Section 202. Secrecy required of officials; penalty for violation

1. Except
  in  accordance  with  proper  judicial order or as otherwise provided by
  law, it shall be unlawful for  any  tax  commissioner,  any  officer  or
  employee  of  the department of taxation and finance, or any person who,
  pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any report, or to whom
  any information contained in any report  is  furnished,  or  any  person
  engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract basis,
  or any person who in any manner may acquire knowledge of the contents of
  a report filed pursuant to this article, to divulge or make known in any
  manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in
  any  report under this article. The officers charged with the custody of
  such 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  state  or  the commissioner of taxation and
  finance 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  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 reports 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 or  of
  the  facts  shown  thereby, as are pertinent to the action or proceeding
  and no more. The commissioner of taxation and finance may, nevertheless,
  publish a copy or a summary of any determination  or  decision  rendered
  after   the   formal  hearing  provided  for  in  section  one  thousand
  eighty-nine of this  chapter.  Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  to
  prohibit   the   delivery  to  a  corporation  or  its  duly  authorized
  representative of a copy of any report filed by it, nor to prohibit  the
  publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification
  of  particular  reports  and  the  items  thereof, or the publication of
  delinquent lists showing the names of taxpayers who have failed  to  pay
  their  taxes  at  the  time  and  in  the manner provided by section one
  hundred ninety-seven together with any relevant information which in the
  opinion of the commissioner of taxation and finance may  assist  in  the
  collection   of   such  delinquent  taxes;  or  the  inspection  by  the
  attorney-general or other legal representatives  of  the  state  of  the
  report  of  any  corporation  which  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 reports of any corporation 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 such
  corporation under this article; or the disclosing  to  a  state  agency,
  pursuant  to  section  one hundred seventy-one-f of this chapter, of the
  name  and  taxpayer  identification  number  of   any   taxpayer   whose
  overpayment  is  certified  to  the comptroller to be credited against a
  past-due legally enforceable debt owed to  such  state  agency  and  the
  amount  of  the  overpayment  and  interest  thereon  certified  to  the
  comptroller to be credited against a past-due legally enforceable  debt;
  or  the  disclosing  to  the  commissioner of finance of the city of New
  York, pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-l of this chapter,  of
  the  name  and  taxpayer  identification  number  of  any taxpayer whose
  overpayment is certified to the comptroller to  be  credited  against  a
  city  of  New York tax warrant judgment debt. Provided, further, nothing
  herein shall be construed to prohibit the disclosure  of  the  names  of
  corporations  subject to tax under section one hundred eighty-two or one

  hundred eighty-two-a of this article, or to  any  two  or  all  of  such
  taxes,  for  purposes  of  assisting corporations subject to such tax or
  taxes in determining whether a gross receipt or  a  gross  receipt  from
  sales  of  petroleum  is an excludible gross receipt or excludible gross
  receipt from sales of petroleum because it is derived from  a  sale  for
  resale.
    2. (a) Any officer or employee of 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 this state for a
  period of five years thereafter.
    (b) Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article  thirty-seven
  of this chapter.
    3.  Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the tax commission
  may permit the secretary of the treasury of the  United  States  or  his
  delegates,  or  the  proper  officer of any other state charged with tax
  administration, or the authorized representative of either such officer,
  to inspect the reports filed under this article, or may furnish to  such
  officer  or his authorized representative an abstract of any such report
  or supply information concerning an item contained in any  such  report,
  or  disclosed  by  an investigation of tax liability under this article,
  but such permission shall be granted or such  information  furnished  to
  such officer or his representative only if the laws of the United States
  or  of such other state, as the case may be, grant substantially similar
  privileges to the commission or officer of this state charged  with  the
  administration  of  the tax imposed by this article and such information
  is  to  be  used  for  tax  purposes  only;  and  provided  further  the
  commissioner of taxation and finance may furnish to the secretary of the
  treasury  of the United States or his delegates such reports 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  or  his delegates provided the laws of the United States grant
  substantially similar powers to the secretary of  the  treasury  or  his
  delegates.  Where  the  commissioner  of  taxation  and  finance  has so
  authorized use of reports or other tax 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
  reports or other tax information.
    4.  Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the tax commission
  may furnish any municipality with  such  information  contained  in  the
  franchise tax reports filed under this article as it may consider proper
  for  use  in any certiorari or condemnation proceedings, and may furnish
  any authorized officer or employee of the insurance  department  of  the
  state  of  New  York with any information contained in the franchise tax
  reports of corporations liable to pay a tax under  section  one  hundred
  eighty-seven  of  this  chapter, provided such information is to be used
  for tax purposes only.
    5. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this  section,
  the  tax commission, in its discretion, may require or permit any or all
  persons liable for any fee or tax  imposed  by  this  article,  to  make
  payment  of any fee, tax, penalty or interest imposed by this article to
  banks,  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  designated  by  the   tax
  commission  and to file reports with such banks, banking houses or trust
  companies as agents of the tax commission, in lieu of  making  any  such
  payment  directly  to  the  tax  commission. However, the tax commission
  shall designate only such banks, banking houses or  trust  companies  as

  are  or  shall be designated by the comptroller as depositories pursuant
  to section two hundred six.