Section 1287. Secrecy of returns and reports

(a) Except in accordance
  with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall  be
  unlawful   for   the  commissioner,  any  officer  or  employee  of  the
  department, any person engaged or  retained  by  the  department  on  an
  independent  contract basis, or any person who in any manner may acquire
  knowledge of  the  contents  of  a  return  or  report  filed  with  the
  commissioner  pursuant  to this article, to divulge or make known in any
  manner any particulars set forth or disclosed  in  any  such  return  or
  report.  The  officers  charged  with  the  custody  of such returns and
  reports 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 in any other action or proceeding
  involving the collection of a tax due under this chapter  to  which  the
  state  or the commissioner is a party or a claimant, or on behalf of any
  party to any action, proceeding or hearing under the provisions of  this
  article  when  the  returns, reports or facts shown thereby are directly
  involved in such action, proceeding or hearing, in any of  which  events
  the  court, or in the case of a hearing, the division of tax appeals may
  require the production of, and may admit into evidence, so much of  said
  returns,  reports or of the facts shown thereby, as are pertinent to the
  action, proceeding or hearing and  no  more.  The  commissioner  or  the
  division  of  tax appeals may, nevertheless, publish a copy or a summary
  of any decision rendered after  a  hearing  required  by  this  article.
  Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a
  person  who  has  filed  a  return  or  report  or to such person's duly
  authorized representative of a certified copy of any  return  or  report
  filed  in  connection with such person's tax. Nor shall anything in this
  section be construed  to  prohibit  the  publication  of  statistics  so
  classified  as  to  prevent  the identification of particular returns or
  reports and the items thereof, or the inspection by the attorney general
  or other legal representatives of the state of the return or  report  of
  any  person required to pay the tax who shall bring action to review the
  tax based thereon, or against whom an action or  proceeding  under  this
  chapter has been recommended by the commissioner or the attorney general
  or  has  been  instituted,  or  the inspection of the returns or reports
  required under this  article  by  the  comptroller  or  duly  designated
  officer  or  employee  of the state department of audit and control, for
  purposes of the audit of a refund of any tax paid by a  person  required
  to  pay  the  tax under this article. Provided, further, nothing in this
  section shall be construed to prohibit the disclosure, in such manner as
  the commissioner deems appropriate, of the names and  other  appropriate
  identifying  information of those persons required to pay tax under this
  article.
    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the commissioner may, in  his  or  her  discretion,  permit  the  proper
  officer  of  a  city  that  regulates  taxicabs  or  the duly authorized
  representative of such officer, to inspect any return filed  under  this
  article,  or  may  furnish  to such officer or such officer's authorized
  representative an abstract of any such return or supply such person with
  information  concerning  an  item  contained  in  any  such  return,  or
  disclosed  by any investigation of tax liability under this article; but
  such permission shall be granted or such information furnished  only  if
  such  city  shall  have  furnished the commissioner with all information
  requested by the commissioner pursuant to this article  and  shall  have
  permitted    the   commissioner   or   the   commissioner's   authorized
  representative  to  make  any  inspection  of  any  records  or  reports
  concerning  taxicabs  and  their  owners  or  operators  filed  with  or

  possessed by such city which the commissioner may  have  requested  from
  such city.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the commissioner, in his or her discretion, may require or permit any or
  all  persons liable for any tax imposed by this article, to make payment
  to  banks,  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  designated   by   the
  commissioner  and  to  file  returns  with such banks, banking houses or
  trust companies as agents of the commissioner, in  lieu  of  paying  any
  such  tax  directly to the commissioner. However, the commissioner shall
  designate only such banks, banking houses  or  trust  companies  as  are
  already  designated  by  the  comptroller  as  depositories  pursuant to
  section twelve hundred eighty-eight of this article.
    (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the commissioner may permit the secretary of the treasury of the  United
  States or such secretary's delegate, or the authorized representative of
  either  such officer, to inspect any return filed under this article, or
  may furnish to such officer or such officer's authorized  representative
  an  abstract  of  any such return or supply such person with information
  concerning an item contained in any such return,  or  disclosed  by  any
  investigation  of  tax liability under this article, but such permission
  shall be granted or such information furnished only if the laws  of  the
  United States grant substantially similar privileges to the commissioner
  or  officer  of  this  state  charged with the administration of the tax
  imposed by this article, and only if such information is to be used  for
  tax  purposes only; and provided further the commissioner may furnish to
  the commissioner of internal revenue or such  commissioner's  authorized
  representative  such  returns  filed  under  this  article and other tax
  information, as such commissioner may consider proper, for use in  court
  actions or proceedings under the internal revenue code, whether civil or
  criminal,  where  a  written  request  therefor  has  been  made  to the
  commissioner by the secretary of the treasury of the  United  States  or
  such  secretary's delegate, provided the laws of the United States grant
  substantially similar powers to the secretary of  the  treasury  of  the
  United  States  or  his  or  her delegate. Where the commissioner has so
  authorized use of returns and  other  information  in  such  actions  or
  proceedings,  officers  and  employees  of the department may testify in
  such actions  or  proceedings  in  respect  to  such  returns  or  other
  information.
    (e)  Returns  and  reports filed under this article shall be preserved
  for three years and thereafter until the commissioner orders them to  be
  destroyed.
    (f)  (1)  Any  officer or employee of the state 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 article  thirty-seven
  of this chapter.
    * NB Effective November 1, 2009