2006 New York Code - Returns To Be Secret.

 
    §  11-2215  Returns  to be secret. a. Except in accordance with proper
  judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for
  the commissioner of motor vehicles,  any  officer  or  employee  of  the
  department  of  motor vehicles, the commissioner finance, any officer or
  employee of the department of finance, the  tax  appeals  tribunal,  any
  commissioner or employee of such tribunal, any agent of the commissioner
  of  motor  vehicles,  or  any  person  who, pursuant to this section, is
  permitted to inspect any return or  to  whom  a  copy,  an  abstract  or
  portion of any return is furnished, or to whom any information contained
  in  any  return  is furnished to divulge or make known in any manner any
  information contained in or relating to any return provided for by  this
  chapter. The officers charged with the custody of such returns 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
  commissioner  of  motor  vehicles  or  the commissioner of finance in an
  action or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter, or on  behalf
  of  any  party  to  an action or proceeding under the provisions of this
  chapter when the returns or facts shown thereby are directly involved in
  such action or proceeding, in either  of  which  events  the  court  may
  require  the  production  of, and may admit in evidence, so much of said
  returns or of the facts shown thereby, as are pertinent to the action or
  proceeding  and  no  more.  The  commissioner  of  motor  vehicles  may,
  nevertheless,  publish  a  copy  or  a  summary  of any determination or
  decision rendered after  a  formal  hearing  held  pursuant  to  section
  11-2206 or 11-2208 of this chapter. Nothing herein shall be construed to
  prohibit  the  delivery  to  a  person  or  his  or  her duly authorized
  representative of a certified copy of any return filed  by  him  or  her
  pursuant  to  this  chapter,  or  of the receipt, document or other form
  issued pursuant to section 11-2204 of this chapter, or a duplicate  copy
  thereof;  nor  to prohibit the delivery of such a certified copy of such
  return or of any information contained in or relating  thereto,  to  the
  United  States  of  America  or any department thereof, the state of New
  York or any department thereof, the city of New York or  any  department
  thereof  provided  the  same  is  required for official business; nor to
  prohibit the inspection for official business of  such  returns  by  the
  corporation counsel or other legal representatives of the city or by the
  district  attorney  of  any  county within the city; nor to prohibit the
  publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification
  of particular returns or items thereof.
    b. (1) Any officer or employee of the state of New York  or  the  city
  who  willfully  violates the provisions of subdivision a of this section
  shall be dismissed from office and be incapable of  holding  any  public
  office  in the state of New York or this city for a period of five years
  thereafter. (2) Cross-reference: For  criminal  penalties,  see  chapter
  forty of this title.
    c.  This  section  shall  be  deemed  a  state statute for purposes of
  paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section eighty-seven of  the  public
  officers law.
    d.  Notwithstanding  anything  in subdivision a of this section to the
  contrary, if a taxpayer has petitioned  the  tax  appeals  tribunal  for
  administrative  review as provided in section one hundred seventy of the
  charter, the commissioner of finance shall be authorized to  present  to
  the  tax  appeals tribunal any report or return of such taxpayer, or any
  information contained therein or relating thereto, which may be material
  or relevant to the proceeding before the tax appeals tribunal.  The  tax
  appeals  tribunal  shall be authorized to publish a copy or a summary of
  any decision rendered pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one of the
  charter.