Section 11-1516. Returns to be secret

a. Except in accordance with proper
  judicial order, or as otherwise provided by law, it  shall  be  unlawful
  for the commissioner of finance, the tax appeals tribunal or any officer
  or  employee  of  the  city  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  court  may  require
  the  production of, and may admit in evidence so much of said returns or
  of 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  publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the
  identification of particular returns  and  the  items  thereof,  or  the
  inspection  by the corporation counsel or other legal representatives of
  the city, or by the district attorney of any county within the city,  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 may be instituted. Returns shall  be  preserved  for  three
  years  and  thereafter until the commissioner of finance permits them to
  be destroyed.
    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  or  employment  in
  the 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.