N.Y. Tax Law § 499 – Returns to be secret

(a) Except in accordance with a proper judicial order or as otherwise provided for by law, it shall be unlawful for the commissioner, any officer or employee of the department, or any person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract basis or any other person who in any manner may acquire knowledge of the contents of a return or report filed pursuant to this article to divulge or make known in any manner the contents or any other information relating to the business of a registrant contained in any return or report required under this article. The officers charged with the custody of such returns or 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, the state department of health, the state department of education or the commissioner in an action or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter or on behalf of the state or the commissioner in any other action or proceeding involving the collection of a tax due under this chapter to which the state or the commissioner 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 the reports or the 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 reports or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the commissioner, in his or her discretion, from allowing the inspection or delivery of a certified copy of any return or report filed under this article, or from providing any information contained in any such return or report, by or to a duly authorized officer or employee of the state department of health or the state department of education; nor to prohibit the inspection or delivery of a certified copy of any return or report filed under this article, or the provision of any information contained therein, by or to the attorney general or other legal representatives of the state when an action shall have been recommended or commenced pursuant to this chapter in which such returns or reports or the facts shown thereby are directly involved; nor to prohibit the commissioner from providing or certifying to the division of budget or the comptroller the total number of returns or reports filed under this article in any reporting period and the total collections received therefrom; nor to prohibit the inspection of the returns or reports 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 registrant or other person under this article; nor to prohibit the delivery to a registrant, or a duly authorized representative of such registrant, a certified copy of any return or report filed by such registrant pursuant to this article, nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns or reports and the items thereof. (b)(1) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the provisions of subdivision (a) 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.
(2) Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven of this chapter.