§ 88 — Secrecy required of official; penalty for violation

§ 88. Secrecy required of official; penalty for violation. 1. Except\nin accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by\nlaw, it shall be unlawful for the director of finance, the department of\nfinance of the city, any officer or employee of the department of\nfinance of the city, or any person who, pursuant to this section, is\npermitted to inspect any report or return, or to whom any information\ncontained in any report or return, is furnished, to divulge or make\nknown in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or\ndisclosed in any report or return, under this title. The officers\ncharged with the custody of such reports and returns shall not be\nrequired to produce any of them or evidence of anything contained in\nthem in any action or proceeding in any court, except on behalf of the\ncity in an action or proceeding involving the collection of a tax due\nunder this title to which the city, is a party or a claimant, or on\nbehalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of\nthis title when the reports, returns or facts shown thereby are directly\ninvolved in such action or proceeding, in any of which events the court\nmay require the production of, and may admit in evidence, so much of\nsaid reports or returns or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent\nto the action or proceeding, and no more. The director of finance may,\nnevertheless, publish a copy or a summary of any determination or\ndecision rendered after the formal hearing provided for in section\neighty of this part. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the\ndelivery to a taxpayer or its duly authorized representative of a copy\nof any report filed by it, nor to prohibit the publication of statistics\nso classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports or\nreturns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the corporation\ncounsel or other legal representatives of the city of the report or\nreturn of any taxpayer which shall bring action to set aside or review\nthe tax based thereon, or against which an action or proceeding under\nthis title or under any local law of the city imposed as authorized by\nthe act authorizing the adoption of this title has been recommended by\nthe director of finance or the corporation counsel or has been\ninstituted, or the inspection of the reports or returns of any taxpayer\nby the duly designated officers or employees of the city for purposes of\nan audit under this title or an audit authorized by the act authorizing\nthe adoption of this title; and nothing in this part shall be construed\nto prohibit the publication of the percentage of capital stock, gross\npremiums or net income of any corporation which may be required to be\nallocated within the city for purposes of the tax imposed by any of the\nnamed parts.\n 2. Any offense against subdivision one of this section shall be\npunished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment\nnot exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court, and if\nthe offender be an officer or employee of the state or city, he shall be\ndismissed from office and be incapable of holding any public office in\nthe city or this state for a period of five years thereafter.\n 3. Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the director of\nfinance may permit the secretary of the treasury of the United States or\nhis delegates, or the proper officer of this or any other state charged\nwith tax administration, or the authorized representative of either such\nofficer, to inspect the returns or reports filed under any of the named\nparts, or may furnish to such officer or his authorized representative\nan abstract of any such return or report or supply information\nconcerning an item contained in any such return or report, or supply him\nwith information concerning an item contained in any such return or\nreport, or disclosed by an investigation of tax liability under any of\nthe named parts, but such permission shall be granted or such\ninformation furnished to such officer or his representative only if the\nlaws of the United States or of such state, as the case may be, grant\nsubstantially similar privileges to the director of finance and such\ninformation is to be used for tax purposes only; and provided further\nthe director of finance may furnish to the secretary of the treasury of\nthe United States or his delegates or to the tax commission of the state\nof New York or its delegates such returns or reports filed under any of\nthe named parts and other tax information, as he may consider proper,\nfor use in court actions or proceedings under the internal revenue code\nor the tax law of the state of New York, whether civil or criminal,\nwhere a written request therefor has been made to the director of\nfinance by the secretary of the treasury or by such tax commission or by\ntheir delegates, provided the laws of the United States or the laws of\nthe state of New York grant substantially similar powers to the\nsecretary of the treasury or his delegates or to such tax commission or\nits delegates. Where the director of finance has so authorized use of\nreturns, reports or other information in such actions or proceedings,\nofficers and employees of the department of finance may testify in such\nactions or proceedings in respect to such returns, reports or other\ninformation.\n