Cal. RTC § 19542.1

This is the official text of Cal. RTC § 19542.1, part of California’s Revenue and Taxation Code — governs state and local taxation, including income and property tax.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) Except as otherwise provided by this article, it shall be unlawful for any person described in Section 19542 to willfully inspect any confidential information furnished or secured pursuant to this part, Part 10 (commencing with Section 17001), or Part 11 (commencing with Section 23001). For purposes of this section, “inspection” means any examination of confidential information. Any willful unauthorized inspection or unwarranted disclosure or use of confidential information by the persons described in Section 19542 is a misdemeanor.

(b) The Franchise Tax Board shall notify a taxpayer of any known incidents of willful unauthorized inspection or unwarranted disclosure or use of his or her confidential tax records, but only if criminal charges have been filed for the willful unauthorized inspection or unwarranted disclosure.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in California?

Find a California lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.