Section 11-2415. 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,  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  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 the 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  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 in this 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.