since. Check it before relying on anything here.

(a) All tax returns and return information required to be filed under this chapter, and the report of any investigation of the return or of the subject matter of the return, is confidential. It is unlawful for any person or any officer or employee of the city, including the city auditor or the city auditor's duly authorized designee, to intentionally make known information imparted by any tax return or return information filed in accordance with this chapter, or any report of any investigation of the return or of the subject matter of the return, or to wilfully permit any return, return information, or report so made, or any copy, to be seen or examined by any person. For tax purposes, only the taxpayer, the taxpayer's authorized agent, or persons with a material interest in the return, return information, or report may examine them. Unless otherwise provided by law, persons with a material interest in the return, return information, or report include: (1) Trustees; (2) Partners; (3) Persons named in a board resolution or a one percent shareholder in the case of a corporate return; (4) The person authorized to act for a corporation in dissolution; (5) The shareholder of an S corporation; (6) The personal representative, trustee, heir, or beneficiary of an estate or trust in the case of the estate's or decedent's return; (7) The committee, trustee, or guardian of any person in subsections (a)(1) through (6) who is incompetent; (8) The trustee in bankruptcy or receiver, and the attorney-in-fact of any person in subsections (a)(1) through (7); (9) Persons duly authorized by the State in connection with their official duties; (10) Any duly accredited tax official of the United States, any state or territory of the United States, or any county of this State; (11) The multi-state tax commission or its authorized representative; and (12) Members of a limited liability company. Any person who violates this subsection will be guilty of a misdemeanor. Nothing in this subsection prohibits the publication of statistics that are classified to prevent the identification of particular reports or returns and the items of the reports or returns. (b) The director may destroy any of the monthly, quarterly, or semiannual returns filed under §§ 8A-1.6 and 8A-1.7 upon the expiration of three years after the end of the calendar or fiscal year in which the taxes so returned accrued.
Read the official text at honolulu.gov ↗as published Jan 1, 2026our copy taken Aug 22, 2026

Published by the City and County of Honolulu through American Legal Publishing.

LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.