§ 6-17 Returns To Be Secret.
RCNY § 6-17
Except in accordance with proper judicial order, or as otherwise provided by law, it is unlawful for the Commissioner of Finance or any other officer or employee of the City to divulge or make known in any manner any information relating to or contained in any registration, or any kind of return required by law. The officers charged with the custody of such registration and returns pertaining to the tax under the law 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 city, the Commissioner of Finance in an action or proceeding under the provisions of the law, or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of the law when the registration, return or facts shown therein 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 said registration, return, or of the facts shown therein, as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a person or his duly authorized representative of a certified copy of any registration or return filed by him; nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular registrations and returns and the items thereof; nor to prohibit the delivery of a certified copy of any registration or return 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 it is requested for official business; nor to prohibit the inspection by the Corporation Counsel or other legal representatives of the city, or by the District Attorney of any county within the city, of the registration or return of any person who shall bring action to set aside or review any tax hereunder, or against whom an action or proceeding under the law is instituted. Returns pertaining to any motor vehicle registered hereunder shall be preserved for three years and thereafter until the Commissioner of Finance permits them to be destroyed.
