N.Y. General City Model 772/66 § 88: Secrecy required of official; penalty for violation

§ 88. Secrecy required of official; penalty for violation. 1. Except

in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by

law, it shall be unlawful for the director of finance, the department of

finance of the city, any officer or employee of the department of

finance of the city, or any person who, pursuant to this section, is

permitted to inspect any report or return, or to whom any information

contained in any report or return, is furnished, to divulge or make

known in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or

disclosed in any report or return, under this title. The officers

charged with the custody of such reports and 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

city in an action or proceeding involving the collection of a tax due

under this title to which the city, is a party or a claimant, or on

behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of

this title when the reports, 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 reports or returns or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent

to the action or proceeding, and no more. The director of finance may,

nevertheless, publish a copy or a summary of any determination or

decision rendered after the formal hearing provided for in section

eighty of this part. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the

delivery to a taxpayer or its duly authorized representative of a copy

of any report filed by it, nor to prohibit the publication of statistics

so classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports or

returns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the corporation

counsel or other legal representatives of the city of the report or

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 title or under any local law of the city imposed as authorized by

the act authorizing the adoption of this title has been recommended by

the director of finance or the corporation counsel or has been

instituted, or the inspection of the reports or returns of any taxpayer

by the duly designated officers or employees of the city for purposes of

an audit under this title or an audit authorized by the act authorizing

the adoption of this title; and nothing in this part shall be construed

to prohibit the publication of the percentage of capital stock, gross

premiums or net income of any corporation which may be required to be

allocated within the city for purposes of the tax imposed by any of the

named parts.

2. Any offense against subdivision one of this section shall be

punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment

not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court, and if

the offender be an officer or employee of the state or city, he shall be

dismissed from office and be incapable of holding any public office in

the city or this state for a period of five years thereafter.

3. Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the director of

finance may permit the secretary of the treasury of the United States or

his delegates, or the proper officer of this or any other state charged

with tax administration, or the authorized representative of either such

officer, to inspect the returns or reports filed under any of the named

parts, or may furnish to such officer or his authorized representative

an abstract of any such return or report or supply information

concerning an item contained in any such return or report, or supply him

with information concerning an item contained in any such return or

report, or disclosed by an investigation of tax liability under any of

the named parts, 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 state, as the case may be, grant

substantially similar privileges to the director of finance and such

information is to be used for tax purposes only; and provided further

the director of finance may furnish to the secretary of the treasury of

the United States or his delegates or to the tax commission of the state

of New York or its delegates such returns or reports filed under any of

the named parts and other tax information, as he may consider proper,

for use in court actions or proceedings under the internal revenue code

or the tax law of the state of New York, whether civil or criminal,

where a written request therefor has been made to the director of

finance by the secretary of the treasury or by such tax commission or by

their delegates, provided the laws of the United States or the laws of

the state of New York grant substantially similar powers to the

secretary of the treasury or his delegates or to such tax commission or

its delegates. Where the director of finance has so authorized use of

returns, reports or other information in such actions or proceedings,

officers and employees of the department of finance may testify in such

actions or proceedings in respect to such returns, reports or other

information.