N.Y. Tax Law § 491: Returns to be secret

* § 491. Returns to be secret. 1. Except in accordance with proper

judicial order or as in this section or otherwise provided by law, it

shall be unlawful for the commissioner, any officer or employee of the

department, or any officer or person who, pursuant to this section, is

permitted to inspect any return or report or to whom a copy, an abstract

or a portion of any return or report is furnished, or to whom any

information contained in any return or report is furnished, 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 or report filed pursuant to this article to divulge

or make known in any manner the contents or any other information

relating to the business of a distributor, owner or other person

contained in any return or report required under this article. The

officers charged with the custody of such returns or reports 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

state, office of cannabis management, or the commissioner in an action

or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter or on behalf of the

state or the commissioner in any other action or proceeding involving

the collection of a tax due under this chapter to which the state or the

commissioner 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 the reports or the facts shown thereby are directly involved

in such action or proceeding, or in an action or proceeding relating to

the regulation or taxation of medical cannabis on behalf of officers to

whom information shall have been supplied as provided in subdivision two

of this section, in any of which events the court may require the

production of, and may admit in evidence so much of said returns or

reports 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 commissioner, in his or her discretion, from allowing the inspection

or delivery of a certified copy of any return or report filed under this

article or of any information contained in any such return or report by

or to a duly authorized officer or employee of the office of cannabis

management; or by or to the attorney general or other legal

representatives of the state when an action shall have been recommended

or commenced pursuant to this chapter in which such returns or reports

or the facts shown thereby are directly involved; or the inspection of

the returns or reports 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

registered organization or other person under this article; nor to

prohibit the delivery to a registered organization, or a duly authorized

representative of such registered organization, a certified copy of any

return or report filed by such registered organization pursuant to this

article, nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as

to prevent the identification of particular returns or reports and the

items thereof. This section shall also not be construed to prohibit the

disclosure, for tax administration purposes, to the division of the

budget and the office of the state comptroller, of information

aggregated from the returns filed by all the registered organizations

making sales of, or manufacturing, medical cannabis in a specified

county, whether the number of such registered organizations is one or

more. Provided further that, notwithstanding the provisions of this

subdivision, the commissioner may, in his or her discretion, permit the

proper officer of any county entitled to receive an allocation,

following appropriation by the legislature, pursuant to this article and

section eighty-nine-h of the state finance law, or the authorized

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

article, or may furnish to such officer or the officer's authorized

representative an abstract of any such return or supply such officer or

such representative with information concerning an item contained in any

such return, or disclosed by any investigation of tax liability under

this article.

2. The commissioner, in his or her discretion and pursuant to such

rules and regulations as he or she may adopt, may permit the appropriate

officers of any other state which regulates or taxes medical cannabis,

or the duly authorized representatives of such officers, to inspect

returns or reports made pursuant to this article, or may furnish to such

other officers, or duly authorized representatives, a copy of any such

return or report or an abstract of the information therein contained, or

any portion thereof, or may supply any such officers or such

representatives with information relating to the business of a

registered organization making returns or reports hereunder. The

commissioner may refuse to supply information pursuant to this

subdivision to the officers of any other state if the statutes of the

state represented by such officers, do not grant substantially similar

privileges to the commissioner, but such refusal shall not be mandatory.

Information shall not be supplied to the appropriate officers of any

other state which regulates or taxes medical cannabis, or the duly

authorized representatives of any of such officers, unless such officer

or other representatives shall agree not to divulge or make known in any

manner the information so supplied, but such officers may transmit such

information to their employees or legal representatives when necessary,

who in turn shall be subject to the same restrictions as those hereby

imposed upon such officer or other representatives.

3. (a) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the

provisions of subdivision one or two 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.

(b) Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven

of this chapter.

* NB Repealed July 5, 2028