Section 1418. Returns to be secret

(a) Except in accordance with proper
  judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for
  the tax appeals tribunal, the commissioner of taxation and finance,  any
  officer  or  employee  of  the  department  of taxation and finance, any
  person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract
  basis, 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 particulars set
  forth  or disclosed in any return required under this article. Provided,
  however, that nothing in this section shall prohibit a recording officer
  from making a notation, or affixing stamps, on an instrument effecting a
  conveyance indicating the amount of tax  paid.  No  recorded  instrument
  effecting a conveyance shall be considered a return for purposes of this
  section.
    (b) 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  taxation and finance in any 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 of taxation  and  finance  is  a  party  or  a
  claimant,  or  on  behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under
  the provisions of this article when the 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 returns or of the facts shown thereby, as are
  pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more.
    (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
  the commissioner of taxation and finance may permit the secretary of the
  treasury of the United States  or  his  delegates,  or  the  proper  tax
  officer   of  any  city  imposing  a  similar  tax,  or  the  authorized
  representative of either such officer, to inspect any return filed under
  this  article,  or  may  furnish  to  such  officer  or  his  authorized
  representative  an  abstract  of  any  such  return  or  supply him 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 or of such city, as the case may be, grant
  substantially  similar  privileges  to  the commissioner of taxation and
  finance 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 of taxation
  and finance may furnish to the commissioner of internal revenue  or  his
  authorized  representative  such  returns  filed  under this article and
  other tax information, as he 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 of taxation and finance by the secretary of the treasury of
  the United States or his delegates, provided  the  laws  of  the  United
  States  grant  substantially  similar  powers  to  the  secretary of the
  treasury of the United States or his delegates. Where  the  commissioner
  of  taxation  and finance has so authorized the use of returns and other
  information in such actions or proceedings, officers  and  employees  of
  the  department  of  taxation and finance may testify in such actions or
  proceedings in respect to such returns or other information.

    (d) The tax appeals tribunal shall, nevertheless, publish a copy or  a
  summary  of any decision rendered after the hearing required pursuant to
  this chapter.
    (e)  Nothing  herein  shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a
  grantor or grantee of an instrument effecting a conveyance or  the  duly
  authorized representative of a grantor or grantee of a certified copy of
  any  return  filed in connection with such instrument or 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
  attorney  general  or  other  legal  representatives of the state 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 has been recommended by the commissioner of taxation and finance
  or the attorney general or has been instituted, or the inspection of the
  returns   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
  taxpayer under this article.
    (f) Any officer or employee of the state who  willfully  violates  the
  provisions  of  this  section  shall  be  dismissed  from  office and be
  incapable of holding any public office in this state  for  a  period  of
  five years thereafter.
    (g)  Cross-reference. For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven
  of this chapter.