2006 New York Code - Returns To Be Secret.

 
    §  11-2029  Returns to be secret. (a) Except in accordance with proper
  judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for
  the tax commission, any tax commissioner, any officer or employee of the
  department of taxation and finance, any person engaged  or  retained  by
  such  department  on an independent contract basis, or any person who in
  any manner may acquire knowledge of the contents of a return  or  report
  filed with the tax commission pursuant to this subchapter, to divulge or
  make  known  in any manner any particulars set forth or disclosed in any
  such return or report. The officers charged with  the  custody  of  such
  returns  and  reports  shall  not  be required to produce any of them or
  evidence of anything contained in them in any action  or  proceeding  in
  any  court  except  on  behalf  of  the  tax  commission in an action or
  proceeding under the provisions of this subchapter or the tax law or  in
  any  other  action  or  proceeding involving the collection of a tax due
  under this subchapter or under the tax law to which the state or the tax
  commission is a party or a claimant, or on behalf of any  party  to  any
  action  or  proceeding  under the provisions of this subchapter when the
  returns, reports or facts shown thereby are directly  involved  in  such
  action  or  proceeding, in any of which events the court may require the
  production of, and may admit into evidence, so  much  of  said  returns,
  reports or of the facts shown thereby, as are pertinent to the action or
  proceeding  and no more. The tax commission may, nevertheless, publish a
  copy or a summary of any decision rendered after a hearing  required  by
  this  subchapter.  Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed to prohibit the
  delivery to a person who has filed a return or report or his or her duly
  authorized representative of a certified copy of any  return  or  report
  filed  in  connection with his or her tax or to prohibit the publication
  of  statistics  so  classified  as  to  prevent  the  identification  of
  particular  returns  or reports and the items thereof, or the inspection
  by the attorney general or other legal representative of  the  state  of
  the  return  or  report of any person required to collect or pay the tax
  who shall bring action to review the tax based thereon, or against  whom
  an  action  or  proceeding under this subchapter or the tax law has been
  recommended by the commissioner of taxation and finance or the  attorney
  general  or  has  been  instituted,  or the inspection of the returns or
  reports required under  this  subchapter  by  the  comptroller  or  duly
  designated  officer  or  employee  of  the state department of audit and
  control, for purposes of the audit of a refund of  any  tax  paid  by  a
  person required to collect or pay the tax under this subchapter.
    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the  tax commission may, in its discretion, permit the proper officer of
  this city, or the authorized representative of such officer, to  inspect
  any return filed under this subchapter or may furnish to such officer or
  his  or  her authorized representative an abstract of any such return or
  supply him or her with information concerning an item contained  in  any
  such  return,  or  disclosed by any investigation of tax liability under
  this  subchapter;  but  such  permission  shall  be  granted   or   such
  information  furnished  only  if  such city shall have furnished the tax
  commission with all information requested  by  it  pursuant  to  article
  twenty-nine  of  the tax law and shall have permitted the tax commission
  or its authorized representative to make any inspection  of  returns  or
  reports filed with such city which the tax commission may have requested
  pursuant to said article.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the  tax commission, in its discretion, may require or permit any or all
  persons liable for any tax or required to collect  any  tax  imposed  by
  this  subchapter,  to  make  payment  to  banks, banking houses or trust
  companies designated by the tax commission and to file returns with such


  banks,  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  as  agents  of  the   tax
  commission,  in  lieu  of  paying  any  such  tax  directly  to  the tax
  commission. However, the tax commission shall designate only such banks,
  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  as  are already designated by the
  comptroller as depositories pursuant to section 11-2031 of this part.
    (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the tax commission may permit the  secretary  of  the  treasury  of  the
  United  States or his or her delegates, or the proper tax officer of any
  state imposing a sales  or  compensating  use  tax,  or  the  authorized
  representative of either such officer, to inspect any return filed under
  this subchapter, or may furnish to such officer or his or her authorized
  representative  an abstract of any such return or supply him or her with
  information  concerning  an  item  contained  in  any  such  return,  or
  disclosed  by  any investigation of tax liability under this subchapter,
  but such permission shall be granted or such information furnished  only
  if the laws of the United States or of such other state, as the case may
  be,  grant substantially similar privileges to the commission or officer
  of this state charged with the administration of the tax imposed by this
  subchapter, and only if such information is to be used for tax  purposes
  only;  and provided further the commissioner of taxation and finance may
  furnish to the commissioner of internal revenue or his or her authorized
  representative such returns filed under this subchapter  and  other  tax
  information,  as  he or she may consider proper for use in court actions
  or proceedings  under  the  internal  revenue  code,  whether  civil  or
  criminal,  where  a  written  request  therefor  has  been  made  to the
  commissioner of taxation and finance by the secretary of the treasury of
  the United States or his or her delegates,  provided  the  laws  of  the
  United States grant substantially similar powers to the secretary of the
  treasury  of  the  United  States  or  his  or  her delegates. Where the
  commissioner of taxation and finance has so authorized  use  of  returns
  and  other  information  in  such  actions  or proceedings, officers and
  employees of the department of taxation and finance may testify in  such
  actions or proceedings in respect to such returns or other information.
    (e) Returns and reports filed under this subchapter shall be preserved
  for  three  years and thereafter until the tax commission orders them to
  be destroyed.
    (f) Any violation of the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section
  shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or  by
  imprisonment  not  exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the
  court, and if the offender be an officer or employee of the state he  or
  she  shall  be  dismissed  from  office  and be incapable of holding any
  public office for a period of five years thereafter.