2012 New York Consolidated Laws
TAX - Tax
Article 21 - (501 - 515) HIGHWAY USE TAX
514 - Secrecy of returns.

 
    §  514.  Secrecy  of  returns.  1.  Except  in  accordance with proper
  judicial order or as in this section or 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,  or  any
  officer or person who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect
  any  return or report or to whom a copy, an abstract or a portion of any
  return or report is furnished, or to whom any information  contained  in
  any  return or report is furnished, or 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 pursuant to this article, to divulge or make known in  any  manner
  the  contents  or  any  other  information relating to the business of a
  carrier or other person contained in any return or report required under
  this article. The officers charged with the custody of such  returns  or
  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 state, the department of taxation and finance,
  the department of transportation or the tax commission in an  action  or
  proceeding under the provisions of this chapter, the vehicle and traffic
  law  or  the  transportation  law,  or on behalf of the state or the tax
  commission in any other action or proceeding involving the collection of
  a tax due under this chapter 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  article or the vehicle and
  traffic law or the transportation law when the returns or the reports or
  the facts  shown  thereby  are  directly  involved  in  such  action  or
  proceeding, or on behalf of officers to whom information shall have been
  supplied as provided in subdivision two of this section, in any of which
  events  the  court  may  require  the  production  of,  and may admit in
  evidence so much of said returns  or  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 the formal hearing provided for in section five
  hundred ten of this  chapter.  Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  to
  prohibit  the  tax  commission,  in  its  discretion,  from allowing the
  inspection or delivery of a certified copy of any return or report filed
  under this article or of any information contained in any such return or
  report by or to a duly authorized officer or employee of the  department
  of  transportation,  or  by  or  to  the attorney general or other legal
  representatives of the state when an action shall have been  recommended
  or commenced pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, the vehicle and
  traffic  law  or the transportation law in which such returns or reports
  or the facts shown thereby are directly involved; or the  inspection  of
  the returns or reports required under this article 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 any
  person under this article; nor to prohibit the delivery to  any  person,
  or  a  duly authorized representative of such person of a certified copy
  of any return or report filed by such person pursuant to  this  article,
  nor  to  prohibit  the  publication  of  statistics  so classified as to
  prevent the identification of particular  returns  or  reports  and  the
  items  thereof;  nor  to  prohibit  the  publication of delinquent lists
  showing the names of taxpayers who have failed to pay their taxes at the
  time and in the manner provided by section  five  hundred  six  of  this
  chapter,  together with any relevant information which in the opinion of
  the tax commission may assist  in  the  collection  of  such  delinquent
  taxes.  Returns  and  reports  shall  be  preserved  for four years, and
  thereafter until the tax commission orders them to be destroyed.

    2. The tax commission, in its discretion and pursuant  to  such  rules
  and regulations as it may adopt, may permit the commissioner of internal
  revenue  of  the United States, or the appropriate officers of any other
  state which imposes a similar highway use tax, or  the  duly  authorized
  representatives of such commissioner or of any such officers, to inspect
  returns or reports made pursuant to this article, or may furnish to such
  commissioner  or  other  officers, or duly authorized representatives, a
  copy of any such return or report or  an  abstract  of  the  information
  therein   contained,   or  any  portion  thereof,  or  may  supply  such
  commissioner  or  any  such  officers  or  such   representatives   with
  information  relating  to  the  business of any person making returns or
  reports hereunder. The tax commission may refuse to  supply  information
  pursuant  to this subdivision to the commissioner of internal revenue of
  the United States or to the officers of any other state if the  statutes
  of  the  United States, or of the state represented by such officers, do
  not grant substantially similar privileges to the tax commission of this
  state, but such refusal shall not be mandatory. Information shall not be
  supplied to the commissioner of internal revenue of the United States or
  the appropriate officers of any other  state  which  imposes  a  similar
  highway  use  tax,  or  the  duly  authorized  representatives  of  such
  commissioner or of any  of  such  officers,  unless  such  commissioner,
  officer  or  other  representatives  shall  agree not to divulge or make
  known in any manner the information so supplied, but such  officers  may
  transmit  such  information  to their employees or legal representatives
  when necessary, who in turn shall be subject to the same restrictions as
  those  hereby  imposed  upon  such  commissioner,   officer   or   other
  representatives.
    3. (a) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the
  provisions  of subdivision one or two of this section shall be dismissed
  from office and be barred from holding any public office in  this  state
  for a period of five years thereafter.
    (b)  Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven
  of this chapter.
    4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this  section,
  the  tax commission, in its discretion, may require or permit any or all
  persons or carriers liable for any tax or fee imposed by  this  article,
  to  make  payment of any tax, fee, penalty or interest to banks, banking
  houses or trust companies designated by the tax commission and  to  file
  returns  and  reports with such banks, banking houses or trust companies
  as agents of the tax commission, in lieu  of  making  any  such  payment
  directly  to  the  tax  commission.  However,  the  tax commission shall
  designate only such banks, banking houses or trust companies as  are  or
  shall  be  designated  by  the  comptroller  as depositories pursuant to
  section five hundred fifteen.
    5. Notwithstanding any other  provision  of  this  section:  (a)  Upon
  agreement  with  the  heads  of  the  department  of motor vehicles, the
  department  of   transportation,   the   department   of   environmental
  conservation,  the  division of state police, the thruway authority, the
  United States  department  of  transportation,  and  the  United  States
  department  of  homeland security (or any other federal agency which may
  assume the duties of either or  both  of  such  federal  agencies),  the
  commissioner  may  disclose to such agencies the name, address, employer
  identification number, vehicle identification number, application status
  information,  and  other   appropriate   identifying   and   application
  information,  of  persons  holding  a  certification  of registration or
  license under this article, persons whose certificate of registration or
  license under this article has been revoked, suspended  or  surrendered,
  and  persons  whose  application  for  a  certificate of registration or

  license under  this  article  has  been  denied,  for  the  purposes  of
  improving  the  safety  and  security  oversight  of  the  motor carrier
  industry and coordinating and streamlining the credentialing process for
  such industry administered by such agencies.
    (b)   Any  information  disclosed  by  the  commissioner  pursuant  to
  paragraph (a) of this subdivision may, pursuant to  such  agreement,  be
  re-disclosed  by  and  among  the heads of such agencies and may also be
  re-disclosed to the heads of comparable agencies of any other state, the
  District  of  Columbia  or  any  province  or  territory  of  Canada  in
  furtherance of the purposes specified in this subdivision.