§ 11-716 Returns to be secret.
AC § 11-716
a. Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the commissioner of finance, the department of finance of the city, any officer or employee of the department of finance of the city, any person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract basis, the tax appeals tribunal, any commissioner or employee of such tribunal, or any person who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any return or to whom a copy, an abstract or a 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 relating to the business of a taxpayer contained in any return required under 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 finance in an action or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter, or on behalf of any party to any 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 courts 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. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a taxpayer or the taxpayer's duly authorized representative of a certified copy of any return filed in connection with his or her tax; 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, any agency or any department of the city of New York provided the same is requested 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 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 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 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 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. Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1988/062.
