N.Y. Tax Law § 1418: Returns to be secret

§ 1418. Returns to be secret. (a) Except in accordance with proper

judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for

the tax appeals tribunal, the commissioner of taxation and finance, any

officer or employee of the department of taxation and finance, any

person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract

basis, 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 the particulars set

forth or disclosed in any return required under this article. Provided,

however, that nothing in this section shall prohibit a recording officer

from making a notation, or affixing stamps, on an instrument effecting a

conveyance indicating the amount of tax paid. No recorded instrument

effecting a conveyance shall be considered a return for purposes of this

section.

(b) 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 taxation and finance in any 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 to any 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 of the facts shown thereby, as are

pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,

the commissioner of taxation and finance may permit the secretary of the

treasury of the United States or his delegates, or the proper tax

officer of any city imposing a similar tax, or the authorized

representative of either such officer, to inspect any return filed under

this article, or may furnish to such officer or his authorized

representative an abstract of any such return or supply him with

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 only if

the laws of the United States or of such city, as the case may be, grant

substantially similar privileges to the commissioner of taxation and

finance or officer of this state charged with the administration of the

tax imposed by this article, and only if such information is to be used

for tax purposes only; and provided further the commissioner of taxation

and finance may furnish to the commissioner of internal revenue or his

authorized representative 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 of

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

States grant substantially similar powers to the secretary of the

treasury of the United States or his delegates. Where the commissioner

of taxation and finance has so authorized the use of returns and 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 information.

(d) The tax appeals tribunal shall, nevertheless, publish a copy or a

summary of any decision rendered after the hearing required pursuant to

this chapter.

(e) Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a

grantor or grantee of an instrument effecting a conveyance or the duly

authorized representative of a grantor or grantee of a certified copy of

any return filed in connection with such instrument or 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 who shall bring action to set aside or review the

tax based thereon, or against whom 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 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 a

taxpayer under this article.

(f) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the

provisions 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.

(g) Cross-reference. For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven

of this chapter.

(h) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,

the commissioner may furnish information relating to real property

transfers obtained or derived from returns filed pursuant to this

article in relation to the real estate transfer tax, to the extent that

such information is also required to be reported to the commissioner by

section three hundred thirty-three of the real property law and section

five hundred seventy-four of the real property tax law and the rules

adopted thereunder, provided such information was collected through a

combined process established pursuant to an agreement entered into with

the commissioner pursuant to paragraph viii of subdivision one-e of

section three hundred thirty-three of the real property law. The

commissioner may redisclose such information to the extent authorized by

section five hundred seventy-four of the real property tax law. The

commissioner may also disclose any information reported pursuant to

paragraph two of subdivision (a) of section fourteen hundred nine of

this article.

(i) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this

section, upon written request from the chairperson of the committee on

ways and means of the United States House of Representatives, the

chairperson of the committee on finance of the United States Senate, or

the chairperson of the joint committee on taxation of the United States

Congress, the commissioner shall furnish such committee with any current

or prior year returns filed specified in such request that were under

this article by the president of the United States, vice-president of

the United States, member of the United States Congress representing New

York state, or any person who served in or was employed by the executive

branch of the government of the United States on the executive staff of

the president, in the executive office of the president, or in an acting

or confirmed capacity in a position subject to confirmation by the

United States senate; or, in New York state: a statewide elected

official, as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section

seventy-three-a of the public officers law; a state officer or employee,

as defined in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (c) of subdivision one of

such section seventy-three-a; a political party chairperson, as defined

in paragraph (h) of subdivision one of such section seventy-three-a; a

local elected official, as defined in subdivisions one and two of

section eight hundred ten of the general municipal law; a person

appointed, pursuant to law, to serve due to vacancy or otherwise in the

position of a local elected official, as defined in subdivisions one and

two of section eight hundred ten of the general municipal law; a member

of the state legislature; or a judge or justice of the unified court

system; or filed by a partnership, firm, association, corporation,

joint-stock company, trust or similar entity directly or indirectly

controlled by any individual listed in this paragraph, whether by

contract, through ownership or control of a majority interest in such

entity, or otherwise, or filed by a partnership, firm, association,

corporation, joint-stock company, trust or similar entity of which any

individual listed in this paragraph holds ten percent or more of the

voting securities of such entity; provided however that, prior to

furnishing any return, the commissioner shall redact any copy of a

federal return (or portion thereof) attached to, or any information on a

federal return that is reflected on, such return, and any social

security numbers, account numbers and residential address information.

(2) No returns shall be furnished pursuant to this subdivision unless

the chairperson of the requesting committee certifies in writing that

such returns have been requested related to, and in furtherance of, a

legitimate task of the Congress, that the requesting committee has made

a written request to the United States secretary of the treasury for

related federal returns or return information, pursuant to 26 U.S.C.

Section 6103(f), and that if such requested returns are inspected by

and/or submitted to another committee, to the United States House of

Representatives, or to the United States Senate, then such inspection

and/or submission shall occur in a manner consistent with federal law as

informed by the requirements and procedures established in 26 U.S.C.

Section 6103(f).