Section 11-538. Secrecy requirement and the penalties for violation

1.
  Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided
  by law, it shall be  unlawful  for  the  commissioner  of  finance,  the
  department  of  finance  of  the  city,  any  officer or employee of the
  department of finance of the city, any person  engaged  or  retained  by
  such  department  on  an  independent  contract basis, any depository to
  which any return may be delivered as provided  in  subdivision  four  of
  this  section,  any  officer  or  employee  of  such depository, the tax
  appeals tribunal, any commissioner or employee of such tribunal, or  any
  person who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any report
  or  return  or to whom a copy, an abstract or a portion of any report or
  return is furnished, or to whom any information contained in any  report
  or  return  is  furnished,  to  divulge  or make known in any manner the
  amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report
  or return required under this chapter. The  officers  charged  with  the
  custody of such reports and 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 city in  an  action  or
  proceeding  under  the provisions of this chapter or in any other action
  or proceeding involving the collection of a tax due under  this  chapter
  to which the city is a party or a claimant, or on behalf of any party to
  any  action  or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter when the
  reports, returns or facts shown thereby are directly  involved  in  such
  action  or  proceeding, in any of which events the court may require the
  production of, and may admit in  evidence,  so  much  of  said  reports,
  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  to  the  taxpayer's  duly  authorized
  representative  of  a  certified  copy  of any return or report filed in
  connection with his or  her  tax  or  to  prohibit  the  publication  of
  statistics  so classified as to prevent the identification of particular
  reports or returns and the items  thereof,  or  the  inspection  by  the
  corporation  counsel  or  other legal representatives of the city of the
  report or 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 has been recommended by the commissioner  of  finance
  or  the corporation counsel or has been instituted, or the inspection of
  the  reports  or  returns  required  under  this  chapter  by  the  duly
  designated  officers  or  employees of the city for purposes of an audit
  under this chapter or an  audit  authorized  by  the  enacting  of  this
  chapter.  Reports  and  returns  shall  be preserved for three years and
  thereafter  until  the  commissioner  of  finance  orders  them  to   be
  destroyed.
    2.  Any  officer  or  employee  of the city or the state who willfully
  violates the provisions of subdivision one  of  this  section  shall  be
  dismissed  from  office and be incapable of holding any public office in
  the city or the state for a period of five years thereafter.
    3. Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see chapter forty of  this
  title.
    4.  Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section,
  the commissioner of finance, in his or her discretion,  may  require  or
  permit any or all persons liable for any tax imposed by this chapter, to
  make  payments  on  account  of  estimated  tax  and payment of any tax,
  penalty or interest imposed by this chapter to banks, banking houses  or
  trust  companies  designated  by the commissioner of finance and to file
  declarations of estimated tax and reports and returns with  such  banks,
  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  as  agents of the commissioner of
  finance, in lieu of making any such payment directly to the commissioner

  of finance. However, the commissioner of finance  shall  designate  only
  such  banks,  banking  houses  or trust companies as are depositories or
  financial agents of the city.
    5.  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.
    6.  Notwithstanding anything in subdivision one 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.
    7.  Notwithstanding  anything  in subdivision one of this section, the
  commissioner of finance may disclose  to  a  taxpayer  or  a  taxpayer's
  related  member, as defined in subdivision (e) of section 11-506 of this
  chapter, information relating to any royalty paid, incurred or  received
  by  such  taxpayer or related member to or from the other, including the
  treatment of such payments by the taxpayer or the related member in  any
  report  or  return transmitted to the commissioner of finance under this
  title.