§ 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.

(h) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section,
the commissioner may furnish information relating to real property
transfers obtained or derived from returns filed pursuant to this
article in relation to the real estate transfer tax, to the extent that
such information is also required to be reported to the commissioner by
section three hundred thirty-three of the real property law and section
five hundred seventy-four of the real property tax law and the rules
adopted thereunder, provided such information was collected through a
combined process established pursuant to an agreement entered into with
the commissioner pursuant to paragraph viii of subdivision one-e of
section three hundred thirty-three of the real property law. The
commissioner may redisclose such information to the extent authorized by
section five hundred seventy-four of the real property tax law. The
commissioner may also disclose any information reported pursuant to
paragraph two of subdivision (a) of section fourteen hundred nine of
this article.

(i) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this
section, upon written request from the chairperson of the committee on
ways and means of the United States House of Representatives, the
chairperson of the committee on finance of the United States Senate, or
the chairperson of the joint committee on taxation of the United States
Congress, the commissioner shall furnish such committee with any current
or prior year returns filed specified in such request that were under
this article by the president of the United States, vice-president of
the United States, member of the United States Congress representing New
York state, or any person who served in or was employed by the executive
branch of the government of the United States on the executive staff of
the president, in the executive office of the president, or in an acting
or confirmed capacity in a position subject to confirmation by the
United States senate; or, in New York state: a statewide elected
official, as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section
seventy-three-a of the public officers law; a state officer or employee,
as defined in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (c) of subdivision one of
such section seventy-three-a; a political party chairperson, as defined
in paragraph (h) of subdivision one of such section seventy-three-a; a
local elected official, as defined in subdivisions one and two of
section eight hundred ten of the general municipal law; a person
appointed, pursuant to law, to serve due to vacancy or otherwise in the
position of a local elected official, as defined in subdivisions one and
two of section eight hundred ten of the general municipal law; a member
of the state legislature; or a judge or justice of the unified court
system; or filed by a partnership, firm, association, corporation,
joint-stock company, trust or similar entity directly or indirectly
controlled by any individual listed in this paragraph, whether by
contract, through ownership or control of a majority interest in such
entity, or otherwise, or filed by a partnership, firm, association,
corporation, joint-stock company, trust or similar entity of which any
individual listed in this paragraph holds ten percent or more of the
voting securities of such entity; provided however that, prior to
furnishing any return, the commissioner shall redact any copy of a
federal return (or portion thereof) attached to, or any information on a
federal return that is reflected on, such return, and any social
security numbers, account numbers and residential address information.

(2) No returns shall be furnished pursuant to this subdivision unless
the chairperson of the requesting committee certifies in writing that
such returns have been requested related to, and in furtherance of, a
legitimate task of the Congress, that the requesting committee has made
a written request to the United States secretary of the treasury for
related federal returns or return information, pursuant to 26 U.S.C.
Section 6103(f), and that if such requested returns are inspected by
and/or submitted to another committee, to the United States House of
Representatives, or to the United States Senate, then such inspection
and/or submission shall occur in a manner consistent with federal law as
informed by the requirements and procedures established in 26 U.S.C.
Section 6103(f).