1467 - Secrecy required of officials; penalty for violation.

§  1467.  Secrecy  required  of  officials; penalty for violation. (a)  Except in accordance with the proper  judicial  order  or  as  otherwise  provided  by  law, it shall be unlawful for the commissioner of taxation  and finance, any officer or employee of the department of  taxation  and  finance,  or  any  person who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to  inspect any return, 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 filed pursuant to this  article, to divulge or make known in any manner the amount of income  or  any particulars set forth or disclosed in any return required under this  article. 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 proceedings in any court, except on behalf of  the  state  or  the  commissioner  of  taxation  and  finance in an action or  proceeding under the provisions of this chapter or in any  other  action  or  proceeding  involving the collection of a tax due under this chapter  to which the state or the commissioner of  taxation  and  finance  is  a  party or a claimant or on behalf of any party in an action or proceeding  under  the  provisions  of  this article when the returns 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 in  evidence so much of said returns or  the  facts  shown  thereby  as  are  pertinent  to  the action or proceeding and no more. The commissioner of  taxation and finance may, nevertheless, publish a copy or a  summary  of  any determination or decision rendered after the hearing provided for in  section  one  thousand eighty-nine of this chapter. Nothing herein shall  be construed to  prohibit  the  delivery  to  a  taxpayer  or  its  duly  authorized  representative  of  a  certified copy of any return filed in  connection with its tax nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so  classified as to prevent the identification of  particular  returns  and  the  items  thereof,  or the inspection by the attorney-general or other  legal representatives of the state of the return of any  taxpayer  which  shall  bring  action  to  set  aside or review the tax based thereon, or  against which an action  or  proceeding  under  this  chapter  has  been  recommended   by  the  commissioner  of  taxation  and  finance  or  the  attorney-general or has  been  instituted;  or  the  inspection  of  the  returns of any taxpayer 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  such  taxpayer  under  this  article,  or  the  disclosing to a state agency, pursuant to section one  hundred seventy-one-f of this chapter, of the amount of  an  overpayment  and interest thereon certified to the comptroller to be credited against  a  past-due legally enforceable debt owed to such agency and of the name  and identification number of the taxpayer who made such overpayment,  or  the  disclosing  to the commissioner of finance of the city of New York,  pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-l of this  chapter,  of  the  amount   of  an  overpayment  and  interest  thereon  certified  to  the  comptroller to be credited against  a  city  of  New  York  tax  warrant  judgment  debt and of the name and identification number of the taxpayer  who made such overpayment. Returns shall be preserved  for  three  years  and  thereafter  until  the  commissioner of taxation and finance orders  them to be destroyed.    (b) (1) Any officer or employee of the state  who  willfully  violates  the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall be dismissed from  office and be incapable of holding any public office in this state for a  period of five years thereafter.    (2)  Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven  of this chapter.(c) Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the tax commission  may permit the secretary of the treasury of the  United  States  or  his  delegates,  or  the  proper  officer of any other state charged with tax  administration, or the authorized representative of either such officer,  to  inspect the returns filed under this article, or may furnish to such  officer or his authorized representative an abstract of  any  return  or  supply  him with information concerning an item contained in any return,  or disclosed by an investigation of tax liability  under  this  article,  but  such  permission  shall be granted or such information furnished to  such officer or his representative 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 article and  such  information  is  to  be  used  for  tax  purposes  only;  and  provided  further  the  commissioner of taxation and finance may furnish to the secretary of the  treasury of the United States or his delegates such returns filed  under  this  article  and other tax information, as he 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 or his delegates provided the laws of the United  States  grant  substantially  similar  powers  to  the secretary of the treasury or his  delegates. Where  the  commissioner  of  taxation  and  finance  has  so  authorized  use  of  returns  or  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 tax information.    (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this  section,  the   tax   commission   may   permit   the  officer  charged  with  the  administration of a tax on or measured by income imposed by any city  of  the state of New York, or the authorized representative of such officer,  to  inspect the returns filed under this article, or may furnish to such  officer or his authorized representative an abstract of any such  return  or  supply  information concerning an item contained in any such return,  or disclosed by any investigation of tax liability under  this  article,  but  such  permission  shall be granted or such information furnished to  such officer or his representative only if the local laws of  such  city  grant  substantially  similar privileges to the commission or officer of  this state charged with the administration of the tax  imposed  by  this  article  and  such  information is to be used for tax purposes only; and  provided further the commissioner of taxation and finance may furnish to  such city officer or his delegates and the legal representative of  such  city such returns filed under this article and other tax information, as  he  may  consider  proper, for use in court actions or proceedings under  such local law, whether civil  or  criminal,  where  a  written  request  therefor  has  been  made to the commissioner of taxation and finance by  such city officer or his delegates or by such  legal  representative  of  such  city,  provided  the  local  law of such city grants substantially  similar powers to the city officer charged with  the  administration  of  the city income tax or his delegates. Where the commissioner of taxation  and finance has so authorized use of returns or other tax 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 tax information.    (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this  section,  the  tax commission, in its discretion, may require or permit any or all  persons liable for any tax imposed by this article, to make payments  on  account  of  estimated  tax  and payment of any tax, penalty or interestimposed by this article to banks,  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  designated  by  the tax commission and to file declarations of estimated  tax, applications for automatic extensions of time to file returns,  and  returns  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 fourteen hundred  sixty-six.    (f) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this  section,  the  commissioner  may  disclose  to  a taxpayer or a taxpayer's related  member, as  defined  in  subsection  (r)  of  section  fourteen  hundred  fifty-three  of  this  article,  as  added  by section 3 of part U3 of a  chapter of the laws of 2003, information relating to any  royalty  paid,  incurred  or  received by such taxpayer or related member to or from the  other, including the treatment of such payments by the taxpayer  or  the  related  member  in any report or return transmitted to the commissioner  under this chapter.