N.Y. Tax Law § 514: Secrecy of returns

§ 514. Secrecy of returns. 1. Except in accordance with proper

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

shall be unlawful for the tax commission, any tax commissioner, any

officer or employee of the department of taxation and finance, 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

carrier 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, the department of taxation and finance,

the department of transportation or the tax commission in an action or

proceeding under the provisions of this chapter, the vehicle and traffic

law or the transportation law, or on behalf of the state or the tax

commission in any other action or proceeding involving the collection of

a tax due under this chapter to which the state or the tax commission is

a party or a claimant or on behalf of any party to any action or

proceeding under the provisions of this article or the vehicle and

traffic law or the transportation law when the returns or the reports or

the facts shown thereby are directly involved in such action or

proceeding, or 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. The

tax commission may, nevertheless, publish a copy or a summary of any

decision rendered after the formal hearing provided for in section five

hundred ten of this chapter. Nothing herein shall be construed to

prohibit the tax commission, in its 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 department

of transportation, 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 the provisions of this chapter, the vehicle and

traffic law or the transportation law 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 any

person under this article; nor to prohibit the delivery to any person,

or a duly authorized representative of such person of a certified copy

of any return or report filed by such person 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; nor to prohibit the publication of delinquent lists

showing the names of taxpayers who have failed to pay their taxes at the

time and in the manner provided by section five hundred six of this

chapter, together with any relevant information which in the opinion of

the tax commission may assist in the collection of such delinquent

taxes. Returns and reports shall be preserved for four years, and

thereafter until the tax commission orders them to be destroyed.

2. The tax commission, in its discretion and pursuant to such rules

and regulations as it may adopt, may permit the commissioner of internal

revenue of the United States, or the appropriate officers of any other

state which imposes a similar highway use tax, or the duly authorized

representatives of such commissioner or of any such officers, to inspect

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

commissioner or 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 such

commissioner or any such officers or such representatives with

information relating to the business of any person making returns or

reports hereunder. The tax commission may refuse to supply information

pursuant to this subdivision to the commissioner of internal revenue of

the United States or to the officers of any other state if the statutes

of the United States, or of the state represented by such officers, do

not grant substantially similar privileges to the tax commission of this

state, but such refusal shall not be mandatory. Information shall not be

supplied to the commissioner of internal revenue of the United States or

the appropriate officers of any other state which imposes a similar

highway use tax, or the duly authorized representatives of such

commissioner or of any of such officers, unless such commissioner,

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 commissioner, 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 barred from 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.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section,

the tax commission, in its discretion, may require or permit any or all

persons or carriers liable for any tax or fee imposed by this article,

to make payment of any tax, fee, penalty or interest to banks, banking

houses or trust companies designated by the tax commission and to file

returns and reports with such banks, banking houses or trust companies

as agents of the tax commission, in lieu of making any such payment

directly to the tax commission. However, the tax commission shall

designate only such banks, banking houses or trust companies as are or

shall be designated by the comptroller as depositories pursuant to

section five hundred fifteen.

5. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section: (a) Upon

agreement with the heads of the department of motor vehicles, the

department of transportation, the department of environmental

conservation, the division of state police, the thruway authority, the

United States department of transportation, and the United States

department of homeland security (or any other federal agency which may

assume the duties of either or both of such federal agencies), the

commissioner may disclose to such agencies the name, address, employer

identification number, vehicle identification number, application status

information, and other appropriate identifying and application

information, of persons holding a certification of registration or

license under this article, persons whose certificate of registration or

license under this article has been revoked, suspended or surrendered,

and persons whose application for a certificate of registration or

license under this article has been denied, for the purposes of

improving the safety and security oversight of the motor carrier

industry and coordinating and streamlining the credentialing process for

such industry administered by such agencies.

(b) Any information disclosed by the commissioner pursuant to

paragraph (a) of this subdivision may, pursuant to such agreement, be

re-disclosed by and among the heads of such agencies and may also be

re-disclosed to the heads of comparable agencies of any other state, the

District of Columbia or any province or territory of Canada in

furtherance of the purposes specified in this subdivision.

6. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one 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 or reports specified in such request that were

filed 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 or report, 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 or report, and any social security numbers, account numbers and

residential address information.

(b) No returns or reports shall be furnished pursuant to this

subdivision unless the chairperson of the requesting committee certifies

in writing that such returns or reports 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 reports or

return or report information, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. Section 6103(f), and

that if such requested returns or reports 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).