§ 986. Receipts for taxes. 1. The collecting officer shall upon
request or by notice on the tax bill of a person paying a tax, deliver,
forward by mail, or, subject to the provisions of section one hundred
four of this chapter, transmit electronically a receipt to such person
specifying the date of such payment, the name of such person, the
description of the property as shown on the tax roll, the name of the
person to whom the same is assessed, the amount of such tax and the date
of delivery to such officer of the tax roll on account of which such tax
was paid, except that the collecting officer of the city of New York
shall not be required to give such a receipt unless payment of a tax is
made in money or unless the person paying the tax makes a request
therefor in writing. Nothing contained in this subdivision shall prevent
the collecting officer from delivering, forwarding by mail, or
transmitting electronically a receipt to any person paying a tax who
does not request such a receipt or make a proper notation on the tax
bill. Provided, however, if a tax is paid by a mortgage investing
institution pursuant to title three-A of this article, a receipt for
each paid tax bill shall be delivered, mailed, or transmitted
electronically to the mortgagor pursuant to the provisions of section
nine hundred fifty-five of this article.

2. The comptroller shall prescribe the form of such receipts and they
shall be furnished to the town collecting officer by the board of
supervisors at the expense of the county; to the city collecting officer
by the council at the expense of the city; to the village collecting
officer by the village trustees at the expense of the village; to the
school collecting officer by the school authorities at the expense of
the school district. The expense of mailing receipts shall be a charge
against the appropriate city, town, village or school district.

3. At the time of giving such a receipt the collecting officer shall
retain a copy thereof which shall be subject to public inspection and
shall be filed with his return to the county treasurer or such officer
or board to which he makes his return.

4. The governing body of any municipal corporation, may by ordinance
or resolution require the use by the collecting officer of a mechanical
receipting device containing locked-in records of receipts approved by
the state comptroller in those municipal corporations whose accounts the
state comptroller has power to audit and in other municipal corporations
by the city comptroller thereof, in lieu of the receipts required by
this section. Such locked-in records of receipts shall be removed daily
from such device by the collecting officer, or by a designated
subordinate authorized to do so by the collecting officer in writing,
and when removed, they shall be kept in consecutive and chronological
order securely fastened in a book or bound volume. It shall be the duty
of the governing body of such municipal corporation to provide such
receipting device and records at the expense of such municipal
corporation. After such system is installed and until such action is
rescinded by like ordinance or resolution, the collecting officer shall
use such device only while giving receipts for taxes paid to him.