Section 11-2516. 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,  any  officer  or  employee  of the
  department of finance, any person engaged or retained on an  independent
  contract  basis,  the tax appeals tribunal, any commissioner or employee
  of such tribunal, 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
  rents  or  other  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 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 his or her duly
  authorized representative of a certified copy of  any  return  filed  in
  connection  with  his or her tax; nor to prohibit the delivery of such a
  certified copy of such return or of  any  information  contained  in  or
  relating  thereto,  to  the  United  States of America or any department
  thereof, to the state of New York or any department thereof, or  to  any
  agency  or  department  of  the  city  of New York, provided the same is
  requested for official business; nor  to  prohibit  the  inspection  for
  official  business  of  such returns by the corporation counsel or other
  legal representatives of the city or by the  district  attorney  of  any
  county within the city; nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so
  classified  as  to  prevent the identification of particular returns and
  the items thereof. 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  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.