Section 11-716. 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 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,
  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 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 courts  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 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, the state of New York or
  any department thereof, any agency or any 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 or items thereof.
    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.